COLLEGE FOOTBALL / DAILY BOWL REPORT : TODAY’S GAMES : Plenty to Whet the Appetite

As a warm-up for the eight-game bowl lineup on New Year’s Day, four bowl games will be played today, beginning with the Independence Bowl matchup between Virginia Tech (8-3) and Indiana (8-3) at Shreveport, La., at 9:30 a.m. and concluding with the Alamo Bowl, in which California (8-4) faces Iowa (6-5) at San Antonio at 6:30 p.m.

In the other games, Clemson (8-3) takes on Kentucky (6-5) in the Peach Bowl at Atlanta at 3 p.m., and in what figures as the day’s best game, No. 12 North Carolina plays No. 18 Alabama (8-3-1) in the Gator Bowl at Jacksonville, Fla., at 4 p.m.