BRIEFLY : MICHIGAN'S WOODSON WINS CAMP AWARD.

As Charles Woodson hoisted the Walter Camp Award on Monday honoring the nation's top college football player, Michigan's two-way standout hoped his campaign for the Heisman Trophy got a lift.

In its 31 years, the Camp award has been a barometer to Heisman voting in a fashion similar to the way New Hampshire's primaries have foreshadowed outcomes of presidential elections.

Only five times has the Camp award gone to a player who did not win the Heisman, the last time in 1990 when Notre Dame's Raghib ``Rocket'' Ismail won the Camp and Brigham Young quarterback Ty Detmer won the Heisman.

``If the Heisman doesn't come around, it doesn't,'' Woodson said. ``I'll still be happy.''

Woodson joined former Pittsburgh star Hugh Green as the only defensive players to win the Camp award. Green won it in 1980, the year South Carolina halfback George Rogers won the Heisman.

Though no defender has won the Heisman, Woodson is the co-favorite with Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning.

Woodson has seven interceptions, 11 receptions and four touchdowns this season.

Pittsburgh accepted a bid Monday to play No. 22 Southern Mississippi in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 31.

The Panthers' first bowl game since they upset Texas A&M in the 1989 John Hancock Bowl was set up by Friday's dramatic 41-38, three-overtime victory over rival West Virginia.

The Panthers (6-5), who upset once-ranked Virginia Tech and West Virginia and nearly beat Big East champion Syracuse in their final three games, were guaranteed a bowl bid by finishing fourth in the conference.

Las Vegas Bowl officials, looking for an opponent to play Air Force, hope to make a decision today between five teams: Iowa, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Virginia and Oregon.

NHL: Former New York Islanders owner John Spano backed out of a plea bargain with three states on fraud charges stemming from his aborted purchase of the team, a decision that leaves him facing as much as 30 years in prison.

Although Spano, 33, was scheduled to plead guilty Monday to a federal bank-fraud charge in Boston that would complete an arrangement between three states, he didn't appear in court and has decided to contest all charges brought against him, said Bob Fink, an attorney for Spano.

Former NHL Players Association chief Alan Eagleson has been ordered to stand trial on fraud and theft charges after waiving a preliminary hearing on allegations he stole more than $200,000 from Hockey Canada, the NHL and the union.

Florida Panthers center Kirk Muller was suspended by the NHL pending a hearing today for slashing New York Rangers left wing Niklas Sundstrom in a game Sunday.