Come One, Come All, And See The Sideshow!

College football's main event, the action between the sidelines, is at times upstaged by what happens beyond the stripes. There you'll find such diversions as the Texas-size Texas band, 12 of whose 24 tuba players can't fit their instruments into the band's seats; the Fatman (a.k.a. Eugene DelVecchio), who can keep three balls dry under his shirt for Pitt; and Big Al the Elephant, who in the waning moments of last fall's Alabama-Auburn game was as low as the Tide. For a look at more such acts, step right up!

Two ways to keep warm in Texas: At January's Cotton Bowl, where the temperature was 38°, SMU players turned to portable heaters; at Texas A&M, as is customary, students turned to their dates for a kiss when the Aggies scored. Here the Officers of the Day from the Corps of Cadets nuzzle up.

Like a lot of fans, sideliners "get down in front" at games, and for all kinds of reasons: to catch their teammates on the tube, to bag photographs in inclement weather and to fetch miniature rubber footballs to toss to eagerly waiting rooters.

Three weeks after Auburn kept Alabama under wraps on Nov. 27 in Birmingham, Fresno State (below) grabbed hold of a 29-28 victory over Bowling Green with 11 seconds to play in the California Bowl.

When Southwest Texas State won its second consecutive Palm Bowl, the Division II national championship game, Coach Jim Wacker, who had announced that he was departing for TCU, received embraces. UC-Davis, which lost, (above) received condolences.

Defeat doesn't always have to leave an empty feeling, at least not for those who take it lying down, as this pair of Florida cheerleaders did following the Gators' 28-24 loss to Arkansas in the Bluebonnet Bowl last New Year's Eve.

SIXTEEN PHOTOS

WILLIAM EPPRIDGE