Why Fiesta Bowl is mad at NFL

A scheduling conflict at University of Phoenix Stadium early next year has Fiesta Bowl officials fuming and the Arizona Cardinals apologizing. If the schedule stands, it will mean an NFL game and the big bowl game in 24 hours back to back. The conflict came to light after the National Football League released its 2009 schedule this week. The league has the Cardinals playing their final home game Jan. 3 against the Green Bay Packers. That’s the day before the Jan. 4 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The organization that runs the college-football game has a contract with the stadium operator that says the Cardinals can’t play a regular-season game within two days of the bowl. The Cardinals’ agreement with the stadium operator includes similar language. On Friday, the Cardinals said the NFL had no intention of rescheduling the game. League representatives could not be reached for comment. The Fiesta Bowl threw its support behind the Cardinals to get voters in 2000 to approve funding for a new stadium, but the two sides have had a long, acrimonious relationship since the days when they shared Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe. – Arizona Republic

Miles: LSU Staff Changes Lead to Productive Spring

LSU’s year of atonement following the football program’s worst regular season this decade completed another step on Thursday with the end of spring practices. First, Miles ended the disappointing 2008 season with a convincing bowl victory over No. 14 Georgia Tech to finish 8-5. Then he made three defensive coaching changes after the worst season on that side of the ball this decade. And he signed his first No. 1 recruiting class at LSU, which included No. 1 quarterback prospect Russell Shepard entering a troubled area of the team as an early enrollee in January. Spring drills were delayed until March to get the new coaches acclimated with the rest of the staff and the players and to install a new defense and some new offense. “The new coaches and the new feel, and the want to be better and the little bit hungrier LSU football program, has in my opinion produced maybe a little more wanting football team,” Miles said on a Southeastern Conference teleconference Thursday. – The Advertiser