Michigan Takes Home Roses; Alabama No. 1

Tyrone Wheatley and the Michigan Wolverines made it a rare happy New Year in Pasadena for the Big Ten on Friday with a 38-31 victory over Washington in the Rose Bowl game.

Wheatley rushed for 235 yards and three touchdowns and Elvis Grbac threw two touchdown passes to Tony McGee as Michigan (9-0-3) avenged last year’s Rose Bowl loss to Washington.

The victory, before a crowd of 94,236, was only the fifth for the Big Ten in Pasadena in 24 years.

The tide also turned in the Sugar Bowl, where Alabama ended top-ranked Miami’s 29-game winning streak and wrapped up the national championship with a 34-13 victory. The Crimson Tide (13-0) intercepted Heisman Trophy winner Gino Torretta three times, each turnover setting up a touchdown.

The Rose Bowl loss completed a bitter finish for the Huskies, who were trying to win the game for an unprecedented third year in a row. Washington (9-3) lost three of its last four games, lost quarterback Billie Joe Hobert for taking $50,000 in loans, and is under investigation after former players said they received pay for jobs that required little or no work.

Washington had rallied from a 17-7 deficit to take a 21-17 halftime lead, but Wheatley turned the game around when he went 88 yards, a Rose Bowl record, on the first play of the second half. He had a 56-yard touchdown run in the first half and tied the score at 31-31 late in the third quarter with a 24-yard run. The Wolverines went ahead for good when Grbac hit McGee, his tight end, for a 15-yard score with 5:29 left in the game.

The Huskies had their chances in the fourth quarter but could not convert. Travis Hanson missed a 22-yard field goal with 10:38 left, quarterback Mark Brunell came up short on a fourth-and-11 scramble from the Michigan 26 and Brunell threw four consecutive incompletions near midfield after a blocked punt gave the Huskies one more chance with 1:05 left.

In other bowls:

* Notre Dame ended Texas A&M;’s dreams of a perfect season with a 28-3 victory in the Cotton Bowl. Jerome Bettis scored three touchdowns for the Irish (10-1-1). The Aggies had hoped to beat Notre Dame for a 13-0 season, then argue their merit for the national title.

* In the Orange Bowl, Florida State and Nebraska continued their recent bowl history. The Seminoles (11-1) increased their unbeaten streak in bowls to 11 games with a 27-14 win. The Cornhuskers have lost six bowls in a row.

* In the Blockbuster Bowl, Stanford quarterback Steve Stenstrom threw two touchdown passes to pace the Cardinal to a 24-3 victory over Penn State. Stanford (10-3) earned its first 10-victory season since 1940. The Nittany Lions failed to score a touchdown for the first time since Oct. 27, 1990.

* In the Citrus Bowl, Garrison Hearst ran for 163 yards and two touchdowns as Georgia also picked up its 10th victory with a 21-14 decision over Ohio State at Orlando, Fla. Hearst, third in the Heisman Trophy voting, scored the Bulldogs’ first two touchdowns and set up the game-winner.

* In the Fiesta Bowl, Kirby Dar Dar’s 100-yard kickoff return capped a 20-point third quarter for Syracuse, and the Orangemen went on to defeat Colorado, 26-22, at Tempe, Ariz. With Syracuse leading 19-16, Qadry Ismail took the kickoff at the goal and handed off to Dar Dar at the 6, who ran the distance.

* In the Hall of Fame Bowl at Tampa, Fla., Tennessee began Coach Phillip Fulmer’s career with a 38-23 win over Boston College.