COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : ROSE BOWL

Coach Gary Barnett put the Northwestern Wildcats through two more grueling sessions Tuesday, but said he’s not preparing for the Rose Bowl any differently than for any other game. Although the Wildcats are bowl-game rookies, Barnett isn’t. He played for Missouri in the 1966 Sugar Bowl and the 1968 Gator Bowl and, while he was an assistant coach at Colorado, the Buffaloes played in six bowl games.

“I know these guys work real hard, and if I ask them to practice like their hair’s on fire, they will,” Barnett said. “They trust I’m not going to work them beyond what’s possible. We’ve operated on that structure and trust all along.”

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Wildcat running back Darnell Autry, a sophomore from Tempe, Ariz., came close to leaving Northwestern before this season because he couldn’t get used to harsh Midwestern winters. Asked whether he intends to return next year, Autry, whose fourth-place finish in the Heisman Trophy voting was the highest by a Northwestern player since Otto Graham finished third in 1943, gave a curious answer.

“As of now, I plan to be here,” he said.

Does that mean he’s open to suggestion?

“I don’t know any suggestions anybody would have for me,” he said.