COLLEGE FOOTBALL Nation's major programs represented in Blue, Gray

Warren Harding graduate Deryck Toles of Penn State will play for the Blue team.
TROY, Ala. (AP) -- Sure, Jim Molinaro and Tony Johnson would rather be playing New Year's Day than Christmas Day.
With their teams failing to make bowl games, Notre Dame's Molinaro and Penn State's Johnson will settle for the Blue-Gray All-Star Classic today at Troy State's Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium.
"We're kind of both in the same boat," said Molinaro, a 6-foot-6, 301-pound offensive lineman. "We both had rough years."
They're not alone. The Blue-Gray rosters also include players from Alabama, Colorado and Syracuse, all prominent programs coming off poor seasons.
Chance to shine
The Blue roster also includes Penn State linebacker Deryck Toles, a Warren Harding High graduate.
The game, a Christmas Day tradition, is a showcase for seniors hoping to move on to the NFL. It's mostly for players whose teams didn't make bowl games, but Louisville's Ronnie Ghent and Richard Owens suit up for the Gray a week after playing in the GMAC Bowl.
After a year's hiatus because Blue-Gray officials couldn't line up a sponsor, the game has been moved from Montgomery's Cramton Bowl, its home since 1938, to Troy, 45 miles south of Montgomery.
For the players from programs where playing in bowl games is supposed to be almost as much an annual deal as Christmas itself, it's a bittersweet way to spend the holiday.
"At the same time I wouldn't want to be sitting home for Christmas," said Johnson, a receiver and younger brother of Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson. "At least, I'm somewhere besides Pennsylvania."
The Nittany Lions just completed a 3-9 season, the worst record under Joe Paterno. They had three losing seasons during Johnson's four-year career, but he feels the 77-year-old Paterno is getting a bad rap lately.
"Not just him, we're tired of people doubting Penn State, that we fell off and this and that," Johnson, a three-year starter, said. "Coach Paterno's going to be there another four or five years. He's not going anywhere.
"I think they're back on the way to the top of college football."
Tide's troubles
Nobody has a longer climb back to the top than Alabama, which has six national championships but got four wins last season. The Crimson Tide couldn't have gone to a bowl, anyway, because of NCAA probation, but now has three losing seasons in the past seven years.
Recruiting sanctions also make the near-future iffy for Mike Shula's team.
Nautyn McKay-Loescher and five of his Tide teammates are playing in the Blue-Gray game, though Shula turned down an offer to coach for the Gray to spend time with his family.
"It's kind of a consolation for two straight years of missing a bowl game," said McKay-Loescher, a Toronto native. "It hurts not going to a bowl game, but this is the next best thing."
Molinaro, who switched from defensive line to the offense for his final two seasons, is just happy for a chance to keep playing in Blue-Gray and possibly the NFL.
"It's good to be playing in a game," he said. "I'd love to be playing with my teammates. It hurts me to know they're at home watching; I know they'd all rather be playing."