When will it really be New Year’s Day? Congress likes to weigh in on sports from time to time. How about this for some sensible legislation: “The first day of the year shall include college football bowl games, period. Shrimp cocktail, meatballs and Brent Musberger are optional.”

Nick Saban and Les Miles are smart guys, but we’ll see for sure if one of their teams has a chance to win the BCS championship with a late 40-yard field goal.

Hopefully Alabama and LSU won’t take the air out of the ball Monday night. Georgia, Stanford and Virginia Tech all ran the four-corners offense late in their bowl games and paid for it with missed field-goal attempts.

Stanford’s misfire was the most perplexing. Tied with Oklahoma State in the final minute of regulation, the Cardinal was moving with reliable Andrew Luck directing the orchestra. But when Stanford got into field-goal range, it let off the gas. The Cardinal paid the price when a terrified freshman missed a makeable field goal.

I’m warming up to Urban Meyer. During a team meeting the morning after Ohio State lost to Florida in the Gator Bowl (that should’ve been a sign), he reportedly told the Buckeyes to treat Twitter like shady tattoo artists. In other words, stay away.

That’s fine with me. Monitoring athletes’ Twitter accounts can too often be an uncomfortable trip into the gutter.

Now Meyer can work on OSU’s passing game. The Buckeyes’ three leading receivers each had 14 catches. In 13 games.

Penn State fans greeted Bill O’Brien’s hiring as football coach with all the enthusiasm of another grand jury report. This might make Gene Bartow succeeding John Wooden look smooth.

To make matters worse, O’Brien will stay on with the Patriots through the playoffs. Kind of tough to recruit when you’re working for Bill Belichick. Signing Day is 24 days away. Good luck, Nittany Lions.

The Bengals are the NFL’s only cold-weather team without an indoor practice facility. I know you’re stunned. The University of Cincinnati’s bubbled field was available for rent last week — four hours, $2,500. Not a bad investment when your quarterback is fighting the flu.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2163 or bkollars@DaytonDailyNews.com.