While Champs Sports Bowl officials consider Florida State playing a bowl game in Orlando, UCF ponders the possibility of a long plane flight for its first bowl trip — to Hawaii.

“We would love to have Central Florida. UCF would work well for us,” Hawaii Bowl Executive Director Jim Donovan said. “[Coach] George O’Leary has a national story going, and that appeals to us.”

The Christmas Eve bowl in Honolulu has third pick among C-USA teams, but it’s possible the Knights (8-3) could be the third pick even if they win Saturday’s C-USA Championship Game against Tulsa (7-4).

Common thinking is that Saturday’s winner has a trip to the Liberty Bowl at stake. But Liberty Bowl officials declined to commit to taking the C-USA champ while investigating how many tickets UCF and Tulsa would sell for their New Year’s Eve game in Memphis, Tenn. By contract, the Liberty does not have to pick the C-USA champion, just its favorite C-USA team.

“We think UCF’s a great story. It’d be nice for them if they kept it going,” Liberty Executive Director Steve Ehrhart said. “When Conference USA added its championship game, we said we’d want to wait until that game was played to decide a team.”

A UCF loss would all but eliminate the Knights from Liberty consideration and make the bowl consider Tulsa or Memphis (6-5). Memphis never has played in its hometown bowl, has a marquee star in runner DeAngelo Williams to market and could sell droves of tickets. That’s true even if UCF wins.

GMAC Bowl executives have told C-USA they’re studying, too, though they’re focused on UTEP (8-3) and UCF, sources close to the league said. GMAC gets the second pick of C-USA teams. The Dec. 21 bowl invited Toledo (8-3) on Monday, and school officials in Toledo were told of the likelihood of facing the Miners or Knights.

Ehrhart spent Monday and Tuesday calculating how many tickets the Knights would sell for a Dec. 31 game with Fresno State should the Knights beat Tulsa. Conversations with UCF Athletic Director Steve Orsini and others in and around the football program put the number between 10,000 and 15,000, a total that is crucial to an eastern bowl with a West Coast team already invited.

Meanwhile, Champs Sports is focusing on Colorado-FSU, arguably the bowl’s best ticket and television match since moving to Orlando. Both teams would have to lose conference title games Saturday, the Buffaloes (7-4) to No. 2 Texas in the Big 12 and the Seminoles (7-4) to No. 5 Virginia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Champs Sports prefers Clemson (7-4) ahead of FSU, Boston College (8-3) and Georgia Tech (7-4), but both the Gator and Peach bowls pick their ACC teams before Champs Sports does, and Clemson is not expected to be around for Orlando’s selection. The most likely scenario is Clemson in the Peach Bowl against Georgia or Alabama.

FSU Coach Bobby Bowden prefers the Orange Bowl, the landing area for the ACC champion. The Seminoles can secure a slot in the Orange by upsetting Virginia Tech. Beyond a trip to Miami, though, Bowden said, “I’d just like to have the next-best bowl, whatever it is.”

A UA student was crowned the 2006 Fiesta Bowl queen last week, a change from last year when an ASU student was chosen.

Jeanine Zelik, a social studies senior, said it is a “huge honor” to represent the UA as queen of the Fiesta Bowl.

“I feel very privileged and honored to be a part of this court,” Zelik said.

The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, one of the four games in the Bowl Championship Series, will be held in Tempe on Jan. 2.

Both Zelik and Kate Rook, a pre-education sophomore, knew two weeks ago that they would be one of the four students on the court, but they had to wait until last week to find out who had enough votes to be queen.

Zelik and the other princesses, whose families flew or drove into Tucson for the coronation, were crowned during the Homecoming ceremony Thursday night and rode in Saturday’s Homecoming parade, Zelik said.

Candidates were selected based on community service, grades and personality that were determined through interviews, an essay and letters of recommendation, Zelik said.

Gina Chappin, the Fiesta Bowl director of public relations, was unavailable for comment over the weekend.

All four court members, which include two students from ASU, will not only represent Arizona at the Fiesta and Insight bowls, but will also promote and participate in more than 50 charity events throughout the year as Fiesta Bowl ambassadors, Rook said.

Rook and her family were at the Homecoming ceremony on Thursday, she said, but missed the Homecoming parade and game Saturday for a friend’s wedding.

“I was really bummed that I missed Homecoming,” Rook said.

Now that she knows she will be queen, Zelick said she is preparing herself to juggle her responsibilities with her schoolwork.

Zelik has been involved in many organizations on campus, including the Chi Omega sorority and Arizona Ambassadors. She is also a Women’s Health student coordinator and advocate, she said.

“I’m not nervous, but excited and anxious now that the ball’s rolling,” Zelik said.

Zelik said she is going to miss some of her classes for some events, but she is making arrangements with her professors beforehand.

“I’m not worried at all, it just means a little less sleep,” Zelik said. “It’s something you have to be dedicated to, and I’m going to give it my all.”