Sun Bowl: Wisconsin 21, UCLA 20

Saturday, December 30th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

EL PASO, Texas (AP) _ If juniors Freddie Mitchell of UCLA and Jamar Fletcher of Wisconsin declare for the NFL draft as expected, each can say he ended his college careers with a bang.

Mitchell, who regards himself the top wideout in the country, insists he got the best of Fletcher, who won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's premiere defensive back, in the Sun Bowl on Friday.

How can that be, Fletcher wonders, when the Badgers beat the Bruins 21-20?

``Whether he thinks he got the best of me or whatever, we won,'' said Fletcher, who preserved Wisconsin's seventh bowl victory in eight seasons under coach Barry Alvarez with a last-minute interception.

``He's a great cornerback,'' Mitchell said. ``But everybody saw today that he couldn't stop me.''

Mitchell won the MVP award after catching nine passes for a Sun Bowl-record 180 yards, including a 64-yard TD reception after Fletcher broke off coverage on a play for which Alvarez took full responsibility.

But it was Fletcher who got in the last word.

He stepped in front of Brian Poli-Dixon at midfield for his seventh interception of the season and his first big play in an afternoon filled with frustration.

Fletcher, who injured his left shoulder in the first half, was in the middle of a pregame scuffle that cost the Bruins a 15-yard penalty at kickoff and he also was the object of two taunting penalties by Mitchell.

The Badgers (9-4) also beat the Bruins (6-6) in the 1994 and '99 Rose Bowls, and the bad blood boiled over 90 minutes before kickoff when UCLA players scuffled with Jamar Fletcher, who called them soft two years ago.

``I was doing the pushing, they got the penalty,'' Fletcher admitted.

Mitchell mocked Fletcher at the end of his 64-yard TD catch from Cory Paus in the first quarter, drawing another 15-yard penalty.

``I told him, `You can't stop me! Bye-bye!' '' Mitchell recounted.

It was the first touchdown Fletcher had allowed in man coverage in his college career _ or was it? The Badgers said Fletcher wasn't at fault.

``I'll answer that,'' Alvarez said. ``That was a coaching mistake. We should have checked to a different coverage. When he made his route, came back to the middle of the field, we should have been in (a different defense). We made that adjustment and handled that after that. That was coaching. That was my fault.''

Yeah right, said the Bruins.

``His three-year streak is over,'' Mitchell said. ``It took me five minutes.''

Fletcher insisted he was responsible for only a couple of Mitchell's receptions, and both of them were minor gains at that, he said.

Mitchell also whacked Fletcher across the helmet on the Bruins' second possession, and UCLA, backed up another 15 yards by the personal foul, settled for Chris Griffith's 31-yard field goal and a 10-7 lead.

DeShaun Foster, who had 100 of his 112 yards rushing in the first half, scored on a 7-yard burst for a 17-7 Bruins halftime lead. But UCLA lost Paus (shoulder), and cornerbacks Ricky Manning Jr. (concussion) and Jason Bell (ankle) for the second half.

After Griffith nailed a 25-yarder, Chris Chambers' 3-yard TD catch from Brooks Bollinger that made it 20-14 in the third quarter.

The Badgers got the ball back at their 30 after a foiled fake field goal, and 12 plays later Michael Bennett scored the winning touchdown on a 6-yard run with 8:55 left.

It was the Badgers' first lead since the opening minutes, when Bollinger hit Lee Evans with a 54-yard TD pass.

Mitchell's nine catches tied the Sun Bowl record and his 180 yards receiving were 15 more than North Carolina's Octavus Barnes had against Texas in 1984.

``If that's the best defensive back in the country, then this is the best receiver in the country,'' Bruins coach Bob Toledo said. ``Freddie got the best of the battle.''

Mitchell concurred.

``There's been a lot of talk this week about the battle between Fletcher and me, and I think it's obvious who won this one,'' he said.

``Yeah,'' Fletcher said. ``We did. We got the W.''