Unbeaten Utah celebrated like champions.

Salt Lake City honored the Utes with a parade yesterday, giving fans one last chance to cheer the Sugar Bowl winners for a perfect season that wasn't good enough to earn a national title.

The Utes paraded along State Street to a downtown rally, where they were greeted by a throng of red-clad fans who chanted "We're No. 1!"

Utah went 13-0 and was the only unbeaten team in the country, but finished No. 2 behind Florida in the AP Top 25. In the final USA Today Coaches' poll, the Utes were fourth.

"To see the entire city rally behind us like this is unbelievable," All-America kicker Louie Sakoda told the crowd that packed the lawn at Washington Square.

The players stood beneath a giant, red banner that read "Utah Football 2009 Sugar Bowl Champions 13-0" during a series of brief speeches.

Coach Kyle Whittingham, named Thursday as winner of the Paul "Bear" Bryant coach of the year award, received one of the loudest ovations when he was introduced, then fueled the fervor with one final statement at the end of the rally.

"Utes-Gators. Neutral site. Winner take all," Whittingham said.

HOCKEY

LEAGUE SUSPENDS FIVE RUSSIAN OFFICIALS

The Continental Hockey League suspended five officials yesterday in connection with the death last year of rising star Alexei Cherepanov.

The 19-year-old Cherepanov, a first-round draft pick of the New York Rangers in 2007, died in October after collapsing on the Avangard Omsk bench during a game at Vityaz Chekhov. An autopsy showed he suffered from a chronic condition that obstructed blood flow to the heart and other organs.

Avangard's president, general manager and one of its team doctors were suspended indefinitely. Another Avangard doctor was suspended for two years. Vityaz's president also was suspended indefinitely.

MCNAMEE MEETS WITH CLEMENS' PROSECUTOR

The prosecutor seeking an indictment of Roger Clemens got his first chance to question the former baseball star's chief antagonist, personal trainer Brian McNamee, during a five-hour session yesterday that included FBI investigators.

McNamee has told federal agents, baseball investigator George Mitchell and a House of Representatives committee that he injected Clemens more than a dozen times with steroids and human growth hormone from 1998-01.

This was McNamee's initial meeting with Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Butler, who is presenting evidence to the federal grand jury determining whether Clemens should be charged with lying to Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

ELSEWHERE

Tennis: Elena Dementieva beat Dinara Safina 6-2, 2-6, 6-1, in the title match at the Sydney International (Australia). In the men's semifinals, Novak Djokovic lost 6-4, 7-6 (3) to Jarkko Nieminen, who next faces David Nalbandian, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Richard Gasquet.

Roger Federer beat Olympic gold medal-winning doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka today, 6-1, 6-3, to win the Australian Open tuneup event at Kooyong in Melbourne, Australia. Federer broke Wawrinka's serve three times in the first seven games of the all-Swiss final.

Juan Martin Del Potro beat Sam Querrey, 6-4, 6-4, today to win the Heineken Open at Auckland, New Zealand.

Italy's Filippo Volandri will miss the Australian Open after being banned for three months by the International Tennis Federation for abusing an asthma drug.

College football: Penn State defensive end Maurice Evans has made himself eligible for the NFL draft. The 6-foot-2, 264-pound junior was held out of the first three games of the season because of off-field issues. He finished with three sacks.

Steve Logan has decided not to return as offensive coordinator for Boston College, which promoted defensive coordinator Frank Spaziano to head coach earlier in the week.

Former Michigan State coach John L. Smith has been hired by Arkansas as special teams coordinator. He also will help with the defense.