NCAA athletes are repeatedly told that accepting gifts will compromise their collegiate eligibility. That is, unless it's from a bowl game, where bowl organizers are actually forced to give high-end goody bags to the athletes.

The NCAA stipulates that all 28 certified bowls games are required to give out 125 gift packages, valued at $300 each, to each of its bowl participants.

Rings, which cost $185 each, are quickly emerging as a very popular item as at least six bowls -- the FedEx Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl presented by PlayStation 2, the Outback Bowl, the Toyota Gator Bowl, the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl and the Houston Bowl -- will give athletes gold for their fingers.

"The Rose Bowl champions always made rings of their own, so we thought it would be a good idea to have something already made for them," said Nancy Atkinson, the Rose Bowl's sports information director. "The athletes like it because you can see the rings from across a room."

Most of the rings are made by Jostens, the producer of 24 of the 36 Super Bowl rings.

"The kids really like the bling-bling," said Al Nuness, vice president of sports sales for Jostens. "Rings have replaced trophies as these athletes try to get as many rings on their fingers as they can."

Jostens will be making a Pac-10 conference co-champion ring for University of Southern California players, who will also get Orange Bowl rings.

"We haven't had rings in six years, but we brought it back this year because we heard that that's what the athletes want," said Keith Tribble, the CEO of the Orange Bowl. "We've received nothing but rave reviews from the people that have seen it."

The Rose and Orange Bowl designed the top of the ring and gave the school the option of changing the background color and customizing the sides. Rose Bowl participant and Big 12 champion Oklahoma, for example, changed the background color from black to crimson.

Winners of the national championship game will automatically receive rings for the first time. The ring is made of 10-karat white golf and features a black onyx football with 66 zirconia stones.

While rings have taken center stage as the up-and-comer, watches are still the most popular item. Participants of the Tostitos Fiesta and Insight Bowls will receive a Bulova, Rose Bowl players get Swatches, the Peach Bowl and Cotton Bowl are giving out a Fossils, while the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl participants receive a Swiss Army watch.

Technology is also a favorite. Miami and Ohio State players will get Xbox machines with two games. Members of the Capital One Bowl and the Mazda Tangerine Bowl will receive an MP3 players, Insight Bowl participants will get a Sony CyberShot digital camera and the SBC Cotton Bowl is giving out portable DVD players.

Sun Bowl participants will receive the most items of any of the bowl teams. The 10 items include a leather tote bag, backpack, a black nylon shaving bag, a Silvertone watch, a disposable camera, a mock turtleneck, two hats, a windshirt, and mini FM radio all with the game's logo on it. The Cotton Bowl likely will be handing out the most unique gift. All players will receive a George Foreman lean-mean fat-reducing grilling machine.

"We were watching ESPN GameDay when Iowa State was doing really well and they had (Cyclones quarterback) Seneca Wallace cooking in his room on his Foreman grill," said Cotton Bowl spokesman Charlie Fiss. "So we determined that our players would like that."

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espn3.com.