Hunt still on for Aztecs’ foe in Las Vegas Bowl

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Nov. 30, 1998 | 10:15 a.m.

Saturday morning's Western Athletic Conference Championship game between BYU and Air Force is supposed to be the final game pitting teams from the WAC in 1998.

But it wouldn't be surprising to see two more WAC teams going head-to-head in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 19 at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Ted Tollner's San Diego State Aztecs (7-4) already have accepted a bid to Las Vegas Bowl VII last week. And two teams that got edged out by the Aztecs -- Utah (7-4) and Wyoming (8-3) -- still are being considered for the other spot.

Two other schools under serious consideration are North Carolina (6-5), which became bowl eligible with a 37-34 overtime win over North Carolina State on Saturday; and Mississippi (7-4), which not only lost to in-state rival Mississippi State, 28-6, last Friday but also lost head coach Tommy Tuberville to Auburn over the weekend.

One other school that has been reported to be in the running -- Miami of Ohio (10-1) of the MAC -- has "a very slim chance" according to one Las Vegas Bowl selection committee member, despite the fact some Internet and wire service reports already have penciled in the RedHawks for Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas Bowl selection committee was scheduled to meet early this morning and hoped to extend an invitation today.

"Right now I can't even tell if there is a front-runner," selection committee member Ray Dondero said Sunday night.

It seems all four of the teams under consideration have a strike against them.

* North Carolina, which has two exciting quarterbacks in Oscar Davenport and freshman phenom Ronald Curry, would add a much-needed national flavor to the game. But there is concern about just how many fans would make the trek across the country for the game.

* Mississippi has a reputation for traveling well and comes from the prestigious SEC, but will Tuberville even be around to coach the bowl game?

* Utah has been lobbying hard behind the scenes for an invitation and would likely fill a lot of seats and hotel rooms. But the Utes and Aztecs have already played once this year and rematches are usually frowned upon in bowl games.

* Wyoming has the best record of the four teams and also travels well. But the Cowboys finished their season with a big dud, failing to even score a touchdown in back-to-back losses to Air Force (10-3) and lowly Tulsa (35-0).

"Obviously we'd like to pit the WAC against a school from another conference, but we also have to take into account how many people those schools can bring in," Dondero said.