Family feud

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Dec. 17, 1999 | 11:29 a.m.

If Judge Mills Lane isn't busy Saturday afternoon, he might want to stop by the EA Sports Las Vegas Bowl at Sam Boyd Stadium.

His refereeing skills might be needed in the grandstand.

Seated together in the same row on Saturday will be Jan Baxter, mother of Fresno State associate head coach John Baxter; Vicky McBride, wife of Utah head coach Ron McBride; and Jill Baxter, daughter of Ron McBride and wife of John Baxter.

Let's get it on!

"Actually, Richard Dawson ought to be hosting this thing," John Baxter joked after the Bulldogs' practice on Thursday afternoon on the auxiliary fields outside of Sam Boyd Stadium. "This thing is kind of like an extended version of Family Feud."

The family ties that bind the two teams are just one of the interesting subplots in Saturday's game between the WAC co-champion Bulldogs (8-4, 5-2) and the Mountain West tri-champion Utes (8-3, 5-2).

There's an interesting quarterback duel developing, and it may feature three of them. Fresno's Billy Volek was one of just four Division I quarterbacks to throw 30 touchdown passes this season and Utah's Darnell Arceaneux is an excellent runner and passer -- when he's healthy.

Arceneaux missed the Utes' last two games with a concussion but has been cleared to play Saturday. But he won't start, as T.D. Croshaw -- who left practice this week to get married -- has earned that right after guiding Utah to a victory over arch rival Brigham Young and a share of the Mountain West title.

Both teams have explosive offensives as each led its conference in scoring. Utah's Mike Anderson has an NFL-type body (6-0, 232) and may become the Utes' go-to guy, what with dangerous receiver and punt returner Steve Smith sidelined with a neck injury.

And then there's the revenge factor. Fresno State was left behind when Utah and seven other former WAC teams bolted to form the Mountain West roughly 18 months ago.

But Baxter said those are only subplots as far as he's concerned.

"The people who are going to have the toughest time with this aren't going to be the people on the field," he said. "It's going to be the ones in the stands."

Does Jill Baxter cheer on her dad's Utah squad or her husband's Fresno State team? And if the yelling gets a little too loud during the game, will the McBrides still want to spend Christmas at their daughter and son-in-law's home in Fresno next week?

"My mom is going to be sitting with my wife and her mom there," Baxter said. "That's not going to be an easy situation. It'll be funny to see who cheers for who."

John Baxter owes a lot to the head coach of the team he's trying to beat on Saturday.

It was McBride who helped jump start Baxter's coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Arizona in 1988. But at that time Baxter had yet to meet Jill McBride.

"I've actually known (coach McBride) for three more years than my wife," Baxter said. "Jill was in law school then and I never met her."

It wasn't until a couple of years later, after McBride left Tucson to become head coach at Utah, that Baxter got a call from Arizona coach Dick Tomey to leave the University of Maine to join his staff.

"Jill had just moved to Tucson and was an assistant district attorney there," Baxter said. "We met somewhere, but I really don't remember where."

The two eventually married and now have two young daughters, Kelly and McKenzie.

"Our families spend about three weeks together every summer," Baxter said. "Believe it or not, we hardly ever talk about football."

As tough as Saturday's game will be on the emotions of both families, it could be worse. Both teams could be home for the holidays.

"That's the thing," Baxter said. "We're just glad that we both get to be here in a bowl game. That's definitely better than being home right now. There have been some times where I went on some of Utah's bowl trips because I didn't have a job."

That shouldn't be a problem for Baxter any more. He's considered one of the nation's top special teams coaches and he founded Academic Gameplan, a copyrighted study-skills program, which has been implemented at a number of universities across the country, including Utah.

Baxter said he doesn't have any side bets with his father-in-law on the game.

"People ask me, 'What is it going to be like to coach against your father-in-law?' " he said. "I tell them that coaching against my father-in-law will be no different than coaching against anybody else.

"Once the game starts, you're out there doing everything you can to help your team win. You want him to be proud of you. And the best way to do that is to win."