Columnist Steve Guiremand: BYU is not yet out of Las Vegas Bowl picture

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Nov. 26, 1999 | 10:32 a.m.

Steve Guiremand's college football column appears Friday. Reach him at 259-2324 or steveg@vegas.com

They probably won't admit it publicly, but the folks from the Las Vegas Bowl will be quietly rooting for Colorado State and Kevin McDougal to take it to the hometown UNLV Rebels on Saturday afternoon at Sam Boyd Stadium.

If the Rams (7-3, 4-2) earn a share of the Mountain West Conference title with an impressive win, there's still a chance that the Liberty Bowl could take Sonny Lubick's squad to face Conference USA champ Southern Miss on New Year's Eve in Memphis.

And if that were to happen -- it's still a long shot even though the Rams would win the conference tiebreaker for a four-way tie -- guess who drops into the Las Vegas Bowl's lap: BYU.

Say what you want about the Cougars' two-game losing streak to end the season, but BYU is still the marquee team in the new Mountain West Conference when it comes to national TV appeal and fan support.

The Cougars have a coaching legend in LaVell Edwards, the best NFL prospect in the league in linebacker Rob Morris, the conference's offensive MVP in quarterback Kevin Feterik and, before a key injury to talented freshman running back Luke Staley, were entertaining thoughts of a possible BCS berth.

Let's put it this way: A BYU-Fresno State matchup sounds a heckuva lot better than Utah-Fresno State or a Colorado State-Fresno State rematch, especially to the large LDS Church population here and in Southern California.

A Las Vegas Bowl official said the committee was ready on Monday to invite either BYU or Utah so it could begin promoting the matchup, which takes place just three weeks from Saturday. However, with its hands still tied because the Liberty Bowl gets first choice and won't make a decision until Sunday, the committee left the matter "in the hands (of MWC commissioner) Craig Thompson."

Let's hope Thompson can do a nice job of selling the Rams, who opened the season with a blowout win over Colorado, to the Liberty Bowl.

Flag Day

BYU athletic director Val Hale has vowed to prohibit giant team flags from future rivalry games with Utah at Cougar Stadium.

Hale made the decision after a BYU fan left the stands and attacked a Utah cheerleader who was waving one of those huge flags after a Utes touchdown. The cheerleader, Billy Priddis, landed "seven or eight good shots" to the head and neck of the fan before being pulled off by security guards as many in the crowd of 65,942 looked on.

Besides taking a good beating, the fan also was arrested for trespassing.

Once around the Mountain West

* AIR FORCE: Falcons' 41-21 loss at Colorado State last week was school's worst since Notre Dame beat them, 44-14, in 1995.

* BYU: Cougars, who won 19 of first 21 games with in-state rival Utah after LaVell Edwards took over as head coach, have won just two of last seven meetings between the schools.

* COLORADO STATE: With a win over UNLV on Saturday, Rams will earn a share of their fourth conference title in six years.

* UNLV: Rebel defense has accumulated just 15 sacks in 10 games, worst in the conference.

* NEW MEXICO: Strong safety Brian Urlacher, one of three finalists for the Jim Thorpe Award, caught two more touchdown passes in Lobos' loss at Wyoming last week. Urlacher, the MWC's top tackler, has seven receptions in spot offensive duty, including six for touchdowns.

* SAN DIEGO STATE: As quarterback Jack Hawley goes, so go the Aztecs. In San Diego State's six losses, Hawley has turned the ball over 14 times with interceptions and fumbles. In the Aztecs' four wins, he has zero turnovers.

* UTAH: Greg Croshaw, father of aptly-named Utah QB T.D. Croshaw, is head coach at Dixie College in St. George, Utah, the nation's No. 1-rated junior college team.

* WYOMING: School recently held a ceremonial groundbreaking for its new 45,200-square foot Rochelle Athletics Center. The $9.4 million facility, to be built north of War Memorial Stadium, will include a new home-team locker room, sports medicine center, equipment room, turf room, weight room, academic center, football offices and a Hall of Fame area.

Once around the nation

* ACC: Wake Forest (6-5, 3-5), which stunned No. 12 Georgia Tech 26-23 last week, has had just 10 winning seasons since 1955. Demon Deacons will make only fourth bowl appearance in school history on Christmas Day in Hawaii.

* BIG EAST: According to several Internet sites, Virginia Tech (10-0, 6-0) must beat Boston College by 24 points today to retain No. 2 spot in BCS rankings over No. 3 Nebraska. Not so coincidentally, the line has moved from Hokies minus 22 to minus 24.

* BIG TEN: Alamo Bowl-bound Penn State (8-3) lost three games to end the regular season for the first time since 1914. It's also the school's first three-game losing streak since 1988.

* BIG 12: Oklahoma offensive coordinator Mike Leach has met with Texas Tech officials to discuss that school's head coaching vacancy.

* BIG WEST: St. Louis Rams tight end coach Lynn Stiles, 58, a former Reno High star, said he's be interested in discussing the Nevada-Reno head coaching job with athletic director Chris Ault.

* CONFERENCE USA: Southern Miss (8-3, 6-0), which will meet one of the Mountain West champs in the Dec. 31 Liberty Bowl, has lost only two conference games in four years.

* MAC: Weird stat of the week: Buffalo (0-11), which will carry a 15-game losing streak into the 2000 season, had 20-play drives in each of its last two games against Virginia and Miami (Ohio) -- and came away with zero points each time.

* PAC-10: Don't be surprised to see Stanford coach Ty Willingham parlay the school's first Rose Bowl appearance in 28 years into an NFL head coaching job. Willingham was an assistant with the Minnesota Vikings for Dennis Green before taking the Stanford job.

* SEC: Vanderbilt (5-5, 2-5) hasn't beaten Tennessee (8-2, 5-2) in Knoxville since 1975. If Commodores upset Vols on Saturday, they likely will knock Kentucky (6-5) out of a Music City Bowl bid.

* WAC: The name LaDainian Tomlinson, who rushed for an NCAA single-game record 406 yards and six touchdowns against UTEP last week, should be familiar to UNLV fans. It was Tomlinson who scored the first touchdown in the final game of the Jeff Horton era last year as TCU cruised to a 41-18 win. Tomlinson gained just 33 yards on 12 carries that day.