Columnist Ron Kantowski: Rebels’ power rating soars to new high

Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2000 | 10:55 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday. His page one column appears Thursday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or 259-4088.

What do Michigan State, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Syracuse, Tennessee, Stanford, Texas, and LSU have in common besides their reputations as football powers?

All are ranked behind UNLV in this week's Scripps-Howard college football power ratings.

Here it is, almost halfway through the season, and were the Rebels (95.70 power rating) and Tennessee (90.11) to meet Saturday on a neutral field, UNLV would be considered about a 6-point favorite.

Amazing -- especially when you consider that two years ago UNLV was 0-11 and Tennessee won the national championship.

Whatever they're paying John Robinson, it isn't enough.

At this rate of improvement, it won't be long before beating up on Nevada-Reno won't be a big deal around here.

With its all-time high ranking of No. 37, UNLV tops the Mountain West Conference. Colorado State, which will host the Rebels on Saturday in frigid Fort Collins in a game that may decide who will be touring Graceland during the holidays (the MWC champion is locked into the Liberty Bowl in Memphis), is three slots back at No. 40 (94.72 rating).

Allowing for the 4-point home-field advantage, that would make the Rams a small 3-point favorite against the Rebels.

Around the horn

Home viewers who were upset with the quality of the broadcast from Saturday's UNR-UNLV game at Sam Boyd Stadium -- and that the signal was lost altogether for virtually the entire first quarter -- may want to blame Cox Cable.

But it wouldn't do much good.

A spokesman for Cox, which carried the game live -- sort of -- on Metro 48, said the SportsWest network was "The Outer Limits" when it came to Saturday's game -- it controlled the horizontal and the vertical.

According to the spokesman, the problem arose when the satellite SportsWest uses, which sets low on the horizon, was plagued by sunspots.

Maybe for future broadcasts, SportsWest would be wise to put its equipment on the shady side of the field.

Who let the dogs out? Well, for starters, boxers Johnny Tapia and Mike Tyson.

Last week, two of Tapia's bull mastiffs got loose on the range in New Mexico, and attacked a goat herd as if it were Top Rank, Inc., his former management team. The family that owned the goats said it would have settled for an apology from Tapia but didn't get one. So it plans to get Tapia's goat by suing.

Tyson, according to personnel at the University Medical Center Quick Care branch near the airport, was bitten by one of his own dogs and was treated last week. Only he was barking louder than his pet.

One hospital employee said when Tyson was refused preferential treatment, his language became more colorful than Allen Iverson's rap lyrics. Evidently, with his fight with Andrew Golota just around the corner, Iron Mike already has been taken off the Zoloft.

As for the dog, Tyson said the animal "has been taken care of." Whatever that means.

If I were Wayne Newton, who is Tyson's neighbor and had to dispose of a dead ferret after a member of the fighter's entourage tossed the mistreated animal over the fence a couple of years ago, I'd check my back yard for flying fur.

You never know when somebody is going to freak out on an airplane, so perhaps it was a good thing that Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Marc Ratner was wearing his Mountain West Conference referee's uniform on the flight from Denver to Las Vegas early Saturday evening.

Had somebody grabbed an extra bag of peanuts off the beverage cart, Ratner was prepared to flag them for illegal procedure.

In reality, Ratner had a jogging suit over his zebra stripes and was dressed that way out of necessity. He had a tight connecting flight after calling the New Mexico-Colorado State game in Fort Collins in order to make it back for the Tapia-Ayala bout at the MGM Grand.

The Stars should do something to preserve the memory of Doc Holliday, their longtime scoreboard operator who died in his Las Vegas home Thursday night.

I would start by naming the press box after him and having his widow, Sandy, throw out the first pitch at next year's home opener. Then I would dim the scoreboard lights in honor of the one of the nicest, kindest men you could ever hope to meet.

Hits and misses