Matchup could have an L.A. flavor

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2001 | 10:48 a.m.

The Las Vegas Bowl held a get-together Monday night at Big Dog's Cafe to kick off its ticket selling campaign for the Christmas Day bowl game. And even though the two teams playing likely won't be officially invited until early December, bowl officials have a pretty good idea of what their matchup will be.

How does Utah against the winner of Saturday's USC-UCLA game grab you?

"We're definitely going to be sending people to the Utah-BYU game and also the USC-UCLA game this weekend," Tina Kunzer-Murphy, executive director of the Las Vegas Bowl, said. "But a lot of things can still happen."

Such as BYU going undefeated and landing a spot in the Fiesta Bowl. That would move Utah into the Liberty Bowl, which normally gets the Mountain West Conference champ. Las Vegas would then have to pick between the winner of Saturday's Colorado State (5-5) at New Mexico (5-4) game, or possibly Air Force (5-4) if the Falcons win their final three games.

And if the Pac-10 was to somehow sneak another team into a BCS bowl, that could cause some last-minute switching in the lower bowls for that conference's schools.

But the best bet going into this weekend's games is Utah (7-2, 5-0) will play either USC (5-5, 4-3) or slumping UCLA (6-3, 3-3) on Dec. 25.

"I would say there's a good possibility (the winner of the USC-UCLA game will play in Las Vegas)," David Hirsch, assistant public relations director for the Pac-10 Conference, said. "That would be good for here. People from Los Angeles could get over here easily. Plus it's a large television market."

"The name recognition is so great," Kunzer-Murphy said. "And in the community, when they hear SC or UCLA, their local alumni will come out. This city is made up of so many people who have graduated from a Pac-10 institution that we're very excited about the prospects."

Getting either USC or UCLA would be an ironic coup for the Las Vegas Bowl.

USC had a chance to accept a Las Vegas Bowl bid in 1997 after going 6-5 but declined because it felt the bowl wasn't up to its standards. Athletic director Mike Garrett then fired head coach John Robinson a couple of weeks later, and has since been to just one bowl game -- the 1998 Sun Bowl, where the Trojans were clobbered by TCU.

Now, however, any bowl would be welcomed around Heritage Hall.

"I've never been to a bowl," junior wide receiver Kareem Kelly said this week. "I don't know what that atmosphere is like."

Meanwhile, the thought of landing a team such as UCLA a month ago seemed about as likely as hitting a Megabucks jackpot. The Bruins were 6-0 and talking about staying home for the holidays to play in the national championship game at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 3. But three straight losses and the suspension of star tailback DeShaun Foster has UCLA ticketed to Las Vegas even with a victory over the Trojans.

One reason for that is the Sun Bowl, which gets the third-place team from the Pac-10, is not interested in hosting the Bruins two years in a row. Meanwhile, the new Seattle Bowl, which gets the Pac-10's No. 4 team, would like to get a Pacific Northwest team, probably the loser of Saturday's Apple Cup game between Washington and Washington State, to pit against the No. 4 team from the ACC.

Hard to believe, but if Bob Toledo's squad were to lose to USC for a third straight time, the Bruins could be scrambling for a bid to the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose against Fresno State, or the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise against either Louisiana Tech or Boise State.

Meanwhile, even if Utah were to upset eighth-ranked BYU on Saturday in Provo to tie the Cougars for the MWC title, the Liberty Bowl, which gets to pick which co-champ it wants, would likely stick with the more highly rated Cougars to play the Conference USA champ in Memphis on New Year's Eve.

"We could have a team next week or we may have to wait on the BCS (which picks on Dec. 9)," Kunzer-Murphy said. "But both teams will be able to drive here, which I think makes a big difference with everything going on in the world today."

Utah vs. USC. UCLA vs. Utah. Either way it a nice ring to it for the Las Vegas Bowl folks.

Ticket information for the Las Vegas Bowl can be obtained by calling Tickets.com at (888) 464-2468 or at www.lvbowl.com.