Columnist Ron Kantowski: QB Thomas silences UNLV boo birds at BYU

Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2002 | 8:33 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's insider notes column appears Tuesday and his Page One column appears Thursday. He can be reached at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

Take that Rebels fans.

UNLV quarterback Jason Thomas was booed without mercy during a 25-16 loss to New Mexico two weeks ago. But his 10-for-13 passing effort combined with several teeth-chattering scrambles during a 24-3 victory over BYU Saturday resulted in a performance that was more efficient than a Geo Metro during an EPA test.

If I were Thomas, when the Rebels return home to play Wyoming next weekend I would take the BYU game ball and overthrow a few passes into the stands beyond the UNLV bench during the pregame warm-up.

A look at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the week in local sports:

THE GOOD: Every time you start to take the guys in the sports book industry for granted, they remind you how good they really are when it comes to setting football lines.

Take Saturday's Conference USA game between woeful Army (0-7) and woefully mediocre Houston (3-4). This one had to be like forecasting the Mean Machine vs. the Guards, with the books settling on a composite line of Houston minus 14.

When the Cadets and the Cougars were through running up and down the field at each other's expense, the final was Houston 56, Army 42.

Exactly 14 points.

Amazing.

Three short years ago, Durango High's Kurt Busch was driving a sportsman stock car around the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring against guys who get their hands dirty for a living.

On Sunday, he became a multiple winner on the NASCAR Winston Cup Circuit.

To put it in perspective, that's like going from high school drama class to a starring role alongside DeNiro or Pacino.

There's something to be said about being in the right place at the right time, and when noted car owner Jack Roush decided to hire a young lion to drive his No. 97 car last season, Busch must have felt like Ringo when the Beatles told Pete Best to take a hike.

But life is also filled with people who don't take advantage of the opportunities that come their way.

Young Busch is not one of those.

THE BAD: The Mountain West Conference picked a bad year to commit four teams to bowl games, in that it's hard to project four MWC teams fulfilling the necessary (and modest) requirement of six wins to become bowl eligible.

All you have to do to go bowling these days is go .500 (6-6). But only 6-1 Air Force and 6-2 Colorado State have won more games than they've lost.

That's what the Mountain West gets, I suppose, for beefing up its early season schedules. While I still think Utah's 10-7 loss at Michigan last month did more for the league's credibility than beating Louisville every year in the Liberty Bowl, the scheduling philosophy could wind up biting the conference on the backside when the bowl bids are divvied up.

Of course, now that the MWC teams are mostly playing each other (and not Notre Dame), the wins should become more frequent.

Well, we've officially started our two weeks of fair weather, so in keeping with the spirit of the temperature outside, a throng of well wishers turned out for the UNLV football luncheon Monday to bask in the glow of the 24-3 victory over BYU.

Last week, it was more like a thong that showed up to hear John Robinson's comments after an equally stunning 25-16 defeat to New Mexico.

Al Roker should have so many fair-weather fans.

THE GOOD AND BAD: Air Force's 21-14 loss to Notre Dame Saturday night fits in a mixed bag.

On one hand, it was disappointing that the Mountain West pacesetters could not muster more offense against the likewise undefeated Fighting Irish. On the other, considering the N.D. players outweighed their Falcon counterparts by about 30 pounds per man in the trenches and were about a second faster everywhere else, perhaps losing to Notre Dame by only a touchdown is something to hang your helmet on.

As the announcers pointed out, Notre Dame had 15 high school All-Americans on the field Saturday. Air Force had zero.

Still, that hasn't precluded the Falcons from moving the ball against Notre Dame in years past.

What happened to those reverses and counters Fisher DeBerry used to run to keep the defense honest?

THE UGLY: Brigham Young's offense against UNLV looked worse than those bib jerseys the Cougars wore a couple of seasons back.

The Rebels' defense was outstanding in Saturday's 24-3 win, the first for a UNLV team in Provo since 1981. Yet, if you were around back then, you had to feel that UNLV accomplished a little more in pulling out a 45-41 victory on that last-second TD strike from Sam King to Jim Sandusky.

The Cougars were ranked No. 8 in the country when the Rebels knocked them off. Their quarterbacks that season were Jim McMahon and Steve Young.

BYU's quarterbacks on Saturday were Matt Berry and Lance Pendleton (no relation to Joe Pendleton, it can be assumed, from "Heaven Can Wait"). If they're lucky, those two might get McMahon or Young's autograph before their college days are done. Air Force had zero.