Columnist Steve Guiremand: Beavers fulfill LV Bowl dream

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Nov. 28, 2003 | 9:39 a.m.

Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. He can be reached at steveg@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-2324.

Barring a rash of upsets this weekend, it looks like the Las Vegas Bowl will get at least half of its dream matchup for its Christmas Eve game.

Las Vegas Bowl officials were hoping for a UNLV-Oregon State matchup to boost local ticket sales. And until Dillon Pieffer shanked his 23-yard field goal in the final three minutes against Colorado State last weekend, they looked in good shape to get the Rebels. Instead, they get the hottest team in the conference in New Mexico (8-4, 5-2) which will probably sell almost as many tickets to the poorly scheduled game as UNLV would have.

But Las Vegas Bowl executive director Tina Kunzer-Murphy and her staff have to be positively overjoyed about the fact they'll likely end up with the Pac-10 half of their dream scenario.

Oregon State (7-4, 4-3), which ends its season on Dec. 6 at No. 2 USC (10-1, 6-1), has eight Las Vegas prep products on its roster including Pac-10 rushing leader Steven Jackson from Eldorado High School and all-Pac-10 linebacker Richard Seigler from Chaparral High School.

"Being born and raised in Vegas, and not getting an opportunity to play at UNLV, it's going to be kind of exciting to play in a bowl game there," Seigler told the Corvallis Gazette-Times this week. "I've got 10 people in my family alone, and I could get at least 80 or 90 people to that game. I know a lot of people down there.

"It will be an exciting time and it will give our program an opportunity to showcase what we can do, on Christmas Eve when everyone is gathered around the tube with their family."

Gee, Kunzer-Murphy and ace Las Vegas Bowl P.R. honcho Michael Mack probably couldn't have written a better script for Seigler to read if they had tried.

"Las Vegas is a great destination for our kids," Oregon State athletic director Bob De Carolis said. "It will be a great experience for them to play in front of their families, and that will certainly draw the local fans."

Besides Seigler and Jackson, senior safety Lawrence Turner (Cheyenne) and junior linebacker Jonathan Pollard (Las Vegas) are area products who also start for Mike Riley's Beavers. Four reserves, defensive tackle Curtis Coker (Desert Pines), defensive end Jeff Van Orsow (Foothill) and cornerbacks Kellen Marshall (Cimarron) and Gerard Lawson (Palo Verde) all played their high school football here.

Oregon State officials had hoped to start selling tickets and travel packages to the game this week but had to hold off at least another week until the BCS officially releases Washington State, which is likely headed to the Holiday Bowl after its fourth quarter collapse against Washington last week.

The Cougars were still 15th in Monday's BCS poll but could move up because 10 of the 14 teams ahead of them still have games remaining. If the Cougars (9-3, 6-2) were to finish in the top 12 of the BCS, they'd be eligible to play in the Rose Bowl assuming that USC plays for the national title in the Sugar Bowl.

Most bowl projections have Michigan playing Texas in Pasadena if the Trojans make it to New Orleans as expected. So unless the Longhorns are upset by Texas A&M this week, look for a lot of burnt orange stopping by Las Vegas on the way to Pasadena around New Year's Eve.

That would be just fine with the Las Vegas Bowl folks, who would like to see Oregon State's orange and black uniforms at Sam Boyd Stadium next month.

"If we do get a chance to go to Vegas, it will really cap off a fantastic career for me personally," Seigler said.

Trouble Bruin?

It looked like Las Vegas Bowl officials might have a New Mexico-UCLA rematch going into last week's games until Washington upset Washington State and Oregon upset Oregon State.

That would have been even a tougher sell than last year when the Bruins had already canned head coach Bob Toledo.

UCLA (6-6) looked positively awful and intimidated in its 47-22 loss to USC and now may find itself playing Tulsa (8-4) in the Silicon Valley Classic. That's what you call a no-win situation for the Bruins.

Los Angeles Times columnist T.J. Simers, not exactly a big fan of the west coast offense installed by first-year coach Karl Dorrell, now refers to him as "Karl Dullard."

Wrote Simers: "The good news --- for USC fans --- is that (Dorrell) probably has at least two more years on the job to try and fix things before there's an uprising."

Meanwhile, Trojan wide receiver Mike Williams, who just might be the best player in college football, decided to pour salt on UCLA's wounds afterward after catching 11 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns in just one half.

"I honestly feel everybody at UCLA wishes they were here --- aside from their medical school, because their medical school has a prestigious reputation," Williams said. "Everybody who came here in baby blue (paraphernalia), they wish they were in our student section ... Most of them probably didn't come because they knew they were probably going to lose."

And ...

"Every chance we get, long after us guys are gone, we'll still be smacking them around. That's just my personal opinion."

Well, at least Dorrell left the Coliseum with something Saturday ... bulletin board fodder for next year's rematch at the Rose Bowl.

Once around the MWC