Urban renewal hits Utah, MWC

Monday, Oct. 20, 2003 | 9:20 a.m.

While the Mountain West Conference is probably best known for its roster of veteran coaches that includes John Robinson, Fisher DeBerry and Sonny Lubick, don't expect Utah's Urban Meyer to join them in the AARP before he's through with the X's and O's.

It's not that Meyer can't coach as well as those guys. It's just that at age 39, it's hard to see him growing old and gray in a steppingstone conference such as the Mountain West.

The only thing brighter than the sunshine on an 88-degree day at Sam Boyd Stadium Saturday was the coaching mind and future of Meyer, who has turned around a stagnant Utah program in a little more than half a season.

The Utes always have a lot of talent, as all those NFL running backs who receive the Utah alumni newsletter will testify, but never seemed to live up to it under affable Ron McBride.

But the Utes are McBridemaids no longer. Their adjustment to Meyer's complicated spread offense nearly complete, they throttled UNLV 28-10 Saturday to improve to 6-1 overall and a commanding 3-0 in the MWC. On Sunday, they broke into the AP Top 25 poll at No. 24.

Utah's only blemish came at Texas A&M, where it lost on the last play of the game when a 2-point conversion failed. Quarterback Brett Elliott suffered a broken wrist while trying to vault into the end zone as Utah came up about a half-yard short.

Elliott can now relate to Wally Pipp, the old Yankees first baseman who never got his job back after getting a headache and yielding to Lou Gehrig.

With Elliott on the mend, Meyer turned to sophomore Alex Smith who has been spectacular in guiding the Utes to victories against Cal, MWC kingpin Colorado State, Oregon, San Diego State and UNLV.

Meyer's spread offense, which features five wide receivers about 50 percent of the time (and no quarterback about 5 percent), might be tailor-made for the physical Smith, because it has a built-in option for the quarterback to run with the football.

That's exactly what Smith did against UNLV, rushing for 97 yards while passing for 207 more.

He made Meyer look like a genius, just as his two Bowling Green teams did. Or is it the other way around?

After coaching Bowling Green to 8-3 and 9-3 records in his two seasons there and turning around Utah in a heartbeat, how long will it before one of those football factories in the Midwest, where Meyer has deep roots, begin to gauge his interest?

All I know is if I'm Ty Willingham at Notre Dame, I might be a little nervous if all this losing doesn't cease and desist in a year or two.

Maybe that sounds crazy, but patience and understanding have yet to be used in the same sentence by Fighting Irish fans and alumni. And then there's the little fact that Meyer spent five seasons at Notre Dame as wide receivers coach.

That's not to say that Willingham's job is in jeopardy, as last year's 10-3 had to buy him so equity. Just the same, he -- and others -- should he happy that Utah is done playing on Thursday night on national TV for a while.

The starting 11

OHIO STATE 19, IOWA 10: In this era of high-tech, special-effect offenses, the Buckeyes prefer to do it with smoke and mirrors. On Saturday, Ohio State used two special teams touchdowns and a 53-yard field goal to beat Iowa. OSU, with an offense ranked 109th among 117 teams, won for the second time without scoring an offensive touchdown. The other was against San Diego State, the worst team in the lightly regarded Mountain West.

PURDUE 26, WISCONSIN 23 After he completed 38 of 55 passes for 411 yards to spark the Boilermakers in a battle of unbeatens, quarterback Kyle Orton proclaimed, "Obviously, this is why I came to Purdue ... throwing every down." And here I thought it was because of the night life in West Lafayette.

FLORIDA 33, ARKANSAS 28: Don't be surprised if Florida returns to The Swamp wearing its white jerseys. Once left for handbags and cowboy boots in the SEC race, the Gators have scored impressive road wins at LSU and Arkansas and are back in the hunt for a spot in the SEC title game.

SOUTHERN CAL 45, NOTRE DAME 14: USC's 45 points were the most it has scored in 34 visits to Notre Dame Stadium, and it didn't even need Anthony Davis and J.K. McKay to embarrass the Fighting Irish on its home turf. Notre Dame quarterback Brady "Not So Mighty" Quinn was limited to 15 completions in 34 attempts for 168 yards.

FLORIDA STATE 19, VIRGINIA 14: Yes, there is a Santa Claus, and he wears a Virginia football uniform. The Cavaliers made two key turnovers and also botched a snap from center for a key 17-yard loss on third down, handing Florida State a victory that enabled Bobby Bowden to tie Joe Paterno for first place on the all-time victory list with 338.

GEORGIA 27, VANDERBILT 8: The Bulldogs were ahead 3-2 with three minutes left in the third quarter and had Ugueth Urbina up and throwing in the bullpen before everything returned to normal. It was so quiet in the stadium you could hear a penalty flag drop, as only 27,832 were on hand -- most wearing red and black -- at Nashville after Georgia had played in front of more than 100,000 on the other side of the state (Knoxville) the previous week.

AUBURN 45, MISSISSIPPI STATE 13: Remember earlier this year when the only Auburn highlights were those in the the hair of its cheerleaders? Since then, the Tigers have reeled off five consecutive victories and on Saturday washed and rinsed Mississippi State repeatedly, even thought it really wasn't necessary. The blowout came one day after MSU coach Jackie Sherrill announced his resignation, but it appears the Bulldogs players quit long before their coach.

MICHIGAN STATE 44, MINNESOTA 38: If you can't figure out why the Spartans keep winning, it's because they make fewer mistakes than an MIT grad balancing a checkbook. Michigan State did not have a turnover for the fourth consecutive game and thus was able to beat Minnesota in an outing that was not as close as the final score. The Spartans led 17-0 early and stayed on top by two touchdowns until the closing minutes.

MIAMI 52, TEMPLE 14: Fifth-year senior Jarrett Payton, the son of the late, great Walter Payton, topped 100 yards for the first time as the Hurricanes struck a blow to Temple. After playing behind James Jackson, Najeh Davenport, Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee and Frank Gore, Payton finally got his chance to star when Gore sustained a season-ending knee injury against West Virginia. After turning the Owls defense into shredded wheat with 115 yards on 16 carries, Payton became lightheaded and fell. He soon recovered, saying he should have had another bowl of cereal at breakfast.

OKLAHOMA STATE 51, TEXAS TECH 49: In a game that took a NASCAR-like 4 1/2 hours to finish, the Red Raiders made a late pit stop for right-side rubber and nearly rallied for an improbable win. Tech rallied from 27 points down in the fourth quarter but the comeback went up in smoke when prolific quarterback B.J. Symons threw an interception inside of two minutes to play.

TCU 27, UAB 24: The Horned Frogs, who have had more close calls than Batman and Robin, rallied again to remain undefeated and keep their BCS hopes intact -- yeah, right. But they may have lost quarterback Tye Gunn to injury for the second time, as Gunn was carted off the field in the third quarter with a serious-looking knee problem.

Big men on campus

Stat's enough

Nebraska equaled a school record by forcing eight turnovers in a 48-12 victory against Texas A&M. The last time Nebraska had eight turnovers was 1991, against Colorado State. ... Many happy returns: Antonio Perkins tied a Division I-A record with his fourth punt return for a touchdown this season and seventh for his career as No. 1 Oklahoma beat No. 24 Missouri 34-13. ... Hawaii and Louisiana Tech combined for 939 passing yards in Hawaii's 44-41 win. Warriors quarterback Timmy Chang was 33-of-46 for 534 yards and four interceptions. Luke McCown was 31-of-48 for 405 yards with one interception for Tech. ... Family affair: Eli Manning accounted for four touchdowns as Mississippi beat Alabama 43-28. The Rebels have beaten the Crimson Tide just eight times in 51 meetings -- half of those with either Eli or his father, Archie Mann ing, at quarterback. The Manning family is 7-3 against the Crimson Tide, with brother Peyton Manninggoing 3-1 ag! ainst Alabama at Tennessee.

Couch Potato Bowl

I've heard of fans throwing oranges or roses onto the field, to celebrate a berth in one of the BCS bowl games, but until Saturday, had never witnessed fans throwing money onto the field out of protest. In the second half of Syracuse's 39-14 victory against Boston College at the Carrier Dome, fans in the upper deck began to throw $1 and $5 bills, to mock the Eagles' recent decision to join the Atlantic Coast Conference for financial reasons. I didn't see any stock certificates floating down from the luxury boxes, however.

Division I-A Lite

A look at the top teams in the non-BCS conferences:

1. Northern Illinois (MAC): Who will burst the Huskies' bubble? Not Western Michigan.

2. Miami of Ohio (MAC): Redskins scoring more than Warren Beatty, Joe Millionaire and that kid who's dating Demi Moore.

3. Utah (MWC): Utes movement keeps rolling along at UNLV's expense.

4. TCU (USA): Frogs have warts, but won-lost record isn't one of them.

5. Colorado State (MWC): Rams are red-hot, and it's only October.

6. Bowling Green (MAC): Again, we ask: How many of those Michigan directional schools are there?

7. Boise State (WAC): Idaho not so private anymore, thanks to BSU.

8. Navy (IND): No Middies-of-the-road effort so far.

9. Toledo (MAC): Loss to UNLV seems like ancient history.

10. Air Force (MWC): Falcons needed a couple of more days before Colorado State.

Games we'd like to see

In this space each week the Sun will present a dream college football matchup, with statistics and highlights provided by Lance Haffner Games' 3-in-1 computer simulation. Readers who would like to propose future matchups can do so by contacting the Sun via e-mail at ron@lasvegassun.com.

1997 Michigan 12, 1997 Nebraska 10: These two never met on the field, but following the 1997 bowl season, they emerged as the two best teams and split the national championship. In our dream matchup, Michigan prevailed in a defensive struggle as Kraig Baker kicked field goals of 37, 20, 29 and 34 yards, offsetting the game's only touchdown, a 2-yard run by Nebraska quarterback Scott Frost just before halftime. Brian Griese completed 22 of 33 passes for 269 yards as Michigan enjoyed significant advantages in total yards (389-205) and time of possession (35:09-24:51).

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