Columnist Ron Kantowski: Two Utes treat old chum like a traitor

Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004 | 9:14 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

Whoever said familiarity breeds contempt was right.

During his introductory news conference a couple of weeks ago, I asked new UNLV football coach Mike Sanford if the knowledge he gained of the Mountain West during his two seasons as offensive coordinator at Utah would give him an unusual advantage in taking over here.

What I didn't realize is that the same issue would cost Sanford the thrill of calling the plays for the undefeated Utes in their much-ballyhooed Fiesta Bowl appearance against Pitt on Jan. 1.

After the aforementioned news conference, Sanford told reporters he thought it could be worked out where a lame duck offensive coordinator would be allowed to join a lame duck head coach (Urban Meyer) in sunny Tempe for what is arguably the biggest game in Utah football history, all those lame ducks notwithstanding.

Turns out he was only half right. Whereas Meyer was allowed to put aside his recently acquired duties as Florida head coach for a couple of days to coach the Utes, Sanford was told he wouldn't be needed in Arizona.

According to published reports, that decision was a joint one made by Meyer and Utah athletic director Chris Hill. But UNLV insiders say it was mostly Hill's decision, perhaps his way of getting back at Sanford for leaving Utah for a conference rival.

So while the Utes and what remains of their coaching staff were strolling down the red carpet while being serenaded by a mariachi band upon arriving Sunday in Tempe, Sanford was beating the recruiting bushes for some offensive linemen. And defensive linemen. And wide receivers. And linebackers. And defensive backs, etc.

While I don't think he's too terribly hurt by the decision, Utah should have allowed Sanford to coach, if that's what he wanted, instead of banishing him to the Benedict Arnold Bowl.

During his news conference, Sanford was blunt in telling reporters that Utah's high-powered spread attack was "my offense." I guess if nothing else, we'll see how prolific it can be without its self-proclaimed wizard working the controls from behind the press box curtain.

While it would appear the coaching staff is through bailing out on the Utes, it remains to be be seen if their star quarterback will do the same.

Alex Smith, a finalist for this year's Heisman Trophy, has already graduated but has a year of football eligibility left, and it remains to be seen whether the Utah athletic department will have to dip into petty cash to launch a Heisman campaign for him next year.

The best guess is that if Smith is projected as a first-round pick in the upcoming NFL draft, he's gone. If not, he'll probably be back to play in new offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig's drop-back system, which is a far cry from the run-pass option attack of Meyer -- er, Sanford.

Smith has until Jan. 15 to declare himself eligible for the draft and three days after that to un-declare, provided he doesn't hire an agent.

Is it too late to vote for Wyoming's Joe Glenn for coach of the year in the Mountain West?

As expected, Glenn had the Cowboys fired up to play in the Las Vegas Bowl. And just as expected, UCLA's Karl Dorrell had the Bruins fired up to play some blackjack on the Strip.

So the team that opened as a double-digit underdog won, 24-21.

Nothing against the fantastic job Urban Meyer did at Utah, but to turn around a dreadful Wyoming program in just two short years might be the bigger accomplishment. Plus, Glenn has made it clear that he's happy in Rulon Gardens, as Sports Illustrated referred to Wyoming in its Great American Sports Atlas issue, and isn't going anywhere he can't wear a leather vest and Wranglers to work.

While the Wyoming-UCLA game set a Las Vegas Bowl attendance record, the turnout would have been even more impressive had Navy been Wyoming's opponent. That was looking like a possibility until Texas moved ahead of Cal in the final BCS poll, which allowed the Pac-10 to fulfill its commitment of sending a bowl-eligible team to Sam Boyd Stadium.

But the Pac-10 came up one short for the Emerald Bowl, thus allowing Navy to take a spot in that game against New Mexico of the Mountain West.

Whereas UCLA fans bought fewer than 4,000 tickets in the run-up to the Las Vegas Bowl, Navy already has sold 15,000 for Thursday's contest at SBC Park in San Francisco to help keep that game afloat.

It wasn't that long ago when Fresno State's Pat Hill was the hot ticket in college football coaching circles.

The Bulldogs struggled a bit this year to make it to the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise but they knocked off another toughie in Virginia on Monday in an overtime thriller.

You don't think Hill, a former UNLV assistant, can't get an interview because of the way he looks (Fu Manchu mustache) or talks (constant poker references and analogies), do you?

Well, at least he'll always be popular with the Orange County Choppers or fans of Monster Garage.

Maybe the MPC Computers Bowl isn't the biggest play-by-play gig of the bowl season. Nor are Keith Jackson or Brent Musburger lining up to call the Continental Tires Bowl in Charlotte (Boston College vs. North Carolina) or the Music City Bowl in Nashville (Alabama vs. Minnesota).

But somebody's got to do it, and that somebody is Las Vegan Alex Shelton, who will describe the action for Nevada Sports Net, the company he heads.

"If you cannot hear the games in Las Vegas because there is a radio shopping marathon show or the best of Al Bernstein will be airing," Shelton joked in an e-mail, "you can hear them on Sirius satellite radio."

Maybe it was just coincidence, but did you notice that during Odartey Blankson's recent scoring slump, UNLV basketball coach Lon Kruger had taken to calling his star forward "Dot" instead of by his full nickname of "O-Dot?"

It was as if, as one of the guys on the sports desk said, that Blankson had lost his "O" at small forward.

But after switching back to power forward, Dotson immediately rediscovered his offensive touch, scoring 30 points and pulling down 11 rebounds in UNLV's 80-65 victory over Gardner-Webb last week.

So for now, he's back to being O-Dot.

Supposedly, there's a 3-second delay on the big video monitor at the Orleans Arena that apparently isn't working very well at Wranglers hockey games.

In the very next game after a female fan bared her breasts for all to see, a fan on Sunday flashed the middle finger for the arena's in-house camera.

Combined with the antics of tough guy Billy Tibbetts, what was once billed as a family night out for Wranglers fans should now come with an R-rating.

It had to be the quote of the year in college football, Virginia's Marquis Weeks, explaining his kickoff return against North Carolina for a touchdown:

"That was just instinct," Weeks said. "Kind of like running from the cops."

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