Columnist Ron Kantowski: LSU-USC would be too close to call

Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2004 | 9:37 a.m.

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

The first question on every college football fan's mind Monday? "What was Britney Spears thinking when she decided to marry George from the Seinfeld show here over the weekend?"

A close second was "Who would win were college football's two national champions to square off?"

That -- like discerning Cher's true hair color or how Snoop Dogg has become the darling of Madison Avenue -- is something we'll never know.

But just for grins, and hoping to give the guys on opposite ends of the sports bar something to talk about while they replenish the free pretzels, I pulled out my Lance Haffner's 3-in-1 computer football game Sunday night, punched in the LSU and USC rosters, and set up the big showdown that the BCS couldn't.

LSU won, 42-37.

Southern Cal's Reggie Bush returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown but Justin Vincent (16 carries, 106 yards, 2 touchdowns), Michael Clayton (11 receptions, 214 yards, 2 touchdowns), Matt Mauck (20-for-29 passing, 320 yards) and the Tigers edged Mike Williams (6 receptions, 104 yards), Keary Colbert (6 receptions, 91 yards, 2 touchdowns), Matt Leinert (19-for-45 passing, 324 yards, 3 TDs, 4 INTs) and the Trojans.

Of course, the beauty of the computer is that a one-game battle for all the marbles can easily be best-of-3. Or even best-of-10.

So I ran the game 10 times. LSU won five, USC won five. USC's average score was 27.7, LSU's 27.1. The Trojans' biggest win was 27-7, the Tigers' 31-15.

It couldn't get much closer, which is all the more reason to bemoan that the college football season isn't one week longer this year.

Around the horn

Former Cheyenne High star Lynn McGruder, who began his college career at Tennessee but wound up at Oklahoma after violating one of Phil Fulmer's rules (the one about selling pot out of your dorm room), got into Sunday's Sugar Bowl against LSU for several snaps but was not credited with any tackles. McGruder, a junior defensive tackle, played in all 13 games for the Sooners, collecting 25 tackles, including four for losses, and two sacks. ... Jason White, the best player in college football? Surely, you jest. White was brutal in Oklahoma's two biggest games this year, the shocking 35-7 loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 championship game and again against LSU Sunday, when he completed just 13-of-37 passes for 102 yards. White finished the game with eight consecutive incompletions. He's lucky most Heisman Trophy voters usually file their ballots after Thanksgiving dinner. ... In case you've forgotten, the teams that beat USC and LSU were Cal (34-31 in OT) an! d Florida (19-7). Western Illinois is probably feeling pretty good about itself, too. The Division I-AA Leathernecks trailed LSU just 13-7 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter this year before its bubble burst, 35-7. ...

I guess they couldn't find a visor with earmuffs on it, or somebody from Nebraska surely would have approached Steve Spurrier by now. UNLV athletic director Mike Hamrick, who plays golf with a lot of the same people in North Carolina as Spurrier, thinks that job -- were it to open -- would be a good fit. Remember that Spurrier proved he could win at Duke before becoming famous at Florida. ... Anybody not named Paul Hackett or Gerry DiNardo can win at USC or LSU, but try doing it at Bowling Green and Utah. The players Urban Meyer tricked -- er, recruited -- to Bowling Green finished No. 23 in the final AP poll while the ones recruited by Ron McBride who Meyer coached at Utah this year wound up No. 21 in his first year on the job. ... Sam Brandon is the new Charles Dimry,the former UNLV defensive back w hose middle name became "Toast" thanks to Jerry Rice on Monday Night Football a few years back. Brandon, who played ! for the Rebels from 1998-2001, got on Peyton Manning's Christmas card list by failing to guard any of his receivers Sunday. Brandon had such a rough day that CBS put up a graphic illustrating his futility. ...

To nobody's surprise, former UNLV and Cheyenne High star Marcus Banks is struggling a bit in making the considerable jump from the Mountain West to the NBA. He is averaging 15.4 minutes for the Celtics, but his shot has deserted him, as evidenced by his .373, .296 and .673 percentages from the field, 3-point distance and free-throw line. ... Remember Richie Frahm, the former Gonzaga gunner who wasn't good enough to play minor-league basketball for the Las Vegas Slam a couple of years ago? Well, he's in the NBA now, with the Sonics. In fact, Frahm ranks sixth in the NBA in 3-point field-goal percentage (.455) despite averaging just 10 minutes per game. ... While it was nice that UNLV called out former women's basketball star Linda Frohlich to take a bow at halftime of the Montana game last week after having her jersey retired during the women's game against Cal Poly a couple of hours earlier, it also called attention to the fact that the 1990 NCAA men's cha! mpionship banner had vanished from the Thomas & Mack Center. "Put our national championship banner back up," some leather-lugged fan cried, perhaps thinking the school was trying to further distance itself from Jerry Tarkanian's great teams. Not true. A UNLV spokesman said the banner was taken down to add Stacey Cvijanovich's name to it after all these years. The oversight has been corrected and the banner will be back in the rafters for Wednesday's game against the Occidental tourists.

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