DULY NOTED

Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.

HORNED FROGS' LEAP IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL POLL NOT HIGH ENOUGH

If you want to take Craig Thompson to task for his choice of television broadcast partner, go right ahead. But let me be among the first (at least this season) to congratulate the Mountain West Conference commissioner for inviting Texas Christian to the MWC's dog and pony show.

Thanks to football, it's looking like a better move than the King's Gambit in chess.

With the longest winning streak in Division I-A (13 games) and a 4-0 record against the Big 12, there are those who believe the Horned Frogs are getting rooked in the polls. Starting with TCU coach Gary Patterson.

"People have been underselling our kids for years," Patterson said after TCU shut down Texas Tech 12-3 Saturday to go 4-0 against the Big 12 since the start of last season. The Frogs also became only the second opponent to hold the prolific Red Raiders without a touchdown since 2000 while avenging a 70-35 loss to Tech two years ago.

"All everybody wants to talk about is the Big 12," Patterson said. "We're not the Big 12, just a Texas team playing with Texas players."

Which might explain why Mountain West teams are Texas toast. Last year, TCU was 8-0 against the dogs and ponies. Having climbed five spots to No. 15 in the AP poll, the Frogs could expose a few more warts in the Bowl Championship Series if they run the conference table again and win their only remaining nonconference game against Army.

That way, those of us who live in Southern Nevada might even get to see them play on TV.

AROUND THE HORN

Big package, small town. Harvey Dahl, a 6-foot-5, 310-pound offensive tackle who played his college football at Nevada-Reno but before that was a football player and all-state wrestler at tiny Churchill High School in Fallon, has made the San Francisco 49ers' 53-man roster. It was quite a pick-me-up for Dahl, whose father, Joe, was seriously injured last month when he steered his small airplane into a power line ... Three of the Almost Original Ten (AOT) Las Vegas football-playing high schools have winning records heading into Week 4 of the prep football season. Canyon Springs, Desert Pines and Cheyenne are all 2-1 ... Time is on our side: Due to college football's new speed-up rules, Mountain West Conference games are averaging an even three hours and 161 plays compared with 3:26 and 182 at this time last season ... In this space last Saturday, I noted there will be 11 Nextel Cup drivers competing in Saturday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That should have read 11 former Nextel Cup drivers.

Gavin Maloof:

"There's this myth that all of the sudden we're going to make $100 million a year. That's the casino business, not this business. You lose fortunes in sports. You don't make fortunes in sports."

on the impact a new downtown arena would have on the Sacramento Kings' bottom line

ALL THE KINGS MEN

That would be NBA and Palms hotel-casino owners Joe and Gavin Maloof, who say they are still committed to keeping the Kings in Sacramento, despite a contentious meeting with city officials as negotiations for a new arena in a downtown Sacramento rail yard continued.

During an emotional 90-minute interview with the Sacramento Bee, the brothers say they were "blindsided" when the city and county reneged on several key issues they thought they had already negotiated, such as parking spaces at a new facility that would replace Arco Arena.

Despite the meeting that was described as "disastrous," the brothers told the Bee they are still committed to Sacramento and do not plan to move the franchise to Las Vegas. Or anyplace else.

Number of shots off the lead Arnold Palmer finished at this past weekend's Champions Tour event. His score was 43 shots over par.

167

Games since TCU was last shut out. Texas blanked the Horned Frogs 32-0 in 1991.

0-4

UNLV's success rate on fourth down during Saturday's 42-13 loss at Hawaii