UNR rivalry ranks among favorites

Friday, Sept. 29, 2006 | 7:33 a.m.

Mike Sanford knows a thing or two about rivalries.

As a player at the University of Southern California, he suited up four times for USC when the Trojans took on Notre Dame in perhaps the greatest rivalry in college football.

As an assistant coach, Sanford has been on the sidelines for 11 other USC-Notre Dame games (nine as a Trojans assistant, two with the Irish), two Army-Navy games (with the Cadets), two Utah-BYU clashes (with the Utes) and one Stanford-Cal matchup (with the Cardinal).

On Saturday night Sanford will lead UNLV against UNR's Wolf Pack for the second time as the Rebels' head coach.

Sanford's inaugural UNLV-UNR matchup may be forgettable. His Rebels lost to the Wolf Pack, 22-14, at Mackay Stadium in Reno, but Sanford didn't hesitate when asked his favorite memory from 30 years of coaching in in college rivalry games.

"I have two," Sanford said this week. "One as a player and one as a coach."

The 1974 USC-Notre Dame game, in which the Trojans rallied from a 24-0 deficit with 55 unanswered points for a 55-24 victory, did not make Sanford's list - although he was a third-string freshman quarterback for USC at the time.

"When I was a player at SC, in 1975, we went to Notre Dame and I was the third quarterback," he said. "The NCAA had a rule at that time that you could only travel (with) 48 players.

"Because I was the third quarterback and they had to use every able-bodied person, I was on the kickoff team.

"We line up for the opening kickoff and it was one of those beautiful Midwestern, sunny days, and we break the huddle and I'm on the Notre Dame sideline - looking right at (Irish coach) Dan Devine - (for) the kickoff for the Notre Dame-USC game."

USC won that game, 24-17, but it wasn't the score that left such a lasting impression on Sanford.

"That was such an awesome memory," he said. "I just have a clear picture of that day in my mind and it was awesome."

Sanford said the 1990 USC-UCLA showdown at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, when he was the Trojans' wide receivers' coach, is the one rivalry game that sticks out in his mind from a coach's standpoint. A pass play with 16 seconds remaining lifted the Trojans to a 45-42 victory against the Bruins.

"As a coach, the shootout between Todd Marinovich and Tommy Maddox, when (USC) won at the end of the game on a corner route from Todd Marinovich to Johnnie Morton that would be a great memory," he said.

Sanford's favorite rivalry of all-time? Not surprisingly, he picked UNLV-UNR.

"I think they're all great," he said, "but because (UNLV-UNR) is the one I'm in right now, this one is the most special."