Dec. 15, 1999

LAS VEGAS — Fresno State's Billy Volek is the quarterback least likely to be intercepted in all of college football — ever — with season and career NCAA records to prove it. He threw three interceptions to 30 touchdown passes this season and threw three interceptions last season. He's thrown 12 interceptions in his whole career. He's thrown one in his last nine games, and his last one was on Oct. 14.

Utah's cornerback tandem of Jay Hill and Andre Dyson is the most likely in the NCAA this season to get interceptions, the only two players from one team who rank among the nation's top 10 interceptors, with six each. And the Utes' pass-efficiency defense (96.82 rating) ranks sixth in the NCAA.

This is just one of many areas where these two teams — that are unheralded nationally but have some very impressive statistics — collide in the numbers columns long before they start playing Saturday's 4 p.m. MST Las Vegas Bowl at Sam Boyd Stadium on ESPN2 and, locally, the Animal Planet channel.

Some of the numbers mislead, as statistics always do, but others are rather remarkable. And some are remarkably similar between the two schools, such as the points they score per game — 8-4 Fresno getting 33.1 points a game and 8-3 Utah 33.0, ranking 15th and 16th in the NCAA and leading their respective conferences. Each team scored 75 points placekicking. Also, their quarterbacks' efficiency ratings are among the best in the country.

Volek finished this season, his last in college, as No. 4 in the NCAA in pass efficiency with a 152.9 rating, behind only three Heisman Trophy finalists — Michael Vick, Joe Hamilton and Chad Pennington. Utah's T.D. Croshaw, a junior who was a backup to start the season, didn't play enough to make the NCAA list but led the Mountain West Conference with a 146.6 rating that would rank sixth nationally. Croshaw's thrown 14 touchdown passes including four in a game twice. Volek threw four TDs in one game.

Volek broke the NCAA career record of Utah State's Anthony Calvillo — another Las Vegas Bowl quarterback (1993) — for career-low percentage of interceptions. Calvillo's percentage of interceptions to career attempts was 2.4, and Volek's is 1.3. Volek's 0.8 percentage in his senior season broke the NCAA mark of 1.1 percent held jointly by fellow Heisman winners Payton Manning and Charlie Ward.

Volek explained his success in a session recently on ESPN.com. "I throw to the open guy and go through my reads. I know the offense inside and out this year," he said on the Internet. "I just try not to force throws and by not turning the ball over, it puts the team in a position to win. It also helps the defense."

While both teams score well, Utah goes about it a little differently at times, having scored four touchdowns on defense (three interception returns, fumble return) and five on special teams (three punt runbacks by Steve Smith, who is out of the bowl with a cracked neck vertebrae, and two on blocked kicks that were run back by Hill and Dyson).

Fresno scored 48 of its 53 total touchdowns this season on offense, 32 passing and 16 rushing. Utah scored 39 of its 48 total TDs on offense (24 passing, 15 rushing).

Oddly, Utah averages more passing yards (231.3-219.2), and Fresno outrushes what was supposed to be a great Ute running game, 172.5-147.9 yards per game.

While the offensive numbers are strong for the Utes, the real aces have been their scoring defense (allowing opponents 17.6 points a game, 13th in the NCAA) and their turnover margin (+.73 per game, 16th in the NCAA).

On the surface, the 336.4 total-offense yards per game that Utah's defense surrenders hardly scares anyone, though it's better than the 381.9 Fresno gives up. But the way, the U. defense performance close to the goal has stopped opponents dead. In 31 opponent ventures to the Ute 20-yard line or closer, the enemy has come away with only 10 TDs, just 32 percent. The Bulldogs are 30-for-46 scoring touchdowns when hitting the red zone.

On ESPN.com, Volek was asked what scares him about Utah, and he said it's people like Dyson and Hill. "I would say their skill positions," he said. "They are fundamentally sound. They play hard on the outside. They don't do a lot of things to trick you. They just line up and say, 'Our guys are better than yours.' But mostly, it is the guys on the outside," Volek said.