ARSLANIAN ON THE DEFENSIVE ABOUT CONTROVERSIAL REMARKS

A couple of metaphors Dave Arslanian later admitted might have been ill-chosen got the Weber State football coach into some extra-hot water Tuesday at the Big 5 football coaches /media luncheon at the Red Lion Hotel.

Comments Arslanian made about officiating (two calls in the final two minutes) and the way Weber State lost 55-49 at Nevada after leading 49-14 in the third quarter were perceived by the media to mean that gambling interests control game outcomes at Reno."Any statement I made had nothing to do with gambling," Arslanian said hours later. He stuck to his complaint about the calls.

During his talk, Arslanian said, ". . . I know what happens there when it's a good game and it's now on the line and the chips are on the line and the money's on the table. Someone makes a call and reverses the game, and I don't like it . . . ."

He also said, in comparing the game to a boxing match in which one fighter won the first six rounds and the other won the last six " . . . and two knockout punches were thrown. Let's talk about what those knockout punches were. They were thrown by two officials that blew the call Let's call an ace an ace and a spade a spade . . . ."

During an open question-and-answer period, Bill Marcroft of KUTV said to Arslanian, "You have intimated that gambling had something to do with the outcome."

Arslanian's reply: "I know this. If I were a young writer, I wouldn't mind digging into an investigative story. It happens too often in Reno."

Arslanian spent part of Tuesday night trying to clarify what he meant.

"In no way was I referring to gambling. That was the farthest thing from my mind," he said. "I'm not sure why he asked the question. What might have prompted the question was my figurative statement as to `when the chips are on the table.' I could have used (another term)."

Make no mistake: He is still upset about two late calls against Weber that helped the Wolf Pack score its last two touchdowns, and Weber has sent game films to Big Sky Conference commissioner Ron Stephenson, hoping for informal review but not filing a formal protest.

Arslanian maintained Tuesday night that officiating questions "happen there (at Reno) more often. It is simply a case of intimidation. That would be my only reason that I would think that it happens over there," he said.

Not gambling.