SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Utah middle linebacker Tommy Hackenbruck has a bet riding on Saturday's Fiesta Bowl.
It's an inside deal with a former teammate.
Long before former Ute quarterback Brett Elliott led Linfield College to a perfect season and the NCAA Division III football crown, he and Hackenbruck came to an agreement.
"We had a little gentleman's wager," revealed Hackenbruck. "First guy to lose has to buy the other guy dinner. Hopefully after this game it will just be a push."
The fifth-ranked Utes can close out a 12-0 season with a victory over Pittsburgh at Sun Devil Stadium.
Playing in the Fiesta Bowl has additional significance for Hackenbruck, who closes out his collegiate career on New Year's Day. It reminds him of a conversation he had with Elliott four years earlier in their dorm room at the University of Utah. The Oregon natives were lamenting the Utes' 4-7 season and wondering if they had made a mistake by turning down scholarship offers from Oregon State. The Beavers, after all, went 11-1 and defeated Notre Dame (and an assistant coach named Urban Meyer) 41-9 in the Fiesta Bowl.
Though Elliott eventually opted to leave Utah, Hackenbruck is glad he chose to stay.
"The situation worked out," he said.
PLAYING THEIR PART: Even injured freshmen who won't play in Saturday's Fiesta Bowl get a little time in the limelight this week.
Redshirt freshman Alex Puccinelli and true freshman John Peel represented the Utes at the Fiesta Bowl Youth Football Clinic at the Salvation Army's South Mountain Youth Center Thursday.
The two Utes spent a couple of hours with a group of 8- to 14-year-old football players.
"We just talked to them about school. That's what they wanted us to talk to them about — staying in school and about how you can't go to the next level without school," said Puccinelli, a backup linebacker from Toluca Lake, Calif., who played in five games this season and had a tackle-for-loss in the season opener against Texas A&M, the victory that helped get Utah noticed by pollsters and probably helped them most in the BCS rankings.
Puccinelli and Peel also talked to the kids about, "Not giving up on your dream, if you have one, and not letting anybody get in your way," said Puccinelli.
"After that," added Peel, "we just walked around, and they had a bunch of little different clinics going around. We just helped them out with their clinics, and they would ask us questions, just come up to us. We kinda corrected them and stuff."
Puccinelli said, "They had some questions, and we answered them. Showed them footwork, stance, all that stuff."
Peel, a wide receiver, is just five minutes from his Scottsdale home, where he went to Chaparral High School and owns every receiving record in the school's books and set a state record with 40 receiving touchdowns.
"It's almost like being at home, a little vacation at home, so it's nice," Peel said of being at the Fiesta Bowl. "Yeah, it's a good time."
Peel is one of four Utes from Arizona. The others are sophomore offensive lineman Jason Voss of Tempe, redshirt freshman receiver Thomas Huff of Phoenix and redshirt freshman Stephen Gordon of Higley.
Puccinelli also has a somewhat-local link. His father, Pat, was a University of Arizona baseball player.
For the linebacker, being here without being able to play is bittersweet. "Yeah, because I was playing during the season, so it does hurt, especially with a big BCS bowl game like this," he said. "It would be nice to play. It's the way things happen. You've got to get better and come back this spring."
HELP ON THE WAY:Charlie Dickey, who was hired by Kyle Whittingham to coach Utah's offensive line next season, will assist the Utes at the Fiesta Bowl. He'll help coordinate activity in the coaches room inside the press box. Utah is a bit shorthanded with offensive coordinator Mike Sanford's departure to UNLV and the loss of three other assistants from Urban Meyer's staff.
E-mail: dirk@desnews.com
Contributing: Linda Hamilton