Arena League snares pigskin spotlight

Who says the football season is over?

The 18-team Arena Football League kicked off its 20th season two weeks ago and is offering a slate of nine games this weekend.

On Sunday, the Colorado Crush host the Las Vegas Gladiators at the Pepsi Center in Denver (3 p.m. ET, FSN Rocky Mountain).

Part-owned by former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, the Crush beat the Georgia Force 51-48 as 3.5-point dogs in last year’s ArenaBowl held in Las Vegas. This year, they’re off to a 2-0 SU start. In their opener, they beat the Chicago Rush 65-56 as 4-point home favorites. They followed that up with a nail-biting 61-59 victory over the Force as 4-point road dogs.

The starting quarterback for the Crush is 6-foot-4 John Dutton, who had a stand-out college career with the University of Nevada. Dutton was twice named Big West Offensive Player of the Year, including 1996 when he tossed for 2,750 yards, 22 TDs and six interceptions as a junior. That year, he also led the Wolf Pack to its first bowl victory (Las Vegas Bowl).

Entering his fourth season with the Crush, the former Miami Dolphins draft pick owns Colorado’s single game, season and career passing records. Before signing with Colorado in 2003, Dutton played for the San Jose SaberCats who he led to an ArenaBowl title in 2002 and was named game MVP.

Dutton’s counterpart on the Gladiators is six-year veteran Craig Whelihan, a 6-foot-5 pivot out of Pacific. Whelihan was originally drafted by the San Diego Chargers in 1995, and in 1998 completed 149 of 320 passes for 1,803 yards and eight touchdowns for the Bolts.

The Gladiators are 1-1 SU and 1-1 ATS in their first two games.

On Friday, the Force visit the St. Pete Times Forum to play the Tampa Bay Storm in a Southern division matchup (Sun Sports, Sirius Radio, Ch. 180).

Although they lost to the Crush in Week 2, the Force won their season opener beating the Orlando Predators 48-31 as 6-point home favorites. They are currently 1-1 SU and 1-1 ATS.

The Force are owned by Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons. The team is coached by Doug Plank, a former star at Ohio State who was a starting safety with the Chicago Bears for eight years from the mid-70s to early 80s.

Last year in his first year as Georgia’s head coach, Plank led the Force to an 11-5 regular season record, a franchise best, and a berth in the Arena Bowl. He was named the 2005 AFL Coach of the Year.

Considered by some to be the league’s flagship franchise, the Storm played their first two games without head coach Tim Marcum, who was suspended for two games by the league for salary cap violations. Marcum is expected to be back with the team this week, although though there were reports that he may have violated his suspension by attending a team practice last week.

A two-time coach of the year, Marcum is the winningest coach in AFL history and has seven ArenaBowl titles to his credit. He is the only coach to have led three teams to an ArenaBowl title (three with Tampa Bay, three with Detroit and one with Denver).

With Marcum at the helm, the Storm have been to the playoffs nine straight years. Through two games, the Storm are 1-1 SU and 1-1 ATS.

On Saturday, the Dallas Desperados travel to the Nationwide Arena to take on the Columbus Destroyers in an Eastern Division tilt (7 p.m. ET, Sirius Radio, Ch. 144).

The Desperados are 2-0 SU (2-0 ATS) with wins over Kansas City and at Utah. The Destroyers are 1-1 SU (1-1 ATS) with a win over Grand Rapids and a loss at Nashville.

Dallas QB Clint Dolezel currently leads all AFL passers with 614 yards on 46 completions. He also has 13 TDs, one interception, and a league-leading passer rating of 132.2.

Now in his 11th season, Dolezel is one of the most prolific passers in AFL history. Heading into the season he ranked fourth in league history in passing yardage (32,679), pass attempts (4,231) and passing touchdowns (660).

In one of the franchise’s biggest free-agent signings, Dallas inked Dolezel to a two-year deal in October. The 6-foot-5 product of East Texas State has been on six AFL teams including the Grand Rapids Rampage, which he led to an ArenaBowl championship in 2001.

The Desperados are owned by Jerry Jones Jr., son of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.