Rebels begin to look like they can win

Monday, Sept. 30, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

IF THE marketing people are right and Big Time College Football is indeed here, then the first assumption is that the UNLV football team is comprised of the Not Ready for Big Time College Football Players.

I say first assumption, such as the one you get from the standings that show the Rebels 0-5. Or the scoreboard lists in the Sunday newspaper, which show crooked numbers such as 62, 65 and 52 on the left side of the column, and the Rebels with numbers not nearly so crooked on the right.

But recently, if you managed to get past the standings and the scoreboard and delve into the boxscores, you've been noticing some crooked numbers on the UNLV side as well, particularly under the heading of Total Offense.

Actually, that's a misnomer, because the Rebels have no semblance of a running game. But with redshirt freshman quarterback Jon Denton playing like John Unitas, the Rebels' one-dimensional attack is becoming effective.

In Saturday's 33-21 loss to Wyoming, the offense was downright productive. Denton's numbers looked like a Megabucks marquee: 32 completions in 46 attempts for 486 yards. The completions and yards were school records and helped UNLV stay in the game -- in fact, they gave the Rebels a chance to win the game -- despite being 30-point underdogs.

There were skeptics (this one included) who thought UNLV would be overmatched in making the quantum leap from the Big West Conference to the Western Athletic Conference. But it's starting to look as if the Rebels will blend in nicely, even this year.

UNLV, in a nutshell, has no defense and no running game. It has a talented young quarterback, who, when he's on, can march his team down the field. That sounds like most WAC teams. In fact, the Rebels even are starting to look like some of their WAC brethren. Their garish all-red home uniforms are nearly identical to those of Utah and New Mexico.

The only difference right now between the Rebels and the rest of the WAC is that the rest of the WAC wins here and there. With limited talent and depth, wins will be harder to come by than competitive losses, but UNLV should get there.

The first five weeks have been unmerciful, given the caliber of competition. By the same token, that enabled the Rebels to feel good about themselves, simply by hanging in there against the likes of Wisconsin, Colorado State and Wyoming.

At some point, however, UNLV is going to have to beat somebody, or risk having its mental attitude fall to the same depths as its won-loss record. Or worse, Saturday's halftime show.

But there's plenty to like about this UNLV bunch, not the least of which is Denton and the savvy play-calling of coach Jeff Horton. Perhaps new offensive coordinator Charlie Stubbs deserves some of the credit, but Saturday's mid-range passing scheme that exploited Wyoming's soft zone coverages left little room for second-guessing.

The end result, of course, was another loss. But unlike the psuedo Garth Brooks' attempt at playing air guitar during the halftime debacle, at least the Rebels looked good in doing it.