Loss leaves Rebels searching for answers

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Oct. 4, 1999 | 10:38 a.m.

There are losses, and then there are tough losses.

Judging by the quiet and blank stares in their Mackay Stadium locker room Saturday afternoon, UNLV's 26-12 loss to Nevada-Reno in the battle for the Fremont Cannon was a very tough loss.

Linebacker James Sunia, who played arguably his best game of the season with 15 tackles and a sack, sat by his locker with his headphones on listening to a CD, his sweaty, grass-stained uniform still on.

Nearby, junior safety Randy Black, who had 10 tackles and a sack, wrapped a towel around his head and stared at the wall in front of him.

Other frustrated Rebels slowly peeled off their uniforms and quietly walked to the showers to get ready for their long commercial flight home.

It was not a pretty sight.

Of course, losing for the fifth straight year to your in-state rival is nothing to hold a big party over. Especially if that in-state rival ranked dead last out 114 Division I teams in scoring defense (46.8 ppg), was winless, had a number of key players injured, and had lost 72-10 only two weeks earlier to Oregon.

The big question is just where do the Rebels, who fell to 2-3 with their third straight loss, go from here?

The easy answer, of course, is to Laramie, Wyoming, for Saturday afternoon's Mountain West Conference contest with the first-place Wyoming Cowboys (3-1, 1-0).

An even bigger question is will the Rebels, talking bowl game and a winning season after a surprising 2-0 start, be able to put the latest loss behind them and make a good effort in Laramie? Or will a team that has lost 19 of its last 21 games over the last 2 1/2 seasons toss in the towel and be happy that they snapped their 16-game overall and 24-game road losing streaks earlier?

"I certainly think we have to face that issue," UNLV coach John Robinson said when asked if his team might pack it in. "But I also think we have to face the issue of, 'Hey, we just have to get better.' We can't come up with any super-duper ideas to fool somebody. We just have to get to be a better football team. That happens on the practice field."

"Nah, I'm not afraid of that happening at all," Sunia said. "We just have to bounce back from these three losses, correct our mistakes, and get more intense in practice. We can do it."

"There's no doubt in my mind that this team is not going to hang it up," quarterback Jason Vaughan said. "We could lose our next 20 games and we'd still come out and fight in the 21st."

Long-suffering Rebel fans can only hope this current losing streak doesn't reach that point.

* WARE TO GET MRI: Senior wide receiver Len Ware, who ranks fourth nationally in kickoff returns with a 35.1 average and is the team co-leader in receptions with 18, said he was going to have an MRI today on his injured right knee.

Ware was a late scratch from the lineup for Saturday's game because the knee, injured in the second half against Utah a week earlier, was still bothering him in pregame warmups.

"I couldn't run on it," Ware said. "I pretty much knew after warmups I wouldn't be 100 percent."

"He probably could have played and limped around,' Robinson said. "I'd just as soon not play him and make sure he's ready for next week."

UNLV trainer Kyle Wilson seemed surprised when told Sunday night that Ware was getting an MRI today.

"He must have decided to get a second opinion because we cleared him to play on Thursday," Wilson said.

* SOUR AS A LEMON? Robinson and some of his coaches seemed taken aback by a comment by Nevada-Reno running back Chris Lemon, who called UNLV players "unclassy" after the game.

Said Lemon: "Those guys are unclassy, they talk a lot of trash on the field, and they wouldn't shake our hands after the game. That just shows you that they are the same group of guys with just a different coach."

"I don't know where he got that from," Robinson said. "I went out and shook hands with their coach (Jeff Tisdel) afterward and I saw some of the other coaches and players doing it, too."

Said defensive coordinator Jeff McInerney: "I shook hands with coaches and several of the players. I think (Lemon's comment) might have something to do with maturity."

* MORE BAD FEELINGS: Apparently they still haven't forgiven linebacker Bill Cofer for leaving Reno for UNLV.

The 1997 Nevada Player of the Year after leading Reno McQueen to the 1997 state title, Cofer had a few friends and family in the stands Saturday. One proudly paraded through the stands in the east end zone holding up a large cardboard sign with the word, "COFER 59" on it. The fan was belted with trash and cups of beer.

The Cofer fan then had his sign taken away from him by four of Reno's finest, who then escorted him from the premises.