Atonement not high on Wofford’s agenda

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Oct. 8, 1999 | 10:44 a.m.

Contrary to popular belief, UNLV fullback James Wofford hasn't had Saturday's game at Wyoming circled on his calendar.

Just the opposite, in fact. The less said about the Cowboys, the better.

It was against Wyoming last Oct. 17 at Sam Boyd Stadium that Wofford suffered perhaps the lowest point of his football career.

With the game tied, 25-25, in overtime, Wofford carried the ball twice for 24 yards to the Wyoming 1-yard line. Finally, it looked as if Rebels and embattled head coach Jeff Horton would win a game.

But on first-and-goal, Wofford fumbled while trying to dive over the top of the pile and the Cowboys recovered. A few plays later, Aaron Elling connected on an 18-yard field goal to give Wyoming a 28-25 victory.

Wofford, who rushed for a career-high 184 yards on 28 carries in the loss, says he has tried to put that game behind him.

"I tried to forget about it last year when it happened," he said. "It's a game that things didn't turn out the way I planned them to turn out."

How long did it take for Wofford to get over the miscue?

"Probably not until after the whole season was over," said the 6-0, 200-pound junior fullback from Bakersfield, Calif. "After the season was over I finally had time not to worry about football. As long as you're carrying the ball, you're going to think about the fumble that could have won the game.

"But I didn't dwell on it as long as I thought I would," Wofford continued. "People on the team, the offensive line mainly, helped me get over it."

Wofford said he hasn't thought about trying to atone for his mistake this weekend.

"I try not to even bring it up," he said. "Right now we don't need to worry about individuals. As a team, we're not doing as good as we're capable of doing. Right now we're just looking at trying to turn the offense around, to try and come out and get some points on the board early for a change."

UNLV coach John Robinson said he has been pleased with Wofford's play at fullback this season.

"I think he's doing very well," Robinson said. "I wish our offense was better, that we could get him the ball more at this point and with more variety. But he's doing very well."

* WEATHER BREAK: Forecasts call for temperatures near 70 degrees for Saturday's game at Laramie with clear skies.

That's in marked contrast to the last time the Rebels went to Wyoming and almost got stuck at the airport on the way home because of a blizzard.

"I just remember standing by the heaters wishing to get back out there so we could run around and get warm," Wofford said.

* LATE ARRIVAL: Because of scheduling conflicts with their charter plane and the adjustment to Laramie's 7,200-foot altitude, the Rebels aren't scheduled to leave Las Vegas today until 6 p.m. and won't get into their hotel rooms until after 10 p.m.

"It's been shown that you should either get there three or four days early to adjust to the altitude or get in late," Robinson said. "We'll be getting in late."

UNLV equipment man Paul Pucciarelli will beat the team to Laramie by almost a day. He left Las Vegas early Thursday morning with a truck full of the team's equipment and drove 16 hours to Laramie.

* BYE TIME: UNLV has a bye next week before hosting BYU on Oct. 23. That means Robinson won't hold his weekly luncheon on Monday. However, his weekly coaches' show at Sunset Station will be held as usual in Club Madrid at 9:30 p.m.