New Mexico Halloween nightmare for Rebels

Steve Guiremand

Sunday, Oct. 31, 1999 | 4:38 a.m.

ALBUQUERQUE --- Shock. Anger. Frustration.

That pretty much summed up the mood in UNLV's locker room Saturday night at University Stadium here after the Rebels suffered a 27-6 whipping at the hands of New Mexico before a Homecoming crowd of 21,854.

Although the Rebels (3-5, 1-2) were nine-point underdogs heading into the Mountain West Conference contest, the game with Lobos (3-4, 2-1) was considered probably the most winnable of the team's final four games and almost a must-win if UNLV was to reach it's No. 1 preseason goal of six wins.

Now UNLV, which gets a bye this week to try and regroup, must sweep its final three games at Air Force and against San Diego State and Colorado State at home to attain that goal.

If the Rebels don't improve dramatically before heading to Colorado Springs for their Nov. 13 date against the Falcons, they may be lucky just to win another game in 1999.

"It was a terrible performance," an embarrassed UNLV coach John Robinson said. "We didn't function well. We see ourselves as a better football team than that."

There was enough blame to go around for this one.

The Rebel defense, which fought so hard and shined in last week's 29-0 loss to Kevin Feterik-led BYU, was surprisingly picked apart by another Los Alamitos (Calif.) High School product, Sean Stein.

Stein, who may have the weakest arm of any quarterback in the Mountain West Conference, nickel-and-dimed UNLV's vaunted secondary with quick, short passes. He completed 24-of-40 attempts for 217 yards, many in key third down situations. New Mexico finished with a 25-to-14 edge in first downs, including 14 by passing.

Meanwhile, UNLV, playing without star tailback Jeremi Rudolph (strained groin), who made the trip but did not suit up, struggled badly again on offense, finishing with just 221 yards in total offense.

Junior quarterback Jason Vaughan, who complained of dizziness believed to be related to a mild concussion suffered last week against BYU, struggled again, completing just 11 of 25 passes for 100 yards before giving way early in the fourth quarter to sophomore Chris Hayward.

Vaughan did hit junior Nate Turner with a seven-yard touchdown pass to cut New Mexico's lead to 7-6 with 10:28 left in the third quarter. But senior place-kicker Tim O'Reilly shanked the PAT that would have tied the contest.

Didn't matter. New Mexico, thanks to touchdown runs by Holmon Wiggins (two yards) and Jarrod Baxter (five yards) and a pair of David McKinney field goals (44 and 37 yards), outscored the Rebels, 20-0, after that to win going away.

"When we scored in the second half, I thought we were back in the game," Robinson said. "But nothing happened after that."

Robinson hinted that he may tinker with lineup during the bye week, including Vaughan's starting quarterback job.

When asked if he was going to stay with Vaughan for UNLV's next game, Robinson replied, "I don't think it's the right time for me to discuss that.

"There are some changes that we have to contemplate," Robinson continued. "Hell, we're not going anywhere offensively. We have to look and see if there is another combination of things that we can do. We can't continue this routine."