Columnist Dean Juipe: Pollsters, UNLV fans don’t agree

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2000 | 10:33 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

For a program that has won only nine games (and lost 47) in the past five years and hasn't won a home game since 1997, big things are expected this season from the UNLV football team.

Not "big things" as in a Mountain West Conference championship or a spot in the national polls, but "big things" as in a competitive team that will build on its 3-8 record from last season and provide more than a little excitement.

If you have been reading the advance material on the Rebels, you've been inundated with stories about bigger and better players and other promising recruits brought in by head coach John Robinson. UNLV looks to have a little meat on its football bones this season, and a marginally successful team is anticipated.

And while Robinson says as much and promises positive results, he's also willing to low-ball his team to outsiders. For instance, he was happy when his fellow Mountain West coaches picked the Rebels to finish seventh in the eight-team league this year, while the media tabbed the Rebels for a sixth-place finish.

Elsewhere, the nation's college football magazines have routinely slotted the Rebels in the sixth and seventh spots, with only one going so far as to predict a fourth-place finish.

"It's better to be where we are," Robinson said of being picked for sixth or seventh. "These preseason polls are rather meaningless but they come with two things coaches might have to worry about.

"If everyone says what a crummy team you're going to have, you have to worry about your players seeing it and having a lack of confidence.

"On the other hand, if you're picked pretty high you have to worry about your players saying 'Oh boy, we've got it made now.' But I don't think we have either concern with where we're predicted to finish."

Sixth would seem to be the lowest the Rebels could finish and it's safe to say Robinson and the community are at least quietly expecting something better. Victories over league rivals New Mexico and San Diego State seem assured, plus the Rebels defeated Wyoming at Laramie last year so they ought to win the rematch when it's played here.

Based on those beliefs, the Rebels would finish fifth even without upsetting one or two of the remaining MWC teams.

In nonleague games, UNLV is apt to lose to Iowa State and Mississippi, beat North Texas and Reno and have its finale at Hawaii go either way. Add 'em up and a 5-7 season seems realistic, with a 6-6 one not out of the question.

Not having had a team finish on the plus side of .500 since 1994, Las Vegas would welcome 6-6 and herald it as another step up the steep mountainside that Robinson faced when he came here in 1999.

"No one's going to rate us higher than they have been until we prove we can win some games," he said.

Agreed. But here's the catch: Based on the excitement being generated by training camp, this community's football fans are being whipped into a frenzy and the Rebels -- despite a tough early schedule -- will either produce or run the risk of being abandoned by midseason.

The country as a whole may not be expecting much this season from UNLV, but those in Las Vegas see it the other way.