Bowl invitation sets off celebration

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Dec. 4, 2000 | 10:52 a.m.

HONOLULU -- It seems fitting that UNLV will play the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 21 at Sam Boyd Stadium.

After all, the best way to describe the Rebels' postgame victory celebration at Aloha Stadium after Saturday night's nail-biting 34-32 win over Hawaii would be "Hog wild."

The decibel level was like your average Ted Nugent concert -- in other words, ear-busting -- when Nevada regent and Las Vegas Bowl selection committee member Tom Weisner extended the Las Vegas Bowl invite to UNLV coach John Robinson and his squad.

Robinson, ever the showman, played the moment for all that it was worth.

"Hold it! Hold it!" Robinson said after Weisner announced the invite to loud screams. "We've got to vote. We've got to get a vote."

Then Robinson said, "All of those who don't want to go, say 'aye.' "

Other than a few chuckles, you could have heard a pin drop.

Then a few moments later, Robinson asked, "All those who would like to go to the Las Vegas Bowl and kick the (bleep) out of somebody, say 'aye!' "

The noise that reverberated from the UNLV locker room could be heard all the way across the field at Aloha Stadium.

After about 20 seconds of cheering, UNLV assistant Ken Niumatalolo screamed, "All of us have been blessed to work for the best coach in America!"

That brought on even louder cheers and chants of "Rebels! Rebels!"

Then Robinson broke up the celebration by saying, "Now, try not to get killed tonight. Have fun. ... We practice tomorrow morning."

* MOVE OVER, ICKEY: Senior tailback Jeremi Rudolph, who rushed for 159 yards on just 26 carries at Hawaii, finished with the regular season with 1,005 yards rushing on just 178 carries.

The 5-10, 180-pound Rudolph, who rushed for 100 yards in five of his last six games, became the first UNLV player since Ickey Woods in 1987 to break the 1,000-yard barrier in a season.

"I didn't even know about it until after the game when once of the coaches told me," Rudolph said. "It's a great thrill. But we all worked together for it. The offensive line did their jobs, the fullbacks (James Wofford and Steve Costa) did their jobs. I just had to run hard and use my eyes."

"Jeremi played one of the best games I've ever seen a tailback play," Robinson said. "I don't know how many yards he got, but he got a lot of them. And crucial yards when we needed them, too."

Besides Rudolph, fellow tailback Kevin Brown (19 carries, 139 yards) and quarterback Jason Thomas (10 carries, 126 yards, 2 TDs) also topped the 100-yard mark as the Rebels amazingly outrushed Hawaii by almost 400 yards, 431-37.

But the one that could have been the killer was a fumble by quarterback Jason Thomas on a third-and-11 run at the UNLV 33 with two minutes to play and UNLV leading, 34-26, as the Rebels tried to run down the clock.

It would have been sadly ironic if a fumble by Thomas, the franchise player who has breathed some much-needed life into the UNLV football program, had cost the Rebels the game and a bowl berth.

But even though Hawaii cut the lead to 34-32 two plays later on a three-yard pass from Timmy Chang to Afatia Thompson, the Rebels held on when Chang's two-point conversion pass for Craig Stutzmann fell incomplete.

"I felt terrible," Thomas said of the fumble. "I called that play. Coach (Robinson) wanted to run a lean and I asked him to let me run that play. He let me do it and then I fumbled.

"I felt like I let my team down and the coaching staff down. But, as we have all year, we just kept plugging and plugging and plugging and we came out on top."

Thomas scored two touchdowns to give him 11 in just 10 games as a Rebel. That ranks him second all-time among UNLV quarterbacks behind Glenn Carano's 20 from 1973 to 1976.

And with his 126 yards rushing, Thomas finished the regular season with 599 yards. That moved him ahead of Derek Stott (1989-91) into first place on the school's career rushing chart for quarterbacks.

Thomas rolled the ankle untouched away from the play.

"I couldn't move vertically, so I couldn't go back out there," the first team all-Mountain West Conference pick said. "But I'll be ready to play in the Las Vegas Bowl."

Sophomore Jamal Wynn filled in for Thomas and covered Stutzmann on the key two-point conversion try at the end.