Columnist Ron Kantowski: ‘94 Rebels fail to measure up

Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2000 | 10:19 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's column usually appears Thursday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or 259-4088. Regular columnist Dean Juipe has the day off.

In light of the UNLV football team's stunning turnaround that has resulted in a Las Vegas bowl bid against an opponent you've heard of (Arkansas), virtually everybody has referenced the 1994 season -- the last time the Rebels went to a bowl.

But that's not an accurate yardstick by which to measure the magnitude of the 2000 Rebels' achievement.

If you'll recall, the Las Vegas Bowl back then still was a booby prize for two have-not conferences. The champions of the Big West and Mid-American were locked in to play in the game, regardless of how good they were -- or weren't.

And if you break it down, the 1994 Rebels weren't all that good.

They were 6-5 during the regular season, but here's who they beat to earn a free game at Sam Boyd Stadium: Eastern Michigan, Utah State, New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech, San Jose State and Nevada-Reno. The only legit bowl team they played was Kansas State, and they got blown out 42-3 at home. And those Rebels also were whacked 48-38 by Division I-AA member Idaho, also at home.

UNLV was outscored 305-263 during the regular season and was Vandalized for 707 yards by Idaho. Not exactly Florida State stuff there.

Those Rebels beat Central Michigan 52-24 in LV Bowl III but Chippewas' star running back Brian Pruitt did not play. If you don't think that made a difference, consider that when the teams met during the regular season, Pruitt was in the lineup. He rushed for a whopping 274 yards as CMU won 35-23.

That was UNLV's first season under Jeff Horton, who proved he could coach Jim Strong's players better than Strong did. But when he had to use his own guys, it was a disaster. UNLV won just six more games over the next three years before Horton was replaced by gridiron guru John Robinson.

Again -- and no offense to Horton, who is a nice guy and was credited last year with bringing Brooks Bollinger along as a quarterback at Wisconsin, where Horton is now an assistant -- that's like comparing apples to Orange Bowls.

Robinson's Rebels now are aligned with the Mountain West Conference, which truthfully wasn't very strong from top to bottom this year. But it still makes the old Big West look like Pop Warner football.

These Rebels beat North Texas, Air Force, Nevada-Reno, Wyoming, New Mexico, San Diego State and Hawaii. They played four legitimate bowl teams, routing Air Force (34-7) and losing to Colorado State (20-19), Ole Miss (43-40 in OT) and Iowa State (37-22 in the season opener).

Had every break (and sprain) gone the Rebels' way, they could be 10-1 with one no contest, as the losses to CSU, Ole Miss and BYU were of the heartbreak variety. It's hard to predict how UNLV would have done with Jason Thomas under center at Utah (he missed the game with a sprained foot). But suffice to say it wouldn't have lost 38-16.

You could argue that these Rebels were fortunate during each of the past three weeks, when they survived nail-biters against New Mexico, San Diego State and Hawaii. So all the line drives that were snagged for outs and all the Texas Leaguers that dropped in for singles have evened out. And the Rebels are right where they deserve to be:

Bound for a legitimate bowl, to play a legitimate opponent.