Score one for the MWC

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Dec. 8, 2000 | 9:49 a.m.

While UNLV was staving off a last-minute Hawaii rally in balmy Honolulu on a late Saturday night, Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson kept his fingers crossed while watching the outcome on his satellite TV about 4,000 miles away in chilly Colorado Springs in the early hours of Sunday morning.

"I didn't get to sleep until three o'clock in the morning. My heart was still pounding," Thompson said after UNLV held on for a Las Vegas Bowl-clinching 34-32 victory.

"I must have gotten off the couch about 6,000 times, jumping around. I threw things at the TV set. It was fun."

It also took a big load off the shoulders of Thompson. If the Rebels had lost, the Mountain West wouldn't have been able to fill all three of its possible bowl game slots.

But UNLV held on and Thompson was in Las Vegas on Thursday morning at Gameworks for the official Las Vegas Bowl invitation press conference introducing the head coaches for the Dec. 21 matchup at Sam Boyd Stadium, UNLV's John Robinson and Arkansas' Houston Nutt.

Thompson said UNLV being able to play in this year's Las Vegas Bowl was "huge" for the second-year conference.

"It's very important because it allows us to have three bowl teams this year," he said. "I think it's also important for UNLV in two short years to have its program turned around and be in a bowl. Thirdly, it's important for the Las Vegas Bowl, with which we hope to have a long future, to have this kind of matchup. They need to sell some tickets. Who better for that than the local team?"

Especially since the Las Vegas Bowl had been told to improve upon its 1999 total of selling just 5,000 local tickets or risk possible decertification by the NCAA bowl committee.

As of early Thursday morning, UNLV had already sold more than 6,500 tickets, according to Terry Cottle, the school's associate athletic director in charge of sports marketing.

"I hope we knock the doors down," Thompson said. "I hope they're scalping outside. I hope it's the hottest show in town that night."

The Mountain West Conference would eventually like to make the Las Vegas Bowl the premier bowl for MWC teams to play in. So is important that this year's game draw a good turnout at 36,800-seat Sam Boyd Stadium.

"Our coaches have talked about that at length," Thompson said of the Las Vegas Bowl's future. "This is very important to them. It's a great destination ... It's very important that we work with the LVCVA and work toward the survival and continuation of this bowl game."

"We're the only school that has a Razorback as a mascot," Broyles said. "And all week before the game Razorback fans will be walking down the street shouting, 'Woooooooo, pig! Sooie!' "

They also should be easy to spot. Many Arkansas fans also wear red plastic hats molded with the face of a Razorback in the front.

It is almost like having a second spring practice to evaluate and develop younger talent, sometimes switching players to different positions to get ready for the following season.

But because of final exams and its early bowl date, UNLV will only take advantage of about half of its 15 practices in getting ready for Arkansas.

"We'll practice Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then come back next weekend and practice the same days," UNLV coach John Robinson said. "We're not going to practice during finals. I just think that's a waste. We'll still have about eight practices to get ready."