Rebels feast on rhubarb

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Nov. 13, 2000 | 10:38 a.m.

Say this for the 2000 edition of the UNLV Rebels: They have a lot of fight in them.

Sophomore quarterback Jason Thomas and senior wide receiver Nate Turner were laughing, joking and hugging each other after combining for a game-winning two-yard touchdown pass with just 18 seconds left in Saturday afternoon's crucial 18-14 victory over New Mexico at Sam Boyd Stadium. But they weren't quite so lovey-kissy at halftime.

UNLV assistant DelVaughn Alexander had to play peacemaker and separate the two in the locker room after the duo got into a heated verbal altercation.

"We were jawing at halftime," Thomas admitted. "I was mad because they (the wide receivers) weren't making any plays for me. (Turner) was mad because I wasn't looking up at the board when Coach (John Robinson) was drawing a play up. We were arguing and got face-to-face."

It might be understandable if nerves were a little frayed in the Rebel locker room.

Despite leading 5-0 at intermission, UNLV (5-5, 3-3) had already amassed a startling five turnovers, including three interceptions thrown by Thomas. However, it appeared UNLV receivers might have been able to catch two of the interceptions if they had made a better effort to go and get the ball.

"We weren't being aggressive enough," Robinson said.

So a frustrated Thomas was fuming when he went to the locker room. And Turner, perhaps sensing his team's chances at a bowl berth might be slipping away, also was on edge.

"Hey, we always fight," Turner said. "Me and J.T. fight like brothers do. And DelVaughn is like the big, big brother who breaks things up. And (Robinson) is like the daddy.

"No punches were thrown or anything. We just get frustrated sometimes. But that's part of being a family. We left all that arguing back in the locker room because we knew there was just so much at stake."

And with the game and a bowl berth on the line, the duo hooked up three times for 31 yards on UNLV's 69-yard drive in the final three minutes of the game, including for the game-winning touchdown with just 18 seconds remaining.

The 6-2, 210-pound Turner leaped up and over New Mexico junior corner Stephen Persley on a quick fade to the left corner of the end zone to grab the game-winner.

"I told (Thomas), 'Just throw it up high and I'll go get it,' " Tuner said.

And then a few moments later, Thomas and Turner were jaw-to-jaw again.

Only this time they were smiling and hugging.

Has a nice ring to it, huh?

Robinson, for one, thinks so.

"I do think he has some special qualities," Robinson said of Thomas' impressive fourth quarter drive during which he was a perfect 5-for-5 for 61 yards to go along with two scrambles for 12 more yards. "The radio announcers asked me if he has some of this Joe Montana or John Elway about him. I think he does. I don't know who you define that. I certainly didn't give it to him.

"There's those mystiques about quarterbacks that get built up about them. ... Jason likes to play and he doesn't panic when it comes down to it. He gets very into the game. He gets frustrated like a lot of young quarterbacks, but when (the game) gets down to the end, he seems to have some real patience."

For Thomas, the final 69-yard drive against the nation's No. 13 defense was something of a dream come true.

"I watched John Elway go 98 yards against the Browns," he said. "Growing up, I wanted to be the quarterback to make that game-winning touchdown pass like that."

Saturday against New Mexico, he got that chance.

Afterward, Thomas and a couple of New Mexico defensive players, nose tackle Henry Stephens and linebacker Charles Moss, had to be pulled away from each other.

"We were talking during the game," Thomas admitted. "They were saying stuff like, 'You're not smiling now, two. You're not talking now, two.' And at the end of the game I walked over and said, 'I have a big smile on my face now.'

"They wanted to fight me. That's why I turned and walked away."

That's also why you may have noticed Thomas wearing his helmet during several postgame interviews done on the field right after the final play. The UNLV quarterback put his helmet back on when it looked like things might get out of hand. "They were mad," Thomas said. "It was an emotional game. Both teams left everything they had out there."

Thomas re-injured his sprained right foot while trying to score a two-point conversion following Troy Mason's 84-yard punt return for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. "There were tears in his eyes," Turner said. Did Thomas ever think he wouldn't be able to go back in? "There was a thought of the pain being able to take me out," he said. "But I knew this was going to be the game that could take us out of bowl contention. I wasn't going to be the player to step off the field in the middle of war." ...

UNLV has a bye this week before ending the season with back-to-back road trips to San Diego State (Nov. 25) and Hawaii (Dec. 2). The Rebels are scheduled to practice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before getting the weekend off.