Friday, Aug. 31, 2001 | 10:20 a.m.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A football coaching axiom says that a team improves the most between its first and second games.
If that's true, then the UNLV Rebels have a heck of a lot of improving to do before next Friday night's home opener against Big Ten favorite Northwestern at Sam Boyd Stadium.
In a contest dominated by defense, turnovers and stunningly inept quarterback play on both sides, the Rebels found a way to lose a game they should have easily won, dropping a 14-10 decision to the Arkansas Razorbacks before a crowd of 52,213 at steamy War Memorial Stadium here on Thursday night.
Sophomore tailback Cedric Cobbs, who gained just 29 yards on 13 carries, swept off right tackle to score the game-winning touchdown with only 18 seconds remaining as the Razorbacks (1-0) avenged their Las Vegas Bowl thrashing by the Rebels (0-1) 252 days earlier.
That the Hogs were even around at the end to pull it out was a remarkable feat in itself.
Consider:
But Arkansas managed to stick around to the end thanks to some horrific special teams plays by the Rebels and some even more horrendous play by Heisman hopeful (maybe next year) Jason Thomas.
"It was a game where we died in our own mistakes," UNLV head coach John Robinson said. "We could have won the football game if we had just done the things you normally think a team should do. We just didn't do them."
Simple things like converting short field goals. Normally reliable sophomore Dillon Pieffer, who missed only one field goal attempt in eight tries last year, missed back-to-back 29-yarders in the second half. Those would come back to haunt the Rebels.
Simple things like catching the center snap before punting. Sophomore Ryan McDonald muffed a snap with 1:59 to go and was tackled for a 12-yard loss at the UNLV 49 to give the Hogs, trailing 10-7 at the time, one last scoring chance which they finally cashed in. All McDonald had to do was catch the ball and kick it quickly downfield and the Hogs, who were out of timeouts, would have been buried deep in their own territory.
"I was thinking about just kicking the ball," McDonald said. "It was the end of the game. You're thinking about kicking, not catching. ... No excuses. I just didn't catch it."
Even then, the Hogs still had to twice convert on fourth-down passes to keep the game-winning drive alive. And then Rebel cornerback star Kevin Thomas got burned badly by Richard Smith, who turned a short out into a 23-yard gain to the UNLV one-yard line with 22 seconds to go.
Cobbs then scooted in for the game-winner on the next play.
"I was just trying to make a play," Thomas said. "You win some, you lose some. I should have played it safe."
If Thomas had played it safe, the Razorbacks were likely looking at a field goal try to send the game into overtime.
If UNLV's other Thomas had played his normal game, the Razorback faithful, many of whom booed their team throughout the game for their inept offensive play, wouldn't have stuck around to watch the last quarter.
But Jason Thomas, who said he had trouble gripping the ball on the humid night, struggled through his worst passing night as a collegian, completing just 4 of 16 passes for 40 yards and one touchdown, a six-yarder that was more of a forward pitch to tailback Jabari Johnson on a goal-line option play. That score gave UNLV a 10-0 halftime lead.
Thomas, who threw just two interceptions in his first six games in 2000, had two in the third quarter alone on Thursday night and three for the game. One of those was returned 45 yards up the right sideline for a touchdown by sophomore cornerback Lawrence Richardson in the third quarter to cut UNLV's lead to 10-7.
"Jason Thomas had just a horrendous night," Robinson said. "I don't know (if) anything he did worked very well for him. He just couldn't seem to grip the football. And then things seemed to go from bad to worse. I don't know if he'll ever have a night quite like that one again."
Thomas certainly wasn't alone this night, however.
"I can't imagine making that many critical mistakes in one game," Robinson said. "I'm the guy who's supposed to get them ready to play. We were ready to play in a lot of areas. (But) we just frittered the game away."
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