Columnist Steve Guiremand: Maybe UNR got what it deserved with late TD

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Oct. 12, 2001 | 10:25 a.m.

Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. Reach him at 259-2324 or steveg@lasvegassun.com.

Let's get this straight: UNLV should have taken a knee at the end of last week's 27-12 Fremont Cannon victory at Nevada-Reno.

It would have been the sportsmanlike thing to do. And funny things can happen to people who try to pour it on. Just ask Baylor's Kevin Steele.

But instead of ripping Rebel head coach John Robinson for a lack of class, like a reporter at one Reno newspaper was quick to do after the game, maybe we should put an asterisk by this one.

Maybe, just maybe, the folks in Reno deserved to get their noses rubbed in it a little bit.

Turn back the clock two years, to when UNLV made its last trip to Mackay Stadium, a 26-12 loss to the Wolf Pack and Robinson's first experience in this way-too-bitter in-state rivalry.

As he walked back to the locker room with his team after that contest, Robinson got his share of four-letter verbal abuse from to so-called "Zonies" in the bleachers. He also had beers poured on him and several other objects, including pizza, thrown on him.

For a man who has coached in some the most storied rivalries in college football -- USC vs. UCLA, USC vs. Notre Dame (when it actually was the game in college football) -- it was a new and unwelcome experience.

Those rivalries were intense but also fun in the same way. Fans cheered their teams each year but they kept it in perspective. Alums from both schools would get together to exchange barbs at pregame luncheons that head coaches and bands from both schools would attend. They didn't dump beers on opposing coaches and players or throw batteries at them afterward. That was for Yankees and Raiders fans.

So, no doubt it was something of an eye-opening experience for Robinson in Reno two years ago. He never had to worry about getting junk thrown at him in South Bend or Seattle or Tempe when he took his Trojan teams there because the folks in charge had good security, and most of the fans had the good sense to realize it was only a game.

Reno? You get the feeling these fans, many of whom were walking around Mackay Stadium with bottles of beer before the game even though they looked like they could barely shave, have been encouraged to act like Jerry Springer Show rejects.

Once again Saturday, Robinson had things thrown at him on the sideline near the end of the game. Rebel players were instructed to wear their helmets when they went out on the field to claim the Fremont Cannon afterward just in case. And when players, coaches and their families gathered around the locker room afterward, there were a number of Wolf Pack fans making obscene gestures and yelling X-rated language.

Classless? It's too bad Dave McCann and his Channel 8 crew didn't film what was going on outside the locker room instead of in it right after the game. Maybe it would be enough for the folks up north to get their act together and prevent something really ugly from happening in the future.

Luckily, Rebel players and boosters ignored the idiots. Apparently so did the Reno reporter who ripped Robinson and was standing nearby when a lot of this was going on. Evidently that's acceptable behavior up there.

Did the Rebels show a lack of class by punching in one last touchdown? Sure. But considering the surroundings, they fit right in.

Davie's days numbered?

Poor Bob Davie. His Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1-3) finally find a team they can beat, Pittsburgh (24-7), last Saturday, and he barely has time to celebrate.

The reason? Blue and Gold Illustrated, a weekly Notre Dame sports newspaper that has a pretty good idea of what's going on around South Bend, reported that Davie will de dismissed at the end of the season regardless of how the team finishes.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Sun-Times' John Jackson wrote a column with the headline, "ND fans fear Davie can survive, but not thrive."

Wrote Jackson: "For a few rabid fans, the (Pitt) victory was bittersweet: They feel good for the players but worry a strong finish will allow Davie to keep his job -- and result in continued mediocrity for the most celebrated program in the country."

Among the names circulating as possible Davie replacements are Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Tom Coughlin, who had great success at Boston College before going to the NFL, and Jon Gruden of the Oakland Raiders.

Gruden grew up around the Notre Dame program. His father, Jim, was an assistant coach with the Irish from 1978 to 1980. And dealing with the demands of Notre Dame's famed subway alumni would probably be a picnic after working for Al Davis.

The Irish host West Virginia (2-3) this weekend and struggling USC (1-4) the following week before heading off to Boston College (4-1). So there's a decent chance that Davie can right the ship before Tennessee (3-1) visits South Bend for a Nov. 3 contest.

Davie, by the way, has won 14 consecutive games in October.

Now if he can only figure out September, November and January.

Once around the MWC