UNLV football called off

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, Sept. 13, 2001 | 10:06 a.m.

Friday night's football game between UNLV and Colorado State at Sam Boyd Stadium was officially rescheduled to Oct. 20 on Wednesday because of logistical issues caused by Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.

"I think the biggest single issue was travel logistics," Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said. "Nobody knows exactly when we'll be able to start flying again. And it wouldn't be fair to ask a team like Colorado State to get on a bus for 12 hours and play a game."

Fortunately, both UNLV and Colorado State had byes scheduled for Oct. 20. So when it became apparent the Rams wouldn't be able to fly to Las Vegas this afternoon as expected, the switch was made.

Rebels head coach John Robinson broke the news to his squad at a team meeting shortly after 2 p.m. He then canceled the team's 4 p.m. practice and sent the team and his coaching staff home.

"We'll start back up (today)," Robinson said.

UNLV's next scheduled game is Sept. 22 at Arizona.

Both Robinson and Colorado State coach Sonny Lubick were satisfied the game had been postponed.

"They did the right thing," Lubick said. "I have no problems with it."

"I think it's appropriate," Robinson said. "I think it's an appropriate move for the whole country to take a step back and reflect on what happened."

All three home games involving Mountain West teams were rescheduled. Utah's game at Air Force has been moved to Dec. 1 while the New Mexico State at New Mexico contest will be played on Nov. 24.

Two Saturday away games involving Mountain West squads -- BYU at Mississippi State and Wyoming and Kansas -- are both still scheduled to be played.

Besides the travel woes, Thompson said two other key factors contributed to the switch of Friday night's game.

"ESPN (which was to have shown the game nationally) said it could make no assurances that they could televise the game," Thompson said. "With all the travel problems, they weren't even sure they could get a crew here for the game.

"Also, President Bush has issued Friday as a national day of mourning. We didn't think it would be appropriate to play a football game on that day."

Thompson said there were some discussions about moving the game to Saturday night, "but we weren't sure Colorado State would even be able to fly in by then."

Thompson said there is still a possibility the contest could wind up on ESPN2 on Oct. 20.

"ESPN2 is scheduled to televise one of our games that day and so is ESPN-Plus," Thompson said. "Besides UNLV-Colorado State, Air Force plays BYU that day and Utah faces Wyoming. ESPN has a 12-day window to decide which games it wants to show that week."

UNLV announced that fans holding tickets to Friday night's game will not need to get a new ticket for the makeup game. Individuals unable to attend the makeup game can go back to the point of purchase for refunds and must present the hard ticket(s) in order to receive a refund. If tickets were purchased from Tickets.com over the phone or via the website, individuals can call the Tickets.com customer service department at (800) 352-0212 for instructions on obtaining a refund.

Several other UNLV sporting events this week have been either rescheduled or canceled. They are: