Winless Rebels look to find form in MWC

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Sept. 24, 2001 | 9:28 a.m.

UNLV flew home from Tucson early Sunday morning frustrated, discouraged and a disappointing 0-3 following a shockingly one-sided 38-21 loss to the Arizona Wildcats.

They also came back 0-0 in Mountain West Conference play.

If there is one saving grace about the Rebels' slow start, it's the fact their main objective of winning the MWC title and earning a trip to the Liberty Bowl hasn't been compromised ... yet.

Whether UNLV can rebound and be legitimate MWC contenders or simply pretenders will likely be determined on Saturday afternoon when the Rebels face red-hot BYU (3-0) at Sam Boyd Stadium.

"It means a helluva lot," UNLV quarterback Jason Thomas said of the clean slate in MWC action. "Even if we were 3-0 right now, our main goal has been to go to the Liberty Bowl.

"We beat BYU and we're 1-0. We're 1-0 and 0-3. But there's a big difference. Conference games mean more."

"It's conference time," senior defensive end Anton Palepoi said. "I really want to win the conference. Even though these three losses were tough to take, they really don't mean anything in the conference race. We've got to look at it that way."

To make any kind of run at the MWC title, the Rebels must make some rapid improvement, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

Thomas had another long night in Tucson, completing just 5 of 17 passes for 123 yards. He appeared to be openly frustrated at his receivers at the end of a couple of plays and seemed to have some fairly heated sideline exchanges with head coach John Robinson as he came off the field.

Robinson stressed in his postgame locker room speech that his team not begin pointing fingers. So far, they seem to have gotten the message.

"As a unit, it's just one thing or another," Thomas said. "It's the receivers, or me, or the coaches making a bad call. We've got to figure out what we're going to do or it's not going to get any better. We've got to figure it out.

"Like Coach (Robinson) said, it's so easy when things are tough for everyone to point the finger. Hopefully, we can show some character and come together as a family."

"We've got to come together as a team," cornerback Kevin Thomas said. "No individual stuff. ... We're already hungry. We've got to be starving now."