What if?

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Dec. 2, 2002 | 9:53 a.m.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- As the UNLV Rebels celebrated their first win over a ranked team in 21 years here on Saturday afternoon, a 36-33 stunner over 13th-ranked Colorado State at Hughes Stadium, the question of the day had to be: What if?

What if the Rebels (5-7, 3-4) hadn't lost their homecoming game to a New Mexico squad playing with a third-string quarterback who began the season as a safety?

What if the team had at least shown up to play at Toledo before getting embarrassed, 38-21?

What if the team hadn't self-destructed with five first-half turnovers in its much anticipated season-opening 27-7 loss to Wisconsin?

The answer, of course, is the Rebels would be beginning bowl practices next week for the second time in three years.

Instead, head coach John Robinson left Sunday on the recruiting trail, hoping to convince some mid-year JC transfers to come in and plug a few holes in the secondary and offensive and defensive lines, so that the Rebels can make a serious run at a postseason berth and maybe even a MWC title in 2003.

When asked to sum up the season, Robinson replied, "Probably a team that shot itself in the foot too many times. We made too many mistakes."

And the tone for the topsy-turvy, had-to-see-it-to-believe-it season came in the season opener at Sam Boyd Stadium on Aug. 31.

With a school-record crowd of 42,075 looking on, UNLV turned the ball over five times in the first half, including four turnovers (two lost fumbles, two interceptions) by senior quarterback Jason Thomas alone.

If that wasn't bad enough, the game had to be called with 7:41 remaining when a nearby electrical transformer blew, sending Sam Boyd into total darkness briefly and causing fear among Robinson and some patrons that there had been a terriorist attack.

UNLV rebounded the following week with the school's first-ever victory over a Big 12 Conference school, a 31-20 win over hapless Kansas. But the Rebels were blown out by both Oregon State (47-17) and Toledo (38-21) in back-to-back road games.

Still, it looked like the Rebels might turn their season around the following week when they scored their third straight victory over much-improved in-state rival Nevada-Reno, 21-17, in the Battle for the Fremont Cannon.

Then came the crushing home loss to New Mexico and backup quarterback Justin Millea, who weaved his way through the Rebel defense for 148 yards rushing in a 25-16 upset that featured what Robinson called "the most vicious" booing of a player he had ever seen. Those boos were directed at Thomas, who had helped put the school's program on the map two years earlier with a Las Vegas Bowl MVP performance in a 31-14 win over Arkansas.

"There were a lot of games we should have won, but, unfortunately things didn't go our way," said tight end DeJhown Mandley, who caught the game-winning 29-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Kurt Nantkes with 46 seconds left in Saturday's shocker over the Rams. "It was a couple of bad (officiating) calls, a couple of bad decisions ... it was always something."

Still, it wasn't a totally lost season for the Rebels.

UNLV snapped two long road losing streaks, beating perennial conference heavyweight BYU in Provo, 24-6, for the first time since 1981. Then the Rebels defeated a ranked opponent for only the second time in school history on Saturday here when they snapped a 20-year losing drought against Colorado State.

In between, the Rebels laid two eggs in road defeats at San Diego State (31-21) and Utah (28-17) while edging Wyoming in a wild overtime game, 49-48. But even in victory the team got its share of negative publicity when it was discovered assistant coach John Jackson had left the contest with about three minutes to go so he could make it to a boxing match he was helping promote.

Yes, it was that kind of a wacky season for UNLV, which also set a school single-season attendance mark with an average of 27,582 per game.

Saturday's upset of the 17-point favorite Rams (10-3, 6-1) gave hope that things may be a lot more predictable, not to mention successful, next year.

"We've got all of our skills players coming back and all of our offensive linemen with game-time experience," said Nantkes, a 23-year-old sophomore and the heir apparent to the starting quarterback job. "We're going to be a force to be reckoned with. We just have to come out and compete every week in the Mountain West like we know we can."

"It's never too early to start talking about next year," said junior tailback Larry Croom, who rushed for 222 yards on 20 carries (11.1 avg.) and scored a touchdown despite being slowed by a turf toe injury Saturday.