Rebels, Gophers to play in future

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, June 19, 2002 | 9:45 a.m.

UNLV added another Big Ten program to its football schedule on Tuesday. Now the question is will head coach John Robinson be around to coach against the University of Minnesota?

"I don't know about that," Robinson, who turns 67 in July, said with a laugh from Newport Beach, Calif., where he was to take part in a Mr. Irrelevant Week banquet for former Rebel defensive tackle Ahmad Miller, the last player picked in this year's NFL draft.

That's because the Rebels and Golden Gophers won't face off until Sept. 6, 2008 at Sam Boyd Stadium and Sept. 12, 2009 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Robinson would be 73 when the first meeting takes place.

Such is the business of college football, where schedules are made up to a decade in advance.

"That's the thing about our sport," Robinson said. "Who knows? We could be playing the Big Ten champions then. Those people who scheduled Illinois a few years ago probably didn't know they'd be playing the Big Ten champs this year."

UNLV has played just two other Big Ten teams, Wisconsin and Northwestern, in school history. The Rebels open their 2002 season Aug. 31 against the Badgers at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Minnesota joins an impressive slate of non-conference games for UNLV that includes Wisconsin in 2003, '04 and '07, Tennessee in 2004, Oregon and Ole Miss in 2006, Oregon State in 2007 and Arizona State in 2008.

"We want to schedule good teams from good conferences who will be attractive for our fans to come out and see play," Robinson said. "We think Minnesota fits that criteria."