Rebels looking to turn the tide vs. bigger Utes

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Nov. 8, 2002 | 10:07 a.m.

NEXT UP

What: UNLV at Utah

When: Saturday, 4 p.m.

Where: Salt Lake City

TV: None

Radio: KBAD 920-AM

Line: Utah by 10 1/2, total is 47 1/2

UNLV lined up a last-minute charter airplane on Thursday to fly the Rebels to Salt Lake City for Saturday's game against Utah.

Now the question is does John Robinson's squad really want to board that plane?

UNLV (4-5, 2-2) needs to win at least two of its final three games to get the six wins needed to play in a bowl game. And of the three teams remaining on the schedule -- Utah (2-6, 0-4), Air Force (6-3, 3-2) and 24th-ranked Colorado State (8-2, 4-0) -- none have given the Rebels more trouble than the Utes.

UNLV hasn't defeated Utah since 1979, dropping six straight games over that span. And the defending Las Vegas Bowl-champion Utes have been particularly tough on the Rebels in the last three years, outscoring UNLV by a combined score of 132-44, including a 42-14 thrashing last November at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Simply put, Ron McBride's Utes have been bigger, stronger and much more physical than the Rebels.

"We haven't matched up well with them," Robinson admitted.

If there is any hope for the 10 1/2-point underdog Rebels, it may come from the fact Utah brings in a six-game losing streak to Rice-Eccles Stadium, site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

The Utes lost star running back Marty Johnson for the season on Sept. 7 with a knee injury at the end of a game against Indiana. That severely curtailed McBride's power-running game which has steamrolled the Rebels in recent years. Instead, Utah has gone to a wide-open passing attack centered on sophomore quarterback Brett Elliott.

The 6-foot-3, 194-pound Elliott looked almost like a Casey Bramlet-clone in his last start at New Mexico, completing 26 of 39 passes for 440 yards, the most by a Ute quarterback since 1996.

Utah has had an extra week to prepare for the game, too. However, much of the talk in Salt Lake City during that time centered on when, not if, McBride will be fired. He has one year remaining on his contract and Utah athletic director Chris Hill has not spoken about McBride's future either publicly or with the coach himself.

"The situation is not good," McBride said.

One disgruntled Ute fan has even started a website called "Fireronmcbride.com" which chronicles the low points of McBride's 13-year stay in Salt Lake City.

"Being a Utah football fan is like loving a crack addict," one post reads. "There may be some good times but in the end it will break your heart."

The site also has a poll asking when McBride should be canned. Interestingly, 56 percent of the 2,553 people who had responded by Thursday night said McBride should not be fired. Six percent (148) said he should be fired immediately while 33 percent (841) said he should go at the end of the season.

"Such is life," McBride said of the website. "Obviously, we've lost six games in a row so people can't be too pleased. Our expectations for this program are way up there. But this year we haven't been able to meet those expectations."

And that fact could end up in a coaching change at the end of the season.

The Rebels were left scrambling for transportation when their official team airline for the last four seasons, Las Vegas-based National Airlines, elected to cease operations on Wednesday afternoon while declaring bankruptcy.

Erik Schwarz, UNLV's director of operations, inked a deal late Thursday morning with Northwest Airlines. The cost of the trip will be $45,000 as opposed to the $34,000 National was going to charge.

"It cost a little extra because it was so late and also because they charge you to ferry in the plane," Schwarz said. "Since National was based here, we didn't have to pay extra for them to bring a plane in."

The Rebels were to fly on a 148-seat AirBus 320 as opposed to the 175-seat Boeing 757 they had used with National.

"We'll be taking up fewer people now," Schwarz said, "but some people had already cancelled, so it all worked out in the end."

If there was one bright spot from the whole fiasco it's that UNLV did receive its $34,000 back from National Airlines.

"They just wired the money back (Thursday) if you can believe that," Schwarz said. "That's a big relief."

"After that we may have to put (starting safety) Connie Brown over there," Robinson said.

Robinson also wasn't optimistic about how much offensive guard and team captain Tony Terrell (sprained ankle) would be able to play.

"He did a couple of things (in practice Thursday)," Robinson said. "For the most part, he hasn't practiced this week. It's very hard to play good if you don't practice during the week."