Columnist Dean Juipe: Lowly Rebels may as well mail it in

Dean Juipe

Monday, Nov. 18, 2002 | 9:39 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

What's postage these days, 37 cents?

Well, John Robinson should just take the change from his pocket, get a stamp, and send a letter to Colorado State, explaining the situation at UNLV and relieving the Rebels of the expense of playing a meaningless football game there in two weeks.

Yes, here's a chance for the Rebels to just "mail it in" as they say when a team or an athlete is merely going through the motions. With a confounding bye on this week's schedule to be followed by the hopelessness of a game Nov. 30 at 20th-ranked CSU, the Rebels have almost no chance to win and virtually no reason to even go.

Forfeiting or conceding the game would allow UNLV to not only save a few bucks but cut short a season that has now officially lost its spark. That 49-32 loss to Air Force on Saturday nailed the coffin shut, the Rebels now 4-7 and eliminated from bowl consideration.

What a lousy season.

UNLV was 4-7 last year, too, but a lot of observers both here and at the national level thought it was something of a dastardly fluke. After all, despite the losing record the Rebels actually outscored and outgained their opponents for the season.

But this year was no fluke, and, in retrospect, maybe now it can be said last year wasn't either.

The Rebels just aren't that good.

How unfortunate, given what all of us thought as the 2000 season concluded with a victory over Arkansas in the Las Vegas Bowl and an 8-5 record. Quarterback Jason Thomas still had two seasons to play and with Robinson just nicely getting started at UNLV, big things were expected.

But those remaining two seasons Thomas put in were calamitous, for the most part, for both himself and the football program.

Advertised as a Heisman Trophy candidate a year ago and viewed as an almost certain National Football League quarterback in the making, he has, instead, played himself out of the position and irretrievably devalued his draft stock. In all likelihood, he never plays a down as a quarterback in the NFL and he might be lucky just to get a look at another position.

Likewise, Robinson has to reassess his assets and liabilities. He needs a big recruiting effort, having been short on quality linemen for years and looking at some significant holes to fill at the skill positions.

Can he do it? Of course he can, the man has the credentials as well as the determination.

But he doesn't have a magic wand and he can't will the program to succeed. He can get by and attract a few players on name recognition alone, but he also needs a major push at the grass-roots level and some recruiting wizardry if he's ever going to get UNLV over a hump it has straddled for years.

The Rebels regressed this season. The Mountain West proved to be a mediocre football league in 2002 and UNLV not only failed to take advantage, it could still finish in a tie for last place.

That's a long way from what any of us imagined back when practice began. Back then, who would have believed the season would be so dismal?

Who'd have thought the year would end with UNLV having to choose between playing out the string or simply "going postal"?