Rebels, Wolf Pack ready to go

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Oct. 4, 2002 | 10:09 a.m.

NEXT UP

What: UNR at UNLV

When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

Where: Sam Boyd Stadium

TV: None

Radio: KBAD 920-AM

Line: UNR by 1. Total is 56.

Tickets:

Order online at unlvtickets.com or call 739-FANS.

Growing up in Southern California, UNLV offensive guard Tony Terrell was exposed to two of the most storied rivalries in college football history: USC vs. Notre Dame and USC vs. UCLA.

Like many, he knew little of the UNLV-Nevada-Reno rivalry or the grand prize that goes to the winning team each year, the Fremont Cannon. And it took a couple of years of playing in the contest for the importance of the game to sink in.

"It didn't really hit me until we won it back in 2000," Terrell said. "That's when I saw all our fans run out on the field and I got to really see how the city of Las Vegas felt about it. I was like, 'Wow, this is important!' "

And never moreso than this year as the Rebels try to overcome a disappointing 1-3 start.

"Our pride is on the line after the way we've played the last couple of games," Terrell said. "We've got to go out Saturday night and show Las Vegas what we have."

UNR (2-2), which holds a 15-12 advantage in the all-time series but has lost the last two meetings, is also at a crossroads.

"It's always going to be a must-win game as long as I am coaching here," third-year Wolf Pack head coach Chris Tormey said. "Every year we play the Rebels, it is the biggest game of the year for us and we need to find a way to win it."

"This is the game that kind of determines our season," Nevada-Reno wide receiver Tim Fleming told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "Not to say that we ever just want to win one game, but if it is against Vegas, we can take that (as a positive from the season). When I got here, it was just our rival team. It didn't mean anything more than they were just our rival game. Now, there is definitely a grudge.

"I see what it is all about now and I want to go get that cannon back. My first two years, I really didn't understand it. There is more to it. This means something to the fans and to the school. It is about the state of Nevada and the community."

Wolf Pack players have made so secret that they felt UNLV poured it on at the end of the Rebels' 27-12 victory at Mackay Stadium. UNLV quarterback Jason Thomas sprinted around right end with eight seconds left to score on a three-yard touchdown run instead of ending the contest by taking a knee.

Tormey said his team is "not interested in any vendettas. We are interested in winning a football game. That is just one play."

"We could have stepped back and knelt down," Robinson admitted. "Instead we said, 'Let's play.'

Although Robinson has never said so, there are those close to him who believe he decided to punch in the last touchdown as retaliation for the shabby treatment his team received from Mackay Stadium fans during their last few trips there.

In his first game at Reno in 1999, Robinson and his players had beer and pizza dumped on them as they walked to the locker room and also were pelted with obscenities. And a number of Rebels complained of being hit with batteries on the sideline last year.

On his weekly coaches' show on Thursday night, Robinson revealed he also got nailed by a battery.

"Walking off the field last year I got hit in the back of the head by one of those batteries," Robinson said. "Luckily, it wasn't the size of one of those batteries you put in your car."

He was joking of course. But for many fans in the stands at Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday night and players like Terrell, the 28th Battle for the Fremont Cannon will be no laughing matter.

"Players can say whatever they want leading up to the game," Terrell said. "But you can't talk on Saturday. All you can do then is play."