There’s no doubting Thomas against BYU

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Oct. 21, 2002 | 9:49 a.m.

PROVO, Utah -- Jason Thomas scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown on a six-yard run on a broken play in the third quarter.

He set a personal completion record (76.9 percent) by completing 10 of 13 passes for 139 yards.

And shortly after UNLV (3-4, 1-1) defeated BYU 24-3 for the first time since 1981 on Saturday night at LaVell Edwards Stadium, the 6-foot-4, 230-pound senior showed he could also catch.

UNLV coach John Robinson tossed Thomas the game ball for his play against the Cougars (3-4, 0-2). Thomas in turn passed the memento to senior offensive guard Tony Terrell.

"I tossed it to Tony and said, 'Share that with the offense,' " a smiling Thomas said. "Oh, man, it was good (to get the game ball). But I felt better just sharing it with the offense, just letting them know that without them I'm nothing."

Besides, on this night Thomas had two much more important things to take back on the team plane: a long overdue victory over one of the Goliaths of the Mountain West Conference and, perhaps even more special, redemption.

Only a week earlier Thomas had been booed loudly by his own hometown fans during a 25-16 loss at New Mexico. The only booing on Saturday night was from BYU fans directed toward coach Gary Crowton for his musical quarterbacks rotation.

"Last week some people were just vicious on him," Robinson said. "For him to come back and play so well this week, he had an amazing game."

"They're the Porsches of this league and we're the Buicks," Thomas said of BYU. "If you're a Porsche, you don't want to lose to no Buick.

"I'm sure over there they looked at our sideline and didn't care how bad they had lost (to Air Force) last week, they're going to beat UNLV every time. But it didn't happen that way. Our whole team played great. The defense was incredible."

Thomas went out of his way to praise the job his patchwork offensive line of Terrell, sophomore guard Marcus Johnson, center Dominic Furio and tackles Eddie Freas and Matt Williams did.

"I can't do anything without those guys," Thomas said. "We had two offensive linemen (tackles Keith Kincaid and Zach Gorham) hurt. Eddie Freas comes in and plays a great game along with Matt Williams. They usually rotate but they both had to play the whole game. That takes something. I wanted to share (the game ball) with the O-line."

"That's just how JT is," said Furio, who played on two very sore knees. "He's an unselfish player. He's always going to hand the credit out where he thinks it's due and not pull it onto himself."

"It was just unbelieveable," said Terrell, who spiked the game ball in the center of the locker room to wild cheers. "It's such a special moment because we haven't beaten BYU since I've been here."

"We're watching Earvin grow up before our eyes," Thomas said. "He's turned into a man out there.

"When a dog's hungry, he's going to eat. He's a dog and he's hungry right now and I've got to feed him. And Michael Johnson, too."

Senior cornerback Chameion Sutton later intercepted a Bret Engemann pass and zig-zagged his way 38-yards for the final touchdown of the game.

And Robinson praised the play of senior safety Connie Brown, who finished with a game-high 16 tackles and two pass defenses.

"He controlled a lot of what went on out there," Robinson said of Brown. "He's done a great job for us the last couple of weeks."