Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Rebels recall Brisco

NEXT UP

What: UNLV at San Diego State

When: Saturday, 4 p.m.

Where: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego

TV: None

Radio: KBAD 920-AM

Line: SDSU by 2 1/2, Total is 49.

Shortly after flying to San Diego this afternoon, the UNLV Rebels are scheduled to have a brief practice at Qualcomm Stadium.

Senior captain Tony Terrell said he will walk over to the north sideline on the field and say a prayer for his late friend Amar Brisco.

It was in front of that sideline two years ago that Brisco intercepted a Lon Sheriff pass in the closing moments of the game and returned it 72 yards for the winning touchdown as UNLV escaped with a 31-24 victory over the Aztecs in one of the biggest wins of the John Robinson Era of UNLV football.

UNLV went on to defeat Hawaii the following week to earn a bid to the Las Vegas Bowl where it upset Arkansas, 31-14. But if not for Brisco's interception return, the Rebels likely wouldn't have qualified for a bowl bid.

The popular Brisco won't be at Qualcomm Stadium when the Rebels (3-4, 1-1) face a similiar must-win situation against San Diego State (2-5, 2-0) on Saturday afternoon. The popular defensive back was shot and killed outside a Las Vegas dance club last summer following an altercation with security officers.

"It's going to be real emotional going into that stadium and thinking about Brisco," said Terrell, who spoke at Brisco's funeral. "I'll just picture him running that ball back.

"That game there (two years ago) was real emotional because our bowl hopes were riding on it. Brisco scoring that game-winning touchdown ... he'll always be remembered for making that game-winning interception."

Senior cornerback Jamal Wynn also will be thinking of his former teammate.

"A lot people on the team will be remembering that play Amar made," said Wynn, who grew up about five minutes from Qaulcomm Stadium. "This is a big game. I know Amar will be watching from above and wants us to win the game."

"It would have been fun to have had him at the game," UNLV coach John Robinson said.

The Rebels are wearing Brisco's old No. 5 on their helmets this season in his memory.

In many ways, Saturday's game is similiar to the 2000 contest for UNLV.

The Rebels must win three of their final five games to hit the coveted six-win plateau necessary to qualify for a bowl game. And after back-to-back games against the Aztecs and Wyoming, they finish the season against three of the conference's perennial heavyweights in Utah, Air Force and Colorado State.

"It is a must win," Terrell said. "We don't want to go backwards and have people say that the Rebels came together and got a good win (at BYU) but they're still the same old Rebels. We want to move forward. We want to win this game."

"The rest of our games are all must-win," Wynn said. "That's how we're looking at it."

The pressure will once again be on Wynn and the rest of UNLV's improving secondary, which completely shut down BYU's vaunted passing attack last week in a 24-3 win in Provo.

San Diego State (2-5, 2-0), led by junior quarterback Adam Hall and the talented receiving duo of J.R. Tolver and Kassim Osgood, ranks fifth in the country in passing offense with an average of 351.1 yards per game. Hall, a highly touted transfer from Texas, had back-to-back 500-yard passing games earlier this season against Arizona State and Idaho.

"I think (San Diego State's passing attack) is really scary," Robinson said. "When you're one of those teams that throws the ball all the time, you have some weeks where you just get hot and they can't stop you. There are periods in a game or a quarter where you can get on a real roll. We have to right that, though, and flatten them out and go out and win."

Robinson said he was happy with the way his team practiced this week coming off the big win over BYU.

"I think we're starting to get into a flow," he said. "Our pace is picking up in terms of executing. ... I think that translates into a good performance (Saturday). We need to put five good performances together now."

archive