Thomas: At the end, we’ll still be in a bowl game

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2002 | 10:36 a.m.

Jason Thomas has a message for UNLV football fans who might be a little down following Saturday night's disappointing 27-7 loss to Wisconsin.

"Don't give up on us," Thomas said following practice Monday night at Rebel Park. "If you do, you'll come back at the end because we'll be in a bowl game."

Thomas was the object of boos again on Saturday night after he committed four of his team's five first-half turnovers. "I don't know if it was opening-game jitters or just opening-night mistakes," Thomas said. "You don't have to have jitters to make mistakes. It wasn't just the glaring mistakes we made but also the little ones that hurt us."

Asked to give himself a grade for his performance, Thomas, who completed 12 of 26 passes for 138 yards with two interceptions while rushing for a game-high 83 yards on 10 carries, didn't mince words.

"For ball security, I'd obviously give myself an 'F,"' said Thomas, who lost two key fumbles. "But for game management and everything, I thought I did pretty good. The two-minute drill was a real positive for all of us. Overall, I think I did all right.

"I improved a lot with my fundamentals. But there are times I just have to be more aware out there of ball security. You make five turnovers in a half and you're not going to beat anybody. And I had four of them.

"It's tough, but last season gave me the experience to deal with adversity," Thomas continued. "My team is still behind me. That's a big thing. They were telling me things like, 'Don't worry about it, it's just the first game,' stuff like that."

At his weekly luncheon on Monday at Big Dog's Cafe, UNLV head coach John Robinson gave Thomas a vote of confidence. But he also said the former prep All-American needs to do away with the sloppy play he exhibited Saturday night.

"He has to change, there's no question about that," Robinson said. "He has to change.

"Obviously, the question (fans) want to (ask) is, 'Well, when will you take him out?' It's amazing to me how people want to execute somebody. It's shocking. It's 'Get rid of him' or 'Get rid of this guy.' I will make changes at any position. But everybody here knows that if we have Jason Thomas playing at his best, that's our best chance for success.

"(But) we can't be patient forever," Robinson continued. "I think we can change him and have him being much more efficient holding the ball and I think we'll be much better off."

More than 19,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday's game, which will not be shown on live TV. ... Former UNLV graduate assistant Duval Love, arrested last week on federal drug charges, officially was classified as a volunteer assistant in the school's strength and conditioning department last spring before becoming a graduate assistant for the football program in the summer.