Rebels ‘need’ win against KU

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Sept. 6, 2002 | 9:49 a.m.

NEXT UP

What: Kansas at UNLV

When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

Where: Sam Boyd Stadium

TV: None

Radio: KBAD 920-AM

Line: UNLV by 14 1/2. Total is 49 1/2.

Tickets: Order online at unlvtickets.com or call 739-FANS. The game marks the debut of the Family Fun Zone. The $38 package includes four tickets, five giveaways, tailgating party and meals.

It is only the second game of the 2002 season for UNLV. But it's not too early to label Saturday's contest against Kansas a "must-win" situation.

"Yeah, you better win this one," UNLV coach John Robinson admitted.

The reasoning is simple. The Rebels, who lost their opener to Wisconsin, 27-7, last Saturday, next hit the road for tough back-to-back games against Pac-10 contender Oregon State and defending MAC champion Toledo. A loss Saturday night to a rebuilding Jayhawks squad that lost to Iowa State, 45-3, last week could put UNLV in position to start the year 0-4 for the second straight season.

"We're not thinking about that," quarterback Jason Thomas said. "We're thinking about winning every week. Every opponent is tough, but we feel we're a tough opponent also if we go out and execute."

So Thomas doesn't feel an extra sense of urgency following last weekend's five turnover fiasco?

"There's a sense of urgency the entire season," Thomas said. "You want to go out and play hard and win every week. If you don't, you shouldn't be here. Every week is a must-win for me. You've got to look at it that way."

"You have to take each game one at a time," linebacker Adam Seward said. "You can't look downfield at the next couple of games and say you have to win this one."

Robinson, sensing what figures to be a very competitive Mountain West Conference season, spent the off-season stressing resiliency to his squad.

"Even before we lost to Wisconsin, we talked about being a resilient team," Thomas said. "We won't let one victory or one loss mean everything to us. We're going to just keep fighting and keep plugging away."

Thomas believes this year's senior-laden team has learned from last year's mistakes which resulted in the 0-4 start.

"We let the (season opening) Arkansas loss ruin our whole season," Thomas said. "It was like, 'Oh, man, we're not going to be in the Top 25.' We had so many high hopes and we let that one loss overcome us.

"You can't let it snowball. It's just one week. We've got 11 more and hopefully 12 more weeks to play football. It's a long season."

Seward, for one, isn't taking anything for granted against a Kansas team that is a two-touchdown underdog.

"They're not a bad team by any means," he said. "We've watched a lot of film on them. They're an excellent football team and very underrated if you ask me. ... We're preparing like we're the underdogs and we're going to have to play every play like it's our last."

Although he understands where Robinson is coming from, Thomas said he would just as soon not have to use the word "resilient" too many more times.

"It's one thing about getting back up off the deck," Thomas said. "But we also want to stay off that deck."

This is Kansas' farthest trip west since the 1992 season when the Jayhawks visited Oregon State. ... Kansas hasn't won a non-conference road game since 1998 when it defeated UAB in four overtimes. ... First-year Kansas head coach Mark Mangino, the offensive coordinator for 2000 national champ Oklahoma, actually checked with the NCAA to make sure it would be OK to take his team on a bus tour of The Strip. "We were told by our director of football operations that we can go ahead and take a bus tour of The Strip if we want and could possibly let the kids out and walk around for a brief period of time," Mangino said. "Quite obviously, there's no gambling allowed. If you just watch people in Las Vegas, that's entertaining enough."