MAC schools out to prove they’re not patsies

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2002 | 9:46 a.m.

NEXT UP

What: UNLV at Toledo

When: Saturday, 4 p.m.

Where: Glass Bowl, Toledo, Ohio

TV: KFBT, Cox ch. 6

Radio: KBAD 920-AM

Line: Toledo by 7 1/2

One week after getting whipped by an Oregon State team that figures to challenge for the Pac-10 Conference championship, the UNLV Rebels find themselves trying to regroup this weekend in Toledo of all places.

From the Pac-10 to the Mid-American Conference, aka the MAC. And although playing a MAC team might not sound as glamorous, the Rebels (1-2) can ill afford a letdown.

That's because the MAC, like the Mountain West Conference, is out to prove that it can play with the big boys of Division I college football. And if recent scores are any indication, they're making a pretty good statement.

Consider these results from last weekend:

Other impressive MAC performances this year include Miami of Ohio's upset of North Carolina as well as a 32-20 win by Central Michigan over Wyoming. And Central Florida gave Penn State a much tougher battle in Happy Valley (a 27-24 loss) than Nebraska did Saturday.

"I don't think there will be any letdown," UNLV coach John Robinson said. "We're pretty serious about ourselves right now after what happened at Oregon State. I think everybody here realizes that (Toledo) is a good football team and that this is going to be a challenge for us."

"Toledo is very good," safety Jamaal Brimmer said. "They do a lot of different things on offense that you have to be ready for. We'll have to do a much better job of communicating (in the secondary) than we did at Oregon State."

First the good news. Linebacker Ryan Claridge spent much of practice cutting and doing running drills to test his strained abdominal muscle and appears to be getting closer to playing.

"Ryan is coming along really good," Robinson said. "I think there is a good chance that we could have Ryan back for (Nevada-Reno)."

But starting wide receiver Earvin Johnson, who sat out the Oregon State game with a strained thigh muscle, had to watch the final part of practice when the injury began to flare up.

"Earvin is scaring me a little," Robinson said. "He starts out and practices and then about halfway through it starts giving him a problem again. I'm not real sure about him (for Toledo Saturday night)."

Although much of the Midwest has been plagued by thunderstorms in recent days, the forecast for Saturday is a high of 80 degrees with only a 10 percent chance of rain.

The Rockets haven't lost a home game since Oct. 30, 1999 when they dropped a 34-17 decision to Louisiana Tech. Included in the streak are two wins over MAC heavyweight Marshall as well as last year's 38-7 thumping of Minnesota.