Columnist Ron Kantowski: This UNLV football season is past tense

Monday, Nov. 15, 2004 | 9:22 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

Since the Rebels joined a real conference in 1996, they've had only one season in which they won more games than they lost. Regardless of the spin athletic director Mike Hamrick is putting on his pitch to prospective replacements for John Robinson, the UNLV football program is not -- I repeat, is not -- a sleeping giant.

It's just plain sleeping.

But at least under Robinson, you could count on the Rebels playing hard and playing to the finish. A master motivator even when the chips aren't on the table, Robinson's Rebels have finished with a victory in every season except his first, and against some pretty good competition at that.

After losing to Colorado State 35-17 in 1999, the Rebels defeated Arkansas 31-14 in the 2000 Las Vegas Bowl, defeated Air Force 34-10 in 2001, defeated conference champ and No. 13-ranked Colorado State 36-33 in 2002 and defeated Wyoming 35-24 last year. All but Arkansas were on the road. None except Arkansas fans cheered like wounded pigs.

But let's have a show of hands -- er, hand: How many actually believe the Rebels are going to close yet another disappointing season by salvaging a win at San Diego State on Saturday?

That's what I thought. You can put your hand down, Ryan Claridge. Based on Saturday's 45-10 debacle at CSU, your teammates have already checked in their gear with equipment manager Paul Pucciarelli.

The Rebels, plain and simple, appear to have quit.

That's probably one of the worst things you can say about a football team, but it's the only explanation for UNLV falling behind 38-3 at halftime to a Colorado State team that had just as little to play for.

I am sure there are pockets of insurgents who will insist on making the trip to Seaworld on Saturday -- it's not too hard to envision a hard-nosed guy like Claridge, with a bandana around his head and a homemade grenade launcher in his pocket, gallantly leading three or four of his teammates into a hopeless battle. But the rest of the Rebels appear to have surrendered weeks ago.

Say it again. These Rebels have quit. Some even literally.

The Saturday before last, when he at very least would have been called upon to bail out backup Shane Steichen against Wyoming, starting quarterback Kurt Nantkes was home watching the game on TV. Then he got mad when it was reported he stayed home because of personal problems related to his family.

Nantkes even called one of the local beat reporters to say that wasn't the case. Too bad he didn't say what the case was. Or that he just didn't leave it at "personal problems," or whatever the cryptic official news release from the school said. Then maybe his teammates would have been a little more understanding about one of their alleged leaders walking out on them.

It's hard to say how the Rebels feel about starting cornerback Ruschard Dodd-Masters, who was suspended for the CSU game for punching a Wyoming player the week before. Hey, at least he hit somebody, although the officials generally frown when it's five seconds after the whistle.

The Mountain West, fearing the loquacious RDM might talk Rams wide receiver David Anderson to a slow and painful death from the sideline, would not even allow him to make the trip to Fort Collins. The Rebels were forced to start Shannon Nowden, who was so far down on the depth chart at the start of the season that a submarine's sonar couldn't locate him, at corner. Not surprisingly, UNLV's patchwork secondary made Caleb Hanie, the Rams' backup quarterback, look like Johnny Unitas (12-for-16, 211 yds., 2 TDs).

Then there is linebacker Adam Seward, the heart and soul -- and now, mouth -- of the UNLV defense. Seward is a heck of a player who learned a harsh lesson when a couple of negative comments he made about commitment during the off-season were blown out of proportion and turned into front-page news the day before the CSU game. If you're wondering why Seward waited until then to complain about something that happened in the off-season, it's because the Rebels weren't 2-7 until then.

Now they are 2-8.

Seward also was upset that Robinson dogged the defense after it committed the majority of the 22 penalties called against the Rebels and allowed 53 points to Wyoming after being torched for 63 points by Utah the game before that. Perhaps that wool cap Robinson wore on the sidelines at CSU, making him look like a longshoreman awaiting a shipment at the docks, was pulled down tight over Seward's eyes the previous two weeks.

Again, many of his teammates weren't pleased. Nor could they have been pleased when hard-hitting safety Jamaal Brimmer, one of the guys you would least expect to hear it from, was quoted on the eve of the Wyoming game that his primary goal was to get the season over with as quickly as possible. Although I don't think he meant to do it by injuring his ribs.

It has been nearly two months since Robinson announced that this season would be his last, which was intended as preemptive strike to prevent the Rebels from being distracted by speculation about their coach's future following an 0-4 start.

Preemptive strike? As far as distractions go, it was only a warning shot.