Rebels drop the ball

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Oct. 18, 2004 | 10:09 a.m.

The UNLV Rebels were a frustrated group following Saturday afternoon's 24-20 homecoming loss to New Mexico.

And why not? Despite turning the ball over six times to the Lobos, the Rebels (2-5, 1-2) still had a chance to pull out a victory at the end until quarterback Kurt Nantkes --- what else? --- fumbled after getting sacked by linebacker Mike Mohoric at the New Mexico 41 with 2:13 to go.

"We just gave the game away," senior safety Jamaal Brimmer said simply.

"It's a big disappointment," added senior guard Joe Critchfield. "We should have won this game. Even the other team knows that."

But a lot of players were still peeling off their sweat-soaked jerseys when the topic of this weekend's game at Utah (6-0), ranked No. 9 in this week's Associated Press poll after thrashing North Carolina, 46-16, came up.

Instead of dwelling on the negatives of losing another winnable game to Rocky Long's Lobos (3-4, 1-2), the Rebels seemed surprisingly upbeat about getting a chance to try and defeat the third Top 25 ranked team they will have faced in eight games this season.

"We have to look forward," senior linebacker Adam Seward said. "We're already talking about Utah right now. It would be a great thing to be able to go up to Salt Lake City and be the one to knock them off."

"We can only look ahead," added defensive end Leon Moore. "If we look back we're going to lose one more and we're going to be sitting home come Christmas time. We just have to come back and play. We can't let this one get us down. We've got to come back with our heads up and play like we know we can."

Thanks to the New Mexico loss, the Rebels now find themselves faced with the prospect of having to win their final four games to become bowl eligible. And considering UNLV has never won three consecutive conference games since joining the Mountain West Conference, that figures to be a extremely tall task.

"(Saturday) turns into a must-win game," junior safety Joe Miklos said. "It's our whole season basically."

The Rebels opened as huge 23 1/2-point underdogs on Sunday night at the Stardust Hotal and Casino. But UNLV players seemed to relish the idea of being given little, if any, chance of knocking off Urban Meyer's red-hot Utes, who piled up 35 first downs and 669 yards in total offense in their win against the Tar Heels.

"I think it's a great position (to be in)," Moore said. "Nobody is unbeatable. Utah, don't get me wrong, they're a great team and they're physical. But they aren't unbeatable.

"We're not going in there soft," Moore continued. "We're not scared of them. You can't be scared. They're regular people like us. There isn't anybody on their team that has an 'S' on their chest. They're beatable."

"I don't think many people give anybody a chance when they go up there to play Utah," Seward said. "No one on this team has beat them so that gives us even more incentive to go up there and play. They've had our number every year. Being this is my senior year, I'd like to go up there and change that."

And if Sunday night's practice at Rebel Park was any indication, the Rebels seem to be loose and staying together.

"I think we will stick together," Miklos said. "We're a really tight team right now. We just beat a really good BYU team away last week. I think we can pull it out."

"We've got to make the position play better," Robinson said. "We're going to go back and really concentrate on fundamentals. The position, we can't turn the ball over. We just can not allow that."

Steichen turned the ball over three times against the Lobos (two fumbles and an interception) while Nantkes had two turnovers (interception and a fumble).

"I think both men can be successful, but right now that's just not happening and it has to change," Robinson said. "I'll make a decision (on a starter) as the week goes on."