Rebels bowled over and out

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Oct. 25, 2004 | 9:57 a.m.

As they slowly walked off the field at rainy Rice-Eccles Stadium following a 63-28 loss to Utah on Saturday, UNLV players were showered with a few words of encouragement from Ute fans.

"At least you beat BYU! At least you beat BYU!" they chanted.

That was small consolation for John Robinson's Rebels (2-6, 1-3), who were officially eliminated from bowl eligibility for the third consecutive season with the one-sided defeat.

UNLV has a bye this week. That's good news for a number of players who have been slowed by various bumps and bruises. But it also means a team that has nothing left but pride to play for must endure another week of sitting around before finishing out the final three games of the season starting with their Nov. 6 home finale against much improved Wyoming (4-3, 1-2).

For what it's worth, Rebels players, perhaps still a little shell-shocked from the offensive barrage unleashed on them by Alex Smith and company, say they won't pack it in just because a bowl is now out of reach.

"It doesn't really matter because I enjoy playing with these guys," senior running back Dominique Dorsey, who slithered through Utah's defense for 179 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries, said.

Senior linebacker Ryan Claridge, who had nine tackles and three sacks in one of his finest games as a Rebel, said: "We're not going to a bowl game but what can you do? We're going to take the bye week and get healthy as best we can. We've got three games left and we'll make the best out of it."

Senior linebacker Adam Seward, who had 10 more tackles against Utah and needs just 10 more to crack the 400-mark in his MWC record-setting career, vowed to also to continue to play his hardest.

"Yeah, I'm disappointed we're not going to a bowl game because I thought we'd have a better season," said Seward, a Bonanza High School graduate. "I don't think anybody in this locker room is going to cash it in. Obviously, we want to go out with a bang. "

Senior cornerback Ruschard Dodd-Masters said: "We aren't going to be in a bowl game, so I've got just three more games left in my career here. I'm going to go out and play my hardest. No doubt."

Actually, Robinson, who won a national title at USC in 1978 and finished No. 2 in the nation two other times, went a bit further.

"That's a potential national championship team," Robinson said.

Seward said: "They have a lot of talent, obviously. They whipped us pretty good."

Dodd-Masters said: "That's as good a team as I've played against since I've been playing college football."

Although the Rebels prepared for much of what they saw from the Utes, the speed with which Utah ran the plays seemed to catch them off guard.

"They run it at a speed that's twice as fast as we do in practice," sophomore nose tackle Howie Fuimaono said. "It's kind of like the option. It's really hard to prepare for the game speed they do it at. They're the best team I've played against."

One problem: Dodd-Masters was supposed to be on the bench at the time.

Rebels players were completely faked out when Ute return man Bo Nagahi handed the ball to Scalley on a reverse near the Utah end zone. Scalley was a good 30 yards up the field cruising past the UNLV sideline before anybody figured out he had the ball.

Replays show Dodd-Masters actually ran about 5 yards out onto the field thinking the play ended when Nagahi was tackled across the field, before turning and sprinting to the Rebels bench when he saw Scalley speeding toward him with the ball.

"He came up to me and told me, 'I'm sorry,' " Fuimaono said. "And we wished good luck to each other."