UNLV, Sac State are strangers with a common foe

By Rob Miech

Friday, Sept. 4, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

UNLV and Sacramento State have never played each other in football. Their respective coaches supposedly don’t know each other. They’ve never even met.

The two teams, however, do share Fort Collins, Colo., as a connection.

Both the Rebels and Hornets, who open the 2009 season Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium, played Colorado State in Fort Collins within a month of each other last season.

In both games, the visitors held leads but wilted in the final minutes. They either lost, or had a deficit expanded, on the last play of the game. And the defeat led to more defeats.

(Which opponent do you think drew more fans to Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium? Look for the answer below.)

For Sacramento State, the Sept. 6 visit to Fort Collins could have been a landmark affair.

Since 2002, when the Hornets started playing teams from the former Division I-A, it was the closest they’ve played a program from college football’s elite leagues.

With 10 minutes remaining, Sac State took a 20-17 lead when sophomore quarterback Jason Smith hit All-Big Sky Conference senior receiver Tony Washington with a 40-yard touchdown strike.

Hornets coach Marshall Sperback noted how, because of Colorado State’s young cornerbacks, he believed Smith and his receivers could “expose” those defenders “down the field.”

Washington caught seven passes for 117 yards against the Rams.

The Rams answered by chewing up 61 yards over the ensuing 8 1/2 minutes, a drive that was capped by freshman kicker Ben DeLine’s 36-yard field goal that tied it, 20-20, with 89 seconds remaining.

Sac State took over at its own 28, and after a Smith incomplete pass tailback Evander Wilkins lost control of the ball in his own backfield and the Rams took over at the 25 with 1:12 left.

Four plays later, DeLine, son of former Colorado State kicker Steve DeLine, ended his first collegiate game on the final play with the deciding boot from 20 yards for a 23-20 victory.

“I’ve wanted to come here since I was a little kid,” Ben DeLine said afterward. “You can’t let the nerves get to your head. The game-winning kick was a lot of fun. I was a lot more anxious to kick that than the one to tie.”

UNLV led the Rams, 28-27, with six minutes left on Oct. 4 when Colorado State rallied, punching in a 10-yard touchdown run with nine ticks remaining.

On the last play of the game, the Rams picked up a Rebels fumble and rambled into the end zone to polish off a 41-28 victory.

Sac State lost four of its next six games and finished the season 6-6. Colorado State was UNLV’s second consecutive loss. The Rebels lost their next three games and spiraled to a 5-7 finish.

(For the Hornets, 20,051 filed into Hughes Stadium. For the Rebels, 19,703 went to the game. Ouch.)

Smith, a 6-foot, 195-pound junior, starts for the third season in a row for the Hornets, but he loses much of his arsenal in Washington and Kyle Hill.

Moreover, shoulder surgery will sideline running back Bryan Hilliard and a broken collarbone will shelve receiver Chase Deadder on Saturday night.

If their one common foe from last season can be used as a barometer, the 2009 opener for both teams might go late into the night and come down to the last play of the game.