Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

UNLV football:

Take 5: Rainbow Warriors come to Las Vegas in middle of regime change

Hawaii is a 9.5-point underdog as it breaks in an interim coach on Saturday, but the Rebels not in position to take them lightly

UNLV vs. Hawaii - Oct. 12th 2013

Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun

Hawaii wide receiver Chris Gant heads to the end zone to give the Rainbow Warriors the lead over UNLV late in the second half of their game Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013 at Sam Boyd Stadium. UNLV won 39-37 on a last second field goal.

The Rebel Room

What Could Have Been and What Shall Be

UNLV football kept things close with Boise State until it didn't, and now sports writers Case Keefer and Taylor Bern say eclipsing the 2.5 season win total very much relies on this week's game against a Hawaii team that just fired its coach. In basketball, Las Vegas Sun sports editor Ray Brewer tries to explain why he's so confident in this year's team and ends up just yelling about how a really good Utah State team isn't any good.

It’s homecoming weekend for UNLV and the odds boards predict it’s going to be a good one as the Rebels are favored by more than they have been against Division I-A competition since 2010.

UNLV (2-6, 1-3) hosts Hawaii (2-7, 0-5) at 3:07 p.m. on Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium. The game will stream on the Mountain West Network.

On Sunday the Rainbow Warriors fired their coach, Norm Chow, following a 58-7 loss at home to Air Force. Chow went 10-36 overall and 4-25 in the Mountain West during his four seasons, and Hawaii’s current disarray has them as 9.5-point underdogs coming into the Ninth Island.

The last time UNLV faced an interim coach it lost at New Mexico in 2011 as a 7-point favorite. The year before, UNLV was a 10.5-point home favorite against New Mexico, according to Covers.com, and the Rebels would love to duplicate the outcome of that blowout. Hawaii will try to get a much-needed victory of its own with a new guy calling the shots, and that’s where we start looking at this game:

In the Interim

Chris Naeole was the No. 10 overall pick in the 1997 NFL Draft after a first-team All-America career on Colorado’s offensive line, and he went on to play 11 years for the New Orleans Saints and Jacksonville Jaguars. Now Naeole is tasked with making something out of another lost season at Hawaii.

Naeole joined Chow’s staff in 2013 as the offensive line coach and now he takes over with four games remaining. After UNLV it’s three straight home games to finish the season.

It’s unclear if Naeole will be considered for the full-time job — former coach June Jones, the winningest coach in Hawaii history, has said he’ll apply for the job — but Naeole is already making things his own. He changed the team’s captains and also made a switch at quarterback.

Quarterback Situations

To the bench goes USC transfer Ryan Wittek and back into the starting lineup enters Ikaika Woolsey, a junior who started for Hawaii last season. Naeole said he felt Woolsey would give the team the best chance to win.

“There's live bullets out there and I'm trying to win a game,” he said.

Last year Woolsey completed just more than 50 percent of his passes with 13 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. In relief this year his completion percentage is about the same with one touchdown and three interceptions.

So the Rebels’ defense knows which guy it’s going to face, which is more than Hawaii’s defense can say. Senior Blake Decker is questionable with an injury to his right, throwing shoulder.

Decker missed Tuesday’s practice and was a partial participant Wednesday. If he can’t go it would be sophomore Kurt Palandech making his third start this season.

Limping Rebels

In addition to Decker, receiver Kendal Keys (multiple injuries) and defensive tackle Mike Hughes Jr. (concussion) are both questionable for Saturday. Sanchez also announced this week that fullback George Naufahu and receiver Stephen Sweeney are done for the year because of ACL tears.

With the exception of quarterback, UNLV has done pretty well with injuries this season. Other notable loses are offensive lineman Ron Scoggins and fullback Marc Philippi, neither of whom have (or are likely to) see the field this year.

Out for Revenge

Last year at Hawaii, the Rebels were dead until they weren’t. Then, after a contentious turn of events, they were dead again.

Decker entered the game in the fourth quarter and led a comeback to take a 35-31 lead with 15 seconds left. That seemed like it would effectively end the game, but a double penalty on George Naufahu and Marcus Sullivan for running from the sidelines onto the field without their helmets to celebrate the touchdown helped Hawaii get better field position.

Then the clock operator left one second on the clock after Woolsey threw an incomplete pass that, again, seemed like it handed UNLV the victory. The Rainbow Warriors kicked the game-winning field goal and shortly thereafter UNLV announced that Bobby Hauck was done as coach.

The Rebels feel like they had one stolen from them, and the players who remain from that game are out to take it back.

Bowl Dreams

The Rebels have effectively been out of contention for a bowl game since the Oct. 16 loss at Fresno State, but until they’re mathematically eliminated they will believe it’s still possible. And if they win this weekend, that remains true.

Right now the Mountain West isn’t in a very good position for its bowl games. The league has seven bowl affiliations and four teams that look like locks to get there. Colorado State will have a good chance, which would make it five, but that still leaves two spots with teams like New Mexico and UNR facing uphill battles to get to six wins.

The Wolf Pack have a decent chance to get there, but filling all seven slots would likely require a team like UNLV busting off a big run.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.

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