UNLV struggles with fourth loss to UNR

Len Ware caught just one pass for 12 yards in UNLV's 31-20 loss to Nevada-Reno Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Frustrated that he didn't contribute more on the field, the 6-1, 195-pound junior wide receiver from Montclair High School in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., decided to try to do something about it.

Shortly after Rebels coach Jeff Horton addressed his 0-5 squad in the locker room afterward, Ware got up and delivered a speech of his own.

The message? Don't quit.

"I see myself as a leader on this team, and I'm not doing anything to help this team win," Ware, who has a team-high 25 receptions, said. "I haven't shown up these past four games and it's frustrating. I've always performed and this year I'm just not getting it done.

"Basically, I'm going to make a self-evaluation of myself and I'm not going to stop working hard. I told the team not to quit, to come out here on Tuesday and practice hard and practice like it was the beginning of the season. That's all that we can do."

The fear for many around the UNLV program is now that the Rebels are 0-5 and have lost for the fourth straight year to their in-state rival, it would be easy for players to throw in the towel on the rest of the 1998 season -- especially with another tough road game at BYU this week. Ware understands.

"Especially when things are going bad and you lose to your rival," he said. "We definitely don't want this team to hit rock bottom. ... I think everybody will come back for practice on Tuesday ready to go."

"We can't go anywhere but up," senior center Bubba Gonzalez said. "It's a real disappointing loss. We really wanted this game. But we're not going to quit. There's too many good guys on this team."

Gonzalez said Ware stressed the importance of putting in a good week of practice before this week's trip to Provo.

"He just told everybody that we've got to come out ready to practice on Tuesday," Gonzalez said. "We just can't show up and win games on Saturday. We've got to start the winning on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, too. I think we've been preparing hard. Maybe we just have to prepare harder. We haven't been getting things done."

"It was pretty much one guy saying we need to evaluate ourselves and look in the mirror and say, 'What are you doing for this team?'" quarterback Kevin Crook said. "So it's time for guys to check their hole cards and come out strong on Tuesday."

Senior offensive guard Jerald Pierucci, a four-year starter, says the Rebels will remain focused the rest of the season.

"I look at the core guys that we have around here, the seniors and stuff ... if we wanted to go into the tank, we could have done it two or three years ago," Pierucci said.

"I have no way to look into the future, but I can tell you just by the group of guys that we have and their character that we'll go out and work even harder this week in practice."

Horton, who finds himself on the hot seat following his team's 10th consecutive loss, believes his squad will not quit.

"I don't think they'll give up," he said. "They didn't give up (Saturday night) and they kept coming back.

"Right now we're obviously not a very good football team," Horton continued. "We've just got to do a better job coaching and they have to do a better job of playing. Hopefully we'll come out and put it all together Saturday."

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