Rebels won't use 'The Streak' for motivation

UNLV's football team is already in full preparation for Thursday night's season opener at North Texas. But two words you won't hear John Robinson mentioning around the Lied Athletic Complex are, "The Streak."

Actually, the streaks. UNLV carries a 16-game losing skein into its game against the Mean Green, second longest in Division I football behind Hawaii (18 games). The Rebels also haven't won a road game since Oct. 1, 1994, at New Mexico State, a span of 26 games.

If you think Robinson will use those negatives as motivation for his young troops, forget it.

"Not at all," Robinson said. "We are not taking the baggage of that losing streak with us. We are not going to have that bog us down. We're going down there to win the game the same as if we were on a six-game winning streak. Obviously, that's an easy thing to say. But we are not talking about that at all."

Robinson said he wants his team to approach each game with the same focus whether it has a losing streak or a winning streak.

"We want to go out and win every time out," he said. "We're going to have a plan to win and we're going to try and go out and execute it. What went on in history doesn't matter to us. In fact, I talked to the team today. What happens if we do go down there and win? What does everybody do? Celebrate? I think you behave the same whether you win or lose. We want to win the next 11 games. And we want to go about it the same every week. Right now we're all 0-0."

Does it concern Robinson that not one of his players has won a college road game while at UNLV?

"We're going to change that," he said. "I think it's a mistake to sit around and dwell on it. You're dwelling on negative self-image and that drags you down."

Robinson said he used the same strategy in helping break USC's 13-year winless streak against Notre Dame in 1996.

"Absolutely I did," he said. "And when I went to the Rams when they hadn't won. You do it the same way. Believe in yourself. You go in believing if you do these things you're going to win the game."

Robinson's tactics seem to be working.

"I'm not really worried about the streak," UNLV junior safety Randy Black said. "I mean, what is the streak? The streak means nothing. It's something in the past and a lot of us are trying to forget about it. I don't wake up every morning thinking about the streak. I just think it's something that when it is broken, you put it away in the closet."

"Coach (Robinson) doesn't really bring that stuff up," senior wide receiver Len Ware said. "He doesn't want to put that kind of pressure on us. But we put the pressure on ourselves. We don't need to hear it from anybody else. We know as well as anybody, better than Coach Rob knows. We want it more than anybody, especially as seniors."

* FOOTBALL 101: The UNLV Sports Marketing Department will offer a "Football 101" course to the public on Monday night in the Barron Hilton Auditorium in the Lied Athletic Complex.

The course, offered to women, will be taught by Linda Robinson, wife of UNLV head coach John Robinson, and Melanie of radio station Sunny 106.5. Admission is free. For further information, call 895-UNLV.

* REBEL NOTES: The UNLV athletic department will hold the 1999 Scholarship Donor Appreciation Barbecue at Rebel Park on Tuesday night from 6:30 to 8:30. UNLV's band and cheerleaders will be on hand. ... The Rebels' first Quarterback Club luncheon is Monday at noon at Big Dog's on Sahara. Admission is $10.

archive