Rebels going bowling

HONOLULU --- Shortly after the final seconds ticked off at the end of UNLV's

34-32 victory over Hawaii at Aloha Stadium here on Saturday night, Rebel strong safety Randy Black took off his helmet.

"Hey, J. Brimm (Jamaal Brimmer), check this out," Black said with a smile.

Black took the helmet and rolled it about 20 yards down the field.

"We're going bowling, man!" the Clark High product shouted.

Yes, for the first time since 1994, and just two years removed from an

embarassing 0-11 campaign, the UNLV Rebels have earned themselves a post-season bowl bid.

During a wild lockerroom celebration, John Robinson and his squad accepted an invitation to play in the Dec. 21 Las Vegas Bowl against an opponent to be named as early as today.

"We're very happy to go to a bowl game," Robinson said. "Our kids ... came from nowhere and built themselves to a point where they deserve to have something like this happen.

"The City of Las Vegas, all of us in Las Vegas, need to get caught up with this team and buy all those tickets and come to our game. I want to see 39,000 people at our game. I'm going to go out on the street and start hawking tickets."

Put it this way, if Las Vegas Bowl IX is anywhere close to being as dramatic as UNLV's last three games, it will be well worth the money.

For the third straight game, the the contest wasn't decided until the final minutes as UNLV (7-5), despite rolling up 555 yards in total offense and 431 yards rushing, almost fumbled away their bowl hopes.

Tailback Kevin Brown, who rushed for 139 yards on 19 carries, fumbled into the end zone in the first quarter to cap a 94-yard drive as UNLV came away empty-handed. Brown also fumbled in the fourth quarter to set up the fourth of Hawaii placekicker Eric Hannum's four field goals, a 32-yarder which cut UNLV's lead to just 27-26.

But UNLV, behind the hard running of senior tailback Jeremi Rudolph (26 carries, 159 yards, 1 TD), seemed to have the game in control when quarterback Jason Thomas connected with wide receiver Nate Turner with a one-yard touchdown pass with just 6:25 remaining to up the Rebels' lead to eight, 34-26.

And it looked like the game was all but over a few minutes later when the Rebel defense stopped the Warriors on a three-and-out.

But on a third-and-11 at the Rebels 33, Thomas fumbled the ball back to Hawaii. Junior safety Nate Jackson scooped it up and ran it all the way down to the Rebel three-yard-line with just 2:03 left in the game.

Two plays later, Warrior quarterback Timmy Chang hit Afatia Thompson in the right flat with a three-yard touchdown pass to cut the UNLV lead to 36-34 with 1:58 remaining.

Hawaii then attempted a two-point conversion to try and send the game into overtime. But Chang's first option, wide receiver Ashley Leslie, slipped while breaking from the line on a fade route. Chang then looked to his left and tried to hit Craig Stutzmann, but the diving junior wide receiver couldn't come up with the low throw.

Hawaii tried an onside kick, but tight end DeJhown Mandley recovered and UNLV ran out the clock.

"It was a great football game and an extremely entertaining game," Robinson said. "At the end we screwed up. We fumbled the ball. We had control of the ball at the end and had two bounce away from us. ... But we found a way to win it."

And for senior players like Black, who were apart of the Rebel teams that lost 16 straight games over a two-year period before Robinson replaced Jeff Horton, that was all that really mattered at the end.

"This is the greatest feeling ever," Black said. "Going to a bowl game ... this is what I came here for. I wouldn't change this for the world."

archive