Friday, Nov. 1, 2002 | 4:35 a.m.
LAS VEGAS AP) - Was Wyoming's surprising 34-26 upset of Air Force a fluke or the start of a return to respectability for the Cowboys?
Saturday's game in Las Vegas between Wyoming (2-6, 1-2 Mountain West Conference) and UNLV (3-5, 1 (2)- may provide an answer. Kickoff is at 5 p.m. Mountain, 4 p.m. Pacific.
With last week's win over the then-No. 22 Falcons, the Cowboys earned their first Mountain West Conference victory in nearly three years and ended a 17-game league skid.
Wyoming coach Vic Koenning is hoping his team will continue to compete at the same level.
"I'm not saying it filled up our tanks by any means," he said. "I think we've got a long way to go before we can say we've got our stingers back completely."
But, he said, "There's definitely a little more bounce in their step."
Stringing together two straight MWC wins won't be easy since UNLV has the 35th-best rushing attack in the nation (183.7 yards per game). Joe Haro is averaging 68.6 rushing yards per game.
"No one can imagine the stable of running backs they have there," Koenning said. "It's unbelievable. They've got them coming out of their ears."
Still the Rebels, who lost to San Diego State 31-21 last week, are only 104th in the nation in scoring, with 19.7 points per game, and have not strung back-to-back wins together all season. They are also the most penalized team in the Mountain West.
"Our passing game isn't working so the running game better," UNLV coach John Robinson said. "I don't think we're a great running club. We're OK. We've tried to stay with it and tried to integrate the passing game. We've had some setbacks in that area."
UNLV is 84th of 117 Division I teams in passing with 184.1 yards per game and quarterback Jason Thomas is ranked 98th in passing efficiency.
"We've had some games when we're wildly inaccurate," said Robinson, who is the NCAA's 14th-winningest active coach (122-60-4, .667).
The Rebels' defense, led by linebackers Adam Seward and Tyrone Tucker and safety Jamaal Brimmer, is the third-stingiest in the MWC and second-best against the rush (130 yards per game).
Seward and Tucker are averaging more than 10 tackles a game and Brimmer has 13 tackles for losses and three forced fumbles this season.
Wyoming's passing attack is 40th in the nation with 248.7 yards per game and quarterback Casey Bramlet is 27th in total offense, accounting for 255 yards per outing.
The junior has thrown for 10 touchdowns and completed 68 percent of his passes (110 of 161) in the last four games.
"They throw the ball a lot like San Diego," Robinson said. "We feel like it's going to be a tossup game. I think every game you play in this conference is a tossup game."
The Cowboys have averaged 434.5 yards per game and 31 points over their last four games, compared to 283 yards and 11.7 points in the first four.
However, Ryan McGuffey, No. 4 on UW's career receptions list with 153, won't play because of a DUI arrest last Sunday.
The Cowboys are led defensively by linebacker Tyler Gottschalk, who has 81 tackles, six tackles for losses, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery, all team highs.
Robinson isn't sure what type of boost the win over Air Force will provide the Cowboys.
"The best weapon any of us can have in a game is confidence about ourselves," he said. "That was not a fluke. This football team (Wyoming) has put together some very good games and they did last Saturday."
Koenning, too, doesn't know how his squad will react.
"We're a blue-collar team with a bunch of players where if they play at their highest level than we can be competitive," he said. "The margin of error for us is extremely small."
UNLV needs to win three of its last four games to become bowl-eligible. Vegas has won the last three meetings between the schools, but the Rebels are only 4-8 in home MWC games.
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