Bring on the Rebel-rousing

By Ron Kantowski

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Once upon a time — like from 1973 to ’75 — UNLV had a football coach named Ron Meyer, who had long hair and long sideburns and said if Las Vegas didn’t come out to support his Rebels, he was going to kick it in its collective rear end.

He was frustrated by the lack of support for a program that won 27 games and lost just eight in his three years on the job.

Mike Sanford, the current Rebels coach, wasn’t quite so blunt when asked about fan support Sunday in the aftermath of the Rebels’ stunning 23-20 victory at No. 15 Arizona State.

The Rebels host Iowa State at Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday night, and Sanford expects a bigger crowd than the 18,815 who attended the season opener against Utah State.

“I think people will be interested because of what happened (Saturday) night,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a Big 12 opponent, a BCS opponent, coming into our stadium.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for fans to see what UNLV football is all about in 2008, not anything in the past.”

At least one fan on the Sun’s Internet site says Sanford won’t have to kick him in the rear end — or even ask him nicely — to support the Rebels.

“I just purchased five tickets online for Saturday’s game,” wrote a fan who identified himself as “Traval.”

“Now it’s time for us locals to step up and support our football team.”

Opportunities like this don’t come very often. UNLV’s previous victory over a nationally ranked opponent was in 2003 when the Rebels whipped No. 14 Wisconsin 23-5 on the road. Though the team returned home to a crowd of 34,287 the next week, the opponent was Hawaii, which always draws well in Las Vegas. So that number was inflated by the residents of the Ninth Island.

After beating Hawaii, the Rebels won at Nevada-Reno the next week, but lost at Air Force the week after that. A crowd of 26,241 turned out for the next home game, against Utah. Then the Rebels started losing again. By the end of the year, they were attracting their usual crowds of about 20,000.

That’s why it’s important UNLV builds on the momentum. Upsets against Pac-10 teams are nice, but they don’t pay bills during a budget crisis.

The Iowa State-UNLV game will go head to head with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday night, which usually outdraws Rebel football 3-to-1. But if early indications are accurate, UNLV could see an attendance spike Saturday.

“Sales are increasing,” said Mike Jackson, the UNLV ticket manager.

That’s a good thing. If not, we might have to bring Meyer and his size 12 Justins back from Canada.

Back in the flared bluejean days of the football program, UNLV was only a card-carrying NCAA Division II member playing the likes of the State College of Arkansas, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Santa Clara, Prairie View A&M, South Dakota State, New Mexico Highlands and Nebraska-Omaha. And Meyer complained that fans wouldn’t come out to see the Rebels beat up on these guys.

He couldn’t have dreamed the Rebels would one day set foot on the same field with Arizona State, much less beat it. That’s why Meyer left for Southern Methodist as soon as he had the chance.

But what he says still goes. If Las Vegas doesn’t turn out for the Iowa State game, it needs a kick in its collective rear end.