UNLV Goes Hog Wild, 31-14

It was a minor-league bowl game. It was played on a week night. It didn’t sell out. It was on cable.

It was . . . historic?

Linda Robinson didn’t need to wait for the overnight ratings to determine the significance of Nevada Las Vegas’ 31-14 victory over Arkansas on Thursday night in the Las Vegas Bowl before a crowd of 25,868 at Sam Boyd Stadium.

As postgame fireworks burst in air, and the Rebel band played “Viva, Las Vegas,” and the goal posts came down, she pushed through the crowd looking for her husband John in the aftermath of what she described as perhaps the greatest victory of his career.

“It’s the ultimate,” Linda said. “Total vindication for him. I hope they saw it in California. This is so satisfying. He’s a great coach, nobody can deny that. From 0-11 to a bowl in two years? Beating a Southeastern Conference team?”

It was difficult to deny what took place here.

Three years after he was fired at USC, and two years after he inherited a team that had lost 16 consecutive games, 65-year-old John Robinson has led UNLV from wilderness to wildness.

Robinson’s Rebels did not merely beat Arkansas, which finished the season 6-6, they pushed the Hogs through the slop.

They manhandled a school from the Southeastern Conference, a league so vaunted it placed nine schools in bowl games this year.

UNLV amassed 476 total yards on Arkansas and averaged 7.4 yards per play.

The Rebels turned a 14-14 halftime tie into a second-half rout.

Jason Thomas, the sophomore quarterback who transferred from USC after Paul Hackett wanted to move him to wide receiver, completed 12 of 17 passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns.

With the game tied, 14-14, in the third quarter, Thomas let loose a 54-yard scoring pass to receiver Troy Mason.

The ball traveled 60 yards in the air.

UNLV dominated the fourth quarter with a series of tailback pitches known elsewhere as Student Body you-know-what.

“We came in and kicked their butts, an SEC team,” Thomas said later. “This is historic.”

It was memorable for 18 seniors who suffered through 0-11 in 1998, Coach Jeff Horton’s last season.

Right tackle John Greer, a four-year starter from Apple Valley, could hardly find the words to describe this transformation.

He remembers playing against Robinson in 1997, when the then USC coach recorded his 100th collegiate victory against UNLV at the Coliseum.

“Funny how things work out, isn’t it?” Greer said.

Greer feared he would miss the turnaround. Robinson arrived last year with the program a shambles. UNLV scratched out a 3-8 season, figured to be marginally better this year, with the plan to make a big move in 2001.

But Greer didn’t have enough eligibility to wait until next year.

But an incredible thing happened. The turnaround came a year early.

Thursday, Greer pulled off his jersey for the last time after a bowl win that left UNLV with an 8-5 record and newfound national respect.

“To be able to get to this point, start the winning tradition, get the ground work set, is the most important thing I’ve done,” Greer said. “This was the team I was the captain on.”

Robinson spent the post-game deflecting attention from himself. But it wasn’t going to fly.

With the win, he improved his bowl record to 8-1. He has won four Rose Bowls, a Cotton Bowl, a Bluebonnet, a Freedom.

And now, a Las Vegas Bowl.

“This is as good as any one I’ve ever had,” he said. “I’ve played for national championships. But in this one, we won the championship of our own hearts. The look and the feeling our players have, they’ll have forever. I’m not the guy. They did it.”

They did it with surprising ease.

In the Robinson II era at USC, the tenure that led to his dismissal, the coach was criticized for being disconnected and unfocused.

That has not been the case this year. Before the season, UNLV offensive coordinator Gene Dahlquist left to become head coach of the NFL Europe team, the Scottish Claymores, leaving Robinson to name himself as acting coordinator.

He has called all the plays in a season in which UNLV has averaged 28 points per game.

“He’s had great fun,” Linda said.

Robinson did need some fortune to make Thursday night come true. In the second quarter, the officials botched what should have been a fumble by Mason on a punt return. UNLV retained possession and Thomas passed to Nate Turner for a five-yard touchdown to tie the game at 14-all.

UNLV also caught a break when Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt, his team trailing by only 10 points with 7:30 left, went for a first down on fourth-and-three from his own 28 with three time outs left.

The play failed, UNLV took over, and Kevin Brown cinched the game with an 18-yard scoring run.