Sept. 13, 1999

By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Writer

LAS VEGAS (AP) - John Robinson never promised any miracles when he took over a UNLV football team that had lost 16 straight. He got one anyway, when a rookie head coach made the mistake of trying to pile it on.

The wackiest ending of any football game in Robinson's long coaching career turned certain defeat into victory against Baylor when a bizarre decision by Bears coach Kevin Steele backfired so miserably that his players buried their heads in their arms and sank to the turf in despair.

It also gave UNLV an improbable 2-0 start under Robinson, and a chance to go into its first home game with the kind of enthusiasm generally reserved only for basketball in this gambling town.

"I've seen some strange finishes before, but this one was sure different," Robinson said Monday. "I've only been in Las Vegas for six months but I know this is a city of luck. We certainly had the luck this time."

All the luck on the Las Vegas Strip wouldn't have mattered, if Steele had done the prudent thing Saturday night in Waco, Texas, and had his quarterback take a knee to run out the clock with a 24-21 lead in the final seconds.

But a 3-point win at home over once hapless UNLV just wasn't enough. Steele ordered a running play to try for a final touchdown, only to watch in disbelief as Kevin Thomas picked up a goal-line fumble and ran 101 yards the other way. Baylor players pounded the turf in frustration and shocked fans wondered what Steele could have been thinking.

On Monday, Steele tried to explain just that, while his team tried to recover from a second straight last second loss.

"The kids wanted to score. We had been moving the football," Steele said. "We are trying to create a mental toughness that gives our players the edge to finish the job. That having been said, it was a mistake and I regret it. I regret it for the team, which deserved to win the game, and I regret it for the fans."

Robinson was preparing to walk across the field and congratulate Steele when the Bears suddenly lined up in a running formation on UNLV's 8-yard-line with only seconds left.

"Obviously we thought we had lost the game," UNLV wide receiver Nate Turner said. "We thought it was a kneel-down. (Robinson) was over there going, `Hey, what are you guys doing, trying to rub it in?"'

Darrel Bush, whose 9-yard touchdown run with 6:06 to go had given Baylor the lead, took a handoff and ran up the middle. He was hit at the 2 and was struggling to get into the end zone when linebacker Tyler Brickell reached over his shoulder and swatted the ball out.

The ball bounced to Thomas, standing just inside the end zone, and he picked it up and ran untouched around the left side past a jubilant UNLV bench and didn't stop until he had reached the end zone 101 yards away.

"I thought the game was over," Robinson said. "I thought they would take a knee. It was just a fortuitous thing that happened to us."

UNLV's players also thought the game was over, until Baylor got into formation.

"On the last play, I took on a blocker and he was laughing during the play like, `Ha, ha, ha, we're going to score again," linebacker Jerrd Pierucci said. "But we got the last laugh."

Rebel linebacker James Sunia called it "greed" that backfired.

"I heard (Baylor's players) going, `Oh, my God. I can't believe it. No! No! No!.," Sunia said.

Steele said Monday his team, which lost on a missed field goal to Boston College a week earlier and has dropped eight straight, had gotten over the shocking loss.

"I know the players have recovered," Steele said. "Just like a father can look into the eyes of their child and know they are OK, I've looked into the eyes of the players and have seen the look that tells me they are OK."

UNLV, meanwhile, is doing a lot better.

After snapping a 26-game road losing streak with two straight wins, the Rebels come home for their first home game under Robinson in a remodeled stadium that is expected to see far more than the few thousand or so who showed for last year's 0-11 team.

Robinson, though, told his team not to pray for any more miracles against Iowa State on Saturday.

"I told them God has already given us our share," Robinson said.