Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

copyright www.unlvrebels.com

UNLV (4-5, 2-3 MOUNTAIN WEST)vs.NEW MEXICO (5-5, 3-2 MWC)
DATE:       Saturday, Nov. 11, 2000KICKOFF:    12:07 pm PSTSITE:       Sam Boyd Stadium (36,800/Grass)TV:     ESPN+Plus/Gold 33-Cable 6               (Chris Marlowe & J.C. Pearson)RADIO:      ESPN 920 AM               (Larry Kahn & Tony Cordasco)

GAME PREVIEW

UNLV (4-5) comes home for a key Mountain West Conference matchup with New Mexico (5-5) ... The meeting marks the final home game of 2000 as the Rebels will honor 18 seniors ... A year after going winless at home, UNLV is attempting to go undefeated and untied at Sam Boyd Stadium for the first time since 1977 when they finished 6-0 in Las Vegas ... The game boasts postseason implications as both teams must win to have a chance to get to seven wins and become bowl eligible ... The Lobos will take on UNLV in Las Vegas for the first time since 1981 ... The Rebels look to win their third conference game of the year for the first time since going 5-1 in the Big West Conference in 1994 ... Both teams are coming off defeats as UNLV lost its seventh consecutive road game, 38-16, at Utah while UNM fell at home to SDSU 17-16 ... UNLV looks to snap a 10-game losing streak in the month of November, with the last such victory coming over the Aztecs, 44-42, on Nov. 16, 1996 ... With kickoff moved up to noon PST, Saturday will mark the Rebels' third appearance this season on ESPN+Plus (but first ever at home) and the program's single-season school-record eighth TV appearance of 2000 ... Despite a two-game losing streak, UNLV has won more games -- seven -- in Robinson's first 20 games as coach than the program's previous four seasons combined (6-39 from 1995-98)

SERIES NOTES

UNLV leads the all-time series 4-3, but this is only the third meeting in the last 18 years ... Five of the seven games have taken place in Albuquerque ... New Mexico has never won a game in Las Vegas, including falling to Colorado State 41-13 in the 1997 WAC Championship, which was played at Sam Boyd Stadium ... UNM is one of only two MWC schools that UNLV owns a winning record against (Wyoming is the other at 5-4) ... The schools played five consecutive seasons (1978-82) when UNLV first thought itself headed to the Western Athletic Conference ... Ironically, these two teams never met while both were members of the WAC (1996-98) ... UNLV's highest-ever scoring output and second-greatest margin of victory came against the Lobos in 1980 when the Rebels won 72-7 at University Stadium ... UNLV is 15-6 vs. teams from the Land of Enchantment: (4-3 vs. UNM, 9-3 NMSU and 2-0 NM Highlands).

SERIES RECORD:          UNLV leads 4-3LAST MEETING:           1999 (UNM 27-6)UNM at UNLV RECORD: 0-2UNLV at UNM RECORD: 2-3UNLV's LARGEST WIN: 65 (72-7, 1980)UNM's LARGEST WIN:  28(49-21, 1982)
DATE   SITE          RESULT9-23-78   Albuquerque   UNM, 24-010-13-79  Las Vegas UNLV, 28-2011-1-80   Albuquerque   UNLV, 72-79-12-81   Las Vegas UNLV, 49-429-18-82   Albuquerque   UNM, 49-219-21-91   Albuquerque   UNLV, 23-2210-30-99  Albuquerque   UNM, 27-6

2000 SCHEDULES/RESULTS
UNLV (4-5)
Date    Opponent    (TV)    Result
S. 9    at Iowa State   (KFBT)  L, 37-22S. 16   NORTH TEXAS     W, 38-0S. 23   at BYU          (KFBT)  L, 10-7S. 30   AIR FORCE   (ABC)   W, 34-13O. 7    UNR         (S.West)W, 38-7O. 14   at Colorado St. (ESPN2) L, 20-19O. 21   WYOMING-HC  (S.West)W, 42-23O. 28   at Mississippi      L, 43-40 (OT)N. 4    at Utah     (ESPN+) L, 38-16N. 11   NEW MEXICO  (ESPN+) 12 pm PSTN. 18   OPENN. 25   at San Diego St.(S.West)4 pm PSTD. 2    at Hawaii       8 pm PST

NEW MEXICO (5-5)
Date    Opponent            Result
A. 26   at Texas Tech           L, 24-3S. 2    BOISE STATE         L, 31-14S. 9    OREGON STATE            L, 28-20S. 16   at New Mexico State W, 16-13S. 23   NORTHERN ARIZONA    W, 35-28S. 30   WYOMING                 W, 45-10O. 7    at Colorado State   L, 17-14O. 21   at Air Force            W, 29-23O. 28   UTAH                    W, 10-3N. 4    SAN DIEGO STATE         L, 17-16N. 11   at UNLV                 1 pm MSTN. 18   at BYU                  TBA
UNLV QUICK FACTS
Location:           Las Vegas, NV  89154Founded:            1957Enrollment:         23,000Nickname:           Rebels (Not Runnin')Colors:             Scarlet & GrayPresident:          Dr. Carol C. HarterDir. of Athletics:  Charles CavagnaroFaculty Representative: Dr. Myrlene LaMancusaConference:         Mountain WestStadium:            Sam Boyd StadiumCapacity/Surface:   36,800/Natural GrassRecord in Stadium:  111-69-3 (28 seasons)UNLV All-Time Record:   182-179-4 (33rd season)All-Time vs. MWC:   21-33-1Head Coach:             John RobinsonRecord at UNLV:         7-13  (2nd year)Record Overall:     111-48-4 (14th season)1999 Record:            3-8/1-6 T8thOffense:        MultipleDefense:        4-3

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW

UTAH 38, UNLV 16

SALT LAKE CITY -- (Nov. 4, 2000) Playing without its field leader, UNLV lost its seventh straight on the road by turning in its worst performance of the season in the team's first trip to Salt Lake City since 1982. With Rebel quarterback Jason Thomas on the sidelines nursing a sprained foot, UNLV (4-5) lost to Utah (3-6) for the fifth straight time and dropped consecutive games for the first time all year. The loss was the 10th straight in the month of November for the visitors, who struggled on both sides of the ball before an announced crowd of 34,842 at Rice-Eccles Stadium, which really numbered no more than 15,000 fans. The Utes jumped out to a 10-0 lead aided by senior QB sub Jason Vaughan's fumble on the Rebels' 20-yard line. UNLV answered with a Jeremi Rudolph rushing touchdown but then missed its sixth extra point of the season. UU freshman quarterback Lance Rice, who was outstanding in just his second game, hit Steve Smith for a 62-yard touchdown before UNLV's Dillon Pieffer's 38-yard field goal made it 17-9 at halftime. The hosts dominated the second half, however, as Adam Tate ran for 108 yards and a second UNLV fumble led to another Utes score. Vaughan passed for only 78 yards as Rudolph was the lone bright spot on offense, turning in 110 yards on just 16 carries for his third consecutive 100-yard game. UNLV closed out the scoring with a last-minute 31-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Kevin Thomas -- the CB's third career score.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET

NEW MEXICO 27, UNLV 6

ALBUQUERQUE, NM -- (Oct. 30, 1999) Traveling to Albuquerque for the first time since 1991, UNLV (3-5) took on New Mexico (3-4) as conference foes for the first time ever. Playing in front of a homecoming crowd of 21,854, the Rebels' offense struggled without leading rusher Jeremi Rudolph, who was sidelined by a groin injury. After a scoreless first quarter, the Lobos used their longest drive of the year (87 yards) to take a 7-0 lead on a Sean Stein run. UNLV struck first in the second half with a Nate Turner score on a pass from Jason Vaughan, but a missed extra point made it 7-6. The TD marked the first such points for UNLV in eight quarters. UNM, which had been scoreless in the third quarter in the previous 11 games, broke out for 10 points to pull away. The hosts created some controversy by electing to pass down field and kicking a 37-yard field goal with just 12 seconds left to extend the Lobo lead. Turner led the Rebels with six grabs for 49 yards while Martinez Williams starred for the hosts with 11 catches for 115 yards.

TACKLE ELIGIBLE

Despite breaking his hand vs. Wyoming, senior strong safety Randy Black needs just six more tackles to become his school's all-time tackle leader. The Las Vegas native was battling junior linebacker James Sunia to see who would finish 2000 as the UNLV Takedown King before Sunia suffered his own season-ending knee injury in Game Five. Black missed three quarters vs. Wyoming and sat out the Ole Miss game before coming back and registering 10 tackles at Utah. With that effort, Black, who had a career-high 87 takedowns in `99 while also playing seven games at speed linebacker, moved all the way from seventh place to second -- five behind Darnell Pickens (1984-87) who finished with 289. Sunia, who will finish the year with only 26 tackles, led the team for the last two seasons. His 119 tackles a year ago followed a freshman All-America campaign with 115 takedowns as a rookie. The linebacker entered the season averaging 10.6 tackles per game in his career and will go into his senior year in 2001 in ninth place with 260. Two now-former Rebels -- DB Quincy Sanders at No. 7 and LB Jerrad Pierucci No. 7 -- battled their way up the same list a year ago.

UNLV CAREER TACKLE LEADERS*
PL PLAYER (POS) YEARS   TOT
1. Darnell Pickens (LB) 1984-87 2892. Randy Black (DB)   1997-PR 2843. Doc Wise (DL)    1986-89 280    Harvey Allen (DB)   1982-85 2805. Greg Gales (LB)  1996-98 2776. Jason Davis (DB) 1991-94 2767. Quincy Sanders (DB) 1995-99 2708. Jerrad Pierucci (LB)   1996-99 2649. James Sunia (LB)   1998-PR 260   Jody Reinoehl (LB)   1987-90 260

REBELATIONS

ON THE OFFENSIVE:

With 256 points scored through nine games (28.4 per game), the Rebels are on pace to finish the year with 340, their highest scoring total since racking up 387 points in the 1984 season ... UNLV rushed for a season-high 378 yards at Ole Miss, its highest single-game rushing total since a 383-yard day against Pacific in 1989 ... UNLV has totaled more than 400 yards in offense in four of nine games this fall after failing to hit the mark even once a year ago ... The Rebels have 20 rushing TDs through nine games, which is six more than the previous two seasons combined and more than any entire season since posting 21 in 1990 ... After going 55 games and more than four years without a two-point conversion, UNLV has tied a school record with four successful two-point tries this year. The Rebels are 4-of-5 (80%) on two-point attempts in `00 ... Jeremi Rudolph has three straight 100-yard rushing games and four century mark performances this season, which ties him with Utah's Adam Tate for the MWC lead. Rudolph, who is tied for eighth at UNLV with six career 100-yard games, is the first Rebel to earn four in one season since Coury Hankins had four in 1997 ... UNLV boasts a stunning nine of the 23 century-mark games in the MWC this season. UNLV has had four different players gain 100 yards in a game this fall: Rudolph (four), Kevin Brown (three) James Wofford (once) and QB Jason Thomas (once). Rudolph was the only Rebel to pass 100 yards in a game in 1999, doing it twice ... Nate Turner (44) has 51 percent of the team's receptions (87) this season ... Turner has at least two receptions in all 20 of his games at UNLV.

FOR THE DEFENSE:

UNLV has outsacked its opponents 24-20 this fall. After nine games in 1999, the Rebels had been outsacked 27-14 by opponents ... The 24 sacks are the most in a season since the team had 41 in 1994 ... Anton Palepoi leads the Rebels and is tied for fourth in the MWC with seven sacks ... Preseason All-American Thomas leads the MWC with 14 passes defended (12 PBU, two INT) ... UNLV has held eight of its nine opponents to 200 yards or less rushing this season. Air Force picked up 219 yards but the Falcons still finished 118 yards below their average heading into the game ... Safety Sam Brandon, a former receiver who is playing his first season on defense this fall, leads the Rebels in tackles with 69.

SPECIAL (TEAMS) DELIVERY:

Troy Mason ranks eighth in the nation in punt returns with an average of 15.3 on 18 attempts, including a long of 41 ... Freshman walk-on kicker Dillon Pieffer missed his first PAT attempt at Utah after nailing his first nine as a collegian ... Pieffer replaced senior punter Ray Cheetany on kicks after the Rebels missed five PAT attempts, including four blocks, in the first six games ... Pieffer has scored six points in two of his three games, which included making his first collegiate field goal attempt, a 33 yarder in overtime at Ole Miss ... UNLV is 7-of-9 on field goals this season, which more than triples the team's total from a year ago (2-of-5) ... The two misses in 2000 were both blocked ... Cheetany's 48-yard field goal vs. UNT was the longest for UNLV since Nick Garritano's 54-yarder vs. UNR in 1994 ... UNLV blocked its first field goal attempt in 18 games when Sam Brandon stopped a 38-yard try at Ole Miss that allowed UNLV to score a tying TD and send the game into OT.

J-DUB KEEPS CLIMBING

After entering the Ole Miss game with only 17 rushing yards on the year, senior FB James Wofford exploded for 138 yards on just 10 carries for his first 100-yard rushing game in nearly two years. In that game, he raised his career yardage total to 1,827, climbing from 10th place all the way to seventh on UNLV's all-time rushing list. After adding 12 yards on three carries at Utah, Wofford needs just 12 yards to move past Mack Gilchrist into sixth place, 87 to surpass Ickey Woods in fifth and 94 to move past Omar Love into fourth.

UNLV CAREER RUSHING YARDS
1. Mike Thomas, 1973-74         3,1492. Kirk Jones, 1983-86          2,6563. Michael Morton, 1978-81  2,5364. Omar Love, 1992-96           1,9325. Ickey Woods, 1984-87         1,9256. Mack Gilchrist, 1968-71  1,8507. James Wofford, 1997-PR   1,8398. Raymond Strong, 1976-77  1,750

O-FER-OT

When UNLV fell 43-40 at Ole Miss, the Rebels' record in overtime games dropped to 0-4. In fact, Dillon Pieffer's 33-yard field goal on the team's first and only possession in OT was the first time UNLV had even scored a point in an extra session.

ALL-TIME OT HISTORYDATE            OPP     SCORE10-28-00    at Ole Miss L, 43-4010-17-98    WYOMING         L, 28-2511-22-97    SAN JOSE STATE  L, 55-4810-18-97    at San Diego St.L, 20-17

New Mexico at UNLV
TENTATIVE DEPTH CHART
REBEL OFFENSE
WR (Z)  6   Nate Turner (6-3, 200, SR-1L)    8   Michael Johnson (5-10, 180, FR-RS)WR (X)  86  Troy Mason (5-10, 170, SO-1L)    1   Bobby Nero (6-1, 180, JR-TR)LT  69  Bradon Bair (6-6, 295, JR-1L)    54  Brian Hart (6-5, 290, SR-3L)LG  63  Greg Hulett (6-3, 300, JR-RS)    75  Shane Wagers (6-5, 300, JR-1L)C   61  Peter Tramontanas (6-5, 275, JR-2L)    78  Joel Menendez (6-3, 275, FR-RS)RG  70  Tony Terrell (6-4, 295, SO-1L)    73  Dominic Furio (6-2, 285, FR-RS)RT  72  John Greer (6-5, 290, SR-3L)    75  Shane Wagers (6-5, 300, JR-1L)TE  80  DeJhown Mandley (6-4, 240, SO-1L)    83  Trevan Sorensen (6-4, 240, SO-1L)QB  10  Jason Vaughan (6-4, 210, SR-1L)    2   Jason Thomas (6-4, 235, SO-TR)TB  7   Jeremi Rudolph (5-9, 175, SR-1L)    4   Kevin Brown (6-2, 225, SR-TR)FB  33  James Wofford (6-0, 200, SR-3L)    24  Steven Costa (6-1, 225, SO-1L)
REBEL SPECIALISTS
PK  95  Dillon Pieffer (5-11, 169, FR-HS)    39  Ray Cheetany (5-11, 180, SR-1L)KO  39  Ray Cheetany (5-11, 180, SR-1L)HOLD    23  Toby Smeltzer (5-10, 185, SO-1L)LS  53  Ryan Hanson (6-2, 220, FR-RS)

REBEL DEFENSE
LDE 47  Anton Palepoi (6-4, 275, JR-TR)    37  Scott Parkhurst (6-3, 235, JR-TR)DT  44  Ahmad Miller (6-4, 295, JR-1L)    91  Dietrich Canterberry (6-4, 290, FR-RS)NG  98  Anthony Suggs (6-0, 260, SR-1L)    92  Phil Reed (6-3, 270, SO-1L)RDE 90  Ahmad Briggs (6-3, 230, SO-1L)    45  Steve Newton (6-3, 245, SR-1L)    99  Adrian Watson (6-3, 240, JR-TR)SLB 48  Tyler Brickell (6-4, 225, SR-3L)    13  LaMar Owens (6-2, 235, JR-TR)MLB 49  Ryan Claridge (6-3, 235, FR-HS)    59  Bill Cofer (5-11, 235, SO-1L)WLB 36  Shanga Wilson (6-1, 215, JR-TR)    18  Tosh Burrus (6-0, 210, SO-1L)CB  5   Amar Brisco (5-10, 170, SR-3L)    19  Jamal Wynn (6-0, 185, SO-1L)SS  31  Sharif Hamilton (6-0, 195, SR-1L)    41  Ross Dalton (6-3, 205, SO-1L)FS  42  Sam Brandon (6-3, 195, JR-1L)    23  Toby Smeltzer (5-10, 185, SO-1L)CB  28  Kevin Thomas (5-11, 180, JR-2L)    19  Jamal Wynn (6-0, 185, SO-1L)
REBEL SPECIALISTS
P   39  Ray Cheetany (5-11, 170, SR-1L)    17  Ryan McDonald (5-10, 175, SO-1L)PR  86  Troy Mason (5-10, 170, SO-1L)    7   Jeremi Rudolph (5-9, 175, SR-1L)KOR 1   Bobby Nero (6-1, 180, JR-TR)    86  Troy Mason (5-10, 170, SO-1L)