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UNLV (3-5, 2-2 MOUNTAIN WEST)
vs.
UTAH (5-2, 2-1 MOUNTAIN WEST)
DATE:       Saturday, Nov. 3, 2001
KICKOFF:    12:07 pm PDT
SITE:       Sam Boyd Stadium (36,800/Natural Grass) Las Vegas
TV:     ESPN+Plus/KFBT Gold 33 (Jim Kelly, JC Pearson & Beth Mowins)
RADIO:      ESPN 920 AM (Tim Neverett, Tony Cordasco & Lenny Ware)

GAME PREVIEW

UNLV (3-5) looks for its second straight league victory by hosting Utah (5-2) in the 2001 home finale as the 19 Rebel seniors will be honored ... This will be the school's earliest Sam Boyd Stadium capper since also closing on Nov. 3 vs. Fresno State in 1990 ... The only earliest home finale came on Thursday, Oct. 31, 1985 vs. New Mexico State ... UNLV has only won three of its last 15 final home games, but one of those victories came last year vs. New Mexico ... UNLV makes its first appearance this season on ESPN+Plus' MWC Game of the Week, which is available to 20 affiliates nationwide and shown in Las Vegas on KFBT-TV Gold 33 (Cable 6) ... The Rebels are coming off a 47-26 victory at Wyoming while the Utes fell 19-17 at Colorado State ... UNLV finds itself in the same position as a year ago as the team must win a home game and then two road games to become bowl eligible ... In 2000, UNLV downed UNM at home and then carved out road wins at SDSU and Hawaii to earn a Las Vegas Bowl invite ... The Rebels, who rank fourth in the nation in rushing with 250 YPG, have boasted a 100-yard rusher in six of eight games this fall, including four straight ... The five teams that have defeated UNLV this season have a combined record of 23-15.

SERIES NOTES

UNLV and Utah have met six times and the Utes have dominated the series 5-1 ... The Rebels' lone victory in the series was a heart-stopping 43-41 win in Las Vegas that featured seven lead changes and ended with a last-second, then-school-record long 49-yard field goal by Todd Peterson in 1979 ... The 21 years since the Rebels defeated Utah represent the longest drought between victories for UNLV and any MWC member ... The two schools met four consecutive years (1979-82) when UNLV was playing a WAC schedule while an independent hoping to join the league ... With the Rebels instead entering the PCAA (Big West), the 1982 game counted as one of UNLV's six league games ... The 69-28 Utah win in 1981 matches the most points ever scored against the Rebels (Houston 69-0 in 1989) ... UNLV has one player listed from the state of Utah -- Salt Lake City native and Lombardi Award candidate Anton Palepoi who graduated from Hunter High School and attended Dixie JC before joining UNLV this fall ... Utah lists one Nevadan on its roster -- starting defensive back Arnold Parker, a 1998 graduate of Cimmarron Memorial HS in Las Vegas ... Rebel head coach John Robinson is 1-2 vs. Utah, including a 28-21 win over the Utes in the 1993 Freedom Bowl while leading USC.

SERIES RECORD:          UU leads 5-1UU at UNLV RECORD:  2-1LAST MEETING:           2000 (UU 38-16)UNLV at UU RECORD:  0-3UU's LARGEST WIN:   41(69-28, 1981)UNLV's LARGEST WIN: 2 (43-41, 1979)
DATE            SITE            RESULT
10-20-79    Las Vegas   UNLV, 43-419-20-80         Salt Lake City  UU, 45-2910-24-81    Las Vegas   UU, 69-2810-16-82    Salt Lake City  UU, 24-149-25-99         Las Vegas   UU, 52-1411-4-00         Salt Lake City  UU, 38-16
UNLV (3-5)
Date    Opponent    TV     Result
A. 30   at Arkansas     ESPN    L, 14-10S. 7    NORTHWESTERN    ESPN    L, 37-28S. 22   at Arizona  KFBT    L, 38-21S. 29   BYU     ABC L, 35-31O. 6    at Nevada, Reno KLAS    W, 27-12O. 13   SAN DIEGO STATE ABC W, 31-3O. 20   COLORADO STATE  KLAS    L, 26-24O. 27   at Wyoming  LV One  W, 47-26N. 3    UTAH            ESPN+   12 pm PTN. 10   at New Mexico   KLAS    4 pm PTN. 17   at Air Force    TBA TBA
UTAH (5-2)
Date Opponent          Result (MT)
S. 1    UTAH STATE  W, 23-19S. 8    at Oregon   L, 24-10S. 22   at Indiana  W, 28-26S. 29   NEW MEXICO  W, 37-16O. 6    SOUTH FLORIDA   W, 52-21O. 20   WYOMING         W, 35-0O. 27   at Colorado St. L, 19-17N. 3    at UNLV         1 pmN. 10   SAN DIEGO STATE TBAN. 17   at BYU          TBAD. 1    at Air Force    1 pm
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. Hal K. RothmanConference:          Mountain WestStadium/Opened:          Sam Boyd/1971Capacity/Surface:    36,800/Natural GrassRecord in Stadium:   114-72-3 (30th season)All-Time Record:     189-184-4 (34th season)All-Time vs. MWC:    25-35-1Head Coach:              John RobinsonRecord at UNLV:          14-18  (.438/3rd year)Record Overall:          118-53-4 (.686/15th year)2000 Record:             8-5/4-3 (T3rd MWC)Offense:         MultipleDefense:         4-3

THE LAST TIME THEY MET

UTAH 38, UNLV 16

JT-LESS REBELS FLATTENED BY UTES

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. 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 defensive score.

CROWDED CROWDS

With Saturday's game being the Rebels' home finale for 2001, UNLV has a chance to break the school record for average home attendance. Having played before 101,471 fans in four home dates, UNLV is averaging 25,368 fans per game at Sam Boyd Stadium. The record is 24,799 per game in 1981 when the Rebels went 6-6 during Tony Knap's final year as head coach. That was also the only year in school history that the team played in front of at least 20,000 fans for every home game, something this year's program will try to match vs. Utah. In fact, UNLV had played all of its games this year in front of 20,000+ until last week's count of just 11,299 at Wyoming. In order to break the average attendance record, UNLV will have to attract a crowd of at least 22,527 vs. the Utes.

HOME ATTENDANCERK  YEAR    AVG/GAME1.  2001    25,3682.  1981    24,7993.  1980    23,4224.  1979    22,8065.  1999    22,9926.  2000    20,6987.  1997    20,3158.  1987    20,216

REBELATIONS

ON THE OFFENSIVE: UNLV's 47 points at Wyoming last week were the most for the team under head coach John Robinson, the most for the program since a 55-48 overtime loss to San Jose State in 1997 and the most in a regulation game since a 52-24 Las Vegas Bowl win over Central Michigan in 1994 ... The Rebels set a first-quarter school record with 27 points vs. the Cowboys, which was three points more than UNLV scored in the first quarter vs. Idaho in 1978 ... Since struggling to just 10 points in the season opener at Arkanas, the Rebels have scored at least 21 points in every game ... UNLV has been outscored in just one quarter this season as opponents have 53 second-quarter points and the Rebels 51 ... The Rebel offensive line has allowed only two sacks in the last four games and only eight in eight games this fall ... UNLV have been successful on fourth down only thrice in 13 attempts this season after finishing 7-13 on such plays a year ago ... Sophomore WR Michael Johnson set what was a Mountain West Conference record with 174 yards on a career-high eight receptions vs. Northwestern. It was the 14th-best receiving day in school history and the most since Len Ware had 200 vs. SDSU in 1996. However, BYU tight end Doug Jolley broke Johnson's short-lived record with 177 yards on Oct. 20 ... A week after UNLV threw for the second-least yards in school history with 40 vs. Arkansas, Jason Thomas rebounded to toss for a career-high 304 yards and two touchdowns vs. Northwestern. It marked the first 300-yard game for a UNLV quarterback since Jon Denton threw for 401 vs. San Jose State in 1997 ... Even though he only had seven completions at Wyoming, Thomas passed for three touchdowns in a regular-season game for the first time in his career. JT also tossed three scores in last year's Las Vegas Bowl.

FOR THE DEFENSE: Former reserve tight end Trevan Sorensen recently moved to defensive end and got his first action on his new side of the ball at UW where he picked up two tackles ... Sophomore LB Ryan Claridge is among the national leaders with six forced fumbles and is just one behind single-season UNLV record holder Bruce Gray (1970). Claridge was originally credited with another fumble vs. Wyoming but that was later reassigned to senior LB Shanga Wilson ... The Rebels are tied for fourth in the nation in fumbles recovered with 11 ... Wilson also recovered a fumble vs the Cowboys, which gave him a league-leading four this fall ... FS Sam Brandon, who had a team-season-high 12 tackles at UNR, has led his team in takedowns in all but two games in 2001 ... Despite missing two-and-one-half games with a sprained knee, Lombardi Award candidate Anton Palepoi stands third in the MWC with 4.5 QB sacks ... Senior Scott Parkhurst, who started the first two games at LB, moved back to the line in time for the Arizona game while Adam Seward moved over and now is the starter on the strong side ... UNLV held Arkansas to only 114 yards in Game One, which broke the school record of 131 yards by Cal State Fullerton in 1983 ... SDSU's 3 points in Game Six was the lowest total ever allowed by UNLV to a MWC opponent.

SPECIAL (TEAMS) DELIVERY: PK Dillon Pieffer is only 6 of 11 in field goals this season after making 6 of 7 as a rookie a year ago. Also, after making his first 22 extra points this fall, the sophomore missed two at Wyoming ... The Rebels have a new kickoff man in the form of import Hubi Schulze Zumkley, a freshman from Herbern, Germany, who took over the duties beginning in Game Four ... Kick coverage ace Derek Olsen earned his first career score when he scooped up a BYU fumble on the opening kickoff and ran 22 yards for a TD ... UNLV ranks first in the MWC in both kickoff returns (1st NCAA with 28.8) and punt returns (15th NCAA with 12.8) ... The Rebels have had two players bring home MWC Special Teams Player of the Week honors this fall as freshman punter Gary Cook earned the title on Oct. 8 after averaging 45.3 yards per kick at UNR and PR Troy Mason earned the award on Oct. 15 after returning two punts longer than 50 yards vs. SDSU.

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

Tailback/kick returner Dominique Dorsey is not the only Rebel rookie to already make an impact in 2001. On offense, highly touted WR recruit Earvin Johnson is now fifth on the team with nine receptions for 151 yards. The team's oldest rookie, 21-year-old QB Kurt Nantkes, made his collegiate debut at Arizona and completed 2 of 3 attempts for 33 yards, including his first touchdown pass. In Game Six vs. SDSU's first unit, Nantkes completed both of his attempts, which included another short scoring pass. Adding another brief performance at Wyoming gives the former Oakland Athletics farmhand an astronomical QB rating 275.93. On special teams, Gary Cook has settled into the team's starting punting job while Hubi Schulze Zumkley is the squad's new kickoff man. On defense, redshirt LB and newly installed starter Adam Seward is sixth on the team with 30 tackles and had his first career sack at UNR. Redshirt DB Jamaal Brimmer has 20 tackles and started his first game at Wyoming while Ruschard Dodd-Masters (11) and Zach Bell (seven) also are contributing.

PICK ME!

With his interception last week at Wyoming, UNLV preseason All-American cornerback Kevin Thomas moved from fifth into a tie for third on the school's career list. When the senior returned the pick 58 yards for a score, it marked his fourth career defensive touchdown, which broke the school record held by Patt Medchill, who returned three interceptions for touchdowns from 1970-72. KT led the squad in 1999 with five interceptions and paced the Rebels again last fall with two and now leads the 2001 team and is tied for 17th in the nation with four. The Sacramento, Calif., native would need three more interceptions to move into a tie with Charles Jarvis for second on the school's all-time list.

UNLV CAREER INTERCEPTION LIST
PL  PLAYER (YEARS)                  NO  YDS TD
1.  Marlon Beavers (1973-76)    17  367 12.  Charles Jarvis (1978-81)    14  211 13.  Kevin Thomas (1998-PR)           11  243 2    David Hollis (1983-86)          11  143 1    Patt Medchill (1970-72)         11  303 36.  Jim Farnham (1970-71)           9   129 1    Rodney Mazion (1991-94)         9   179 2

JERSEY JOE

UNLV junior Jersey Joe Haro burst into the starting tailback spot after a long journey back and forth across the line of scrimmage. An all-state performer out of Clifton, N.J., Haro joined the Rebels in 1998 and earned a medical hardship after rushing four times for zero net yards. He carried the ball only eight times in 1999 but still managed to be his team's leading rusher vs. BYU with 59 yards on just four carries. With a senior logjam at the UNLV tailback spot in 2000, Haro moved to defensive back but fractured his right fibula in Game Two and missed the remainder of the season. Haro moved back to offense during bowl-game practices last December and earned the No. 2 tailback spot heading into the season opener. During halftime at Arkansas, Haro had five carries for zero yards, but then Jersey Joe exploded to finish with a game-high 131 yards on 24 total carries. Starting his first game vs. Northwestern the following week, Haro proved his gutty rushing style was no fluke as he gained 104 yards on 25 carries, including his first career touchdown run of 10 yards. Haro has had career-best days three weeks in a row as he ran for 136 vs. SDSU and then 146 yards and two touchdowns vs. CSU for his third and fourth century-mark games this fall. Then, last week at Wyoming, Haro dominated on the ground with 226 yards on just 22 carries (10.3 per carry) and two touchdowns, including a career-long 65-yard scoring run. The peformance marked the first time a Rebel ran for 200 yards in a game since Shannon Wilson got exactly that much vs. Arkansas State in 1995. It was also the best UNLV total since Ickey Woods ran for 265 on 37 carries vs. Pacific in 1987. With 950 yards on the year, Haro needs just 50 more in the final three games to reach 1,000. It would mark only the sixth 1,000-yard season in UNLV history but the second in two years as former Rebel Jeremi Rudolph rushed for 1,005 in 2000. Already the sixth-best single-season total in school history, Haro currently ranks 17th in the nation and fourth in the MWC with 118.8 yards per game and fifth in the league and 36th in the country in all-purpose yards with 127.0 per game. His five career 100-yard games already ranks him 12th all-time and a century-mark effort this Saturday would tie him for third with four consecutive such games. The UNLV record is seven by Woods (1987) and the school's career rushing leader Mike Thomas (1973).

GAME 8 IN REVIEW

UNLV 47, WYOMING 26

REBELS RUN ROUGHSHOD THROUGH POKES

LARAMIE, Wyo. -- (Oct. 27, 2001) UNLV (3-5) rolled up 439 yards rushing, including 226 by Joe Haro, en route to a 47-26 win over Wyoming (2-6) in front of only 11,299 fans at War Memorial Stadium and a SportsWest TV audience. The Rebels downed the Cowboys for the third straight time by scoring a school-record 27 points in the first quarter and then hanging on through various mistakes. The Pokes fumbled their first possession and UNLV quickly turned it into a Jason Thomas to DeJhown Mandley touchdown. Thomas soon found Mandley again from 29 yards out to make it 14-0 with not even five minutes off the clock. After a UW field goal, Haro ripped off a 64-yard run that led to another UNLV TD. Ahead 20-3, Kevin Thomas returned a Casey Bramlet pass attempt 58 yards for his school-record fourth career defensive score and his fourth interception of the season. A Bramlett fumble led to another Rebel score to go up 33-3 despite two missed PAT attempts by the visitors. Bramlet, who would go on to attempt 60 passes -- the most ever vs. a UNLV defense -- recovered to led his team to two TDs before settling on a 33-16 halftime score. A third-quarter field goal brought the Pokes to within 14 before Haro struck again, this time running 65 yards for a career-long score. UW pulled got within two scores again in the fourth quarter before Thomas' career-high third touchdown pass completed the scoring as UNLV, which finished with 568 yards of offense, cleared its bench on both sides of the ball. Haro's remarkable day marked the first 200-yard rushing game for a Rebel since 1995 and was the seventh-best single-game overall. Thomas nearly had his fourth 100-yard game with 97 yards and Jabari Johnson added a career-high 84. Bramlet completed 33 passes for 382 yards for the Pokes but was sacked five times as his team was held to just 72 yards on the ground. UW's Ryan McGuffey finished with 15 catches for 144 yards, the second-best reception total ever vs. a UNLV defense. The Rebels, who finished with 568 yards of offense, scored their most points ever under head coach John Robinson.

UNLV vs. UTAH
TENTATIVE DEPTH CHART
REBEL OFFENSE
WR  86  Troy Mason (5-10, 170, JR-2L)    8   Michael Johnson (5-10, 180, SO-1L)WR  4   Earvin Johnson (6-3, 195, FR-HS)    1   Bobby Nero (6-1, 180, SR-1L)LT  69  Brandon Bair (6-6, 295, SR-2L)    67  Eddie Freas (6-2, 300, JR-RS)LG  63  Greg Hulett (6-3, 300, SR-1L)    76  Marcus Johnson (6-1, 290, FR-RS)C   61  Peter Tramontanas (6-5, 275, SR-3L)    73  Dominic Furio (6-2, 285, SO-1L)RG  70  Tony Terrell (6-4, 295, JR-2L)    60  Ernie Calanche (6-4, 290, JR-1L)RT  75  Shane Wagers (6-5, 300, SR-2L)    77  Jimy Zoll (6-6, 300, FR-RS)TE  80  DeJhown Mandley (6-4, 240, JR-2L)        84  Brad Osterhout (6-4, 245, JR-1L)QB  2   Jason Thomas (6-4, 230, JR-1L)    7   Kurt Nantkes (6-4, 215, FR-RS)TB  34  Joe Haro (5-10, 190, JR-2L)    32  Jabari Johnson (5-11, 200, SR-1L)FB  40  George Gordon (6-0, 235, JR-RS)    24  Steven Costa (6-1, 225, JR-2L)    35  Andrew Faga (6-0, 240, SO-TR)
REBEL SPECIALISTS
PK  95  Dillon Pieffer (5-11, 180, SO-1L)KO  14  Hubi Schulze Zumkley (6-2, 215, FR-HS)HOLD    23  Toby Smeltzer (5-10, 185, JR-2L)LS  67  Eddie Freas (6-2, 300, JR-RS)
REBEL DEFENSE
LDE 45  Steve Newton (6-3, 245, SR-2L)    47  Anton Palepoi (6-4, 275, SR-1L)    83  Trevan Sorensen (6-4, 255, JR-2L)DT  44  Ahmad Miller (6-4, 310, SR-1L)    92  Phil Reed (6-3, 265, JR-2L)NG  91  Dietrich Canterberry (6-4, 300, SO-1L)    93  Garrett Brassington (6-2, 285, JR-TR)RDE 90  Ahmad Briggs (6-3, 230, JR-2L)    99  Adrian Watson (6-3, 240, SR-1L)    37  Scott Parkhurst (6-3, 245, SR-1L)SLB 55  Adam Seward (6-2, 235, FR-RS)    13  LaMar Owens (6-2, 235, SR-1L)MLB 49  Ryan Claridge (6-3, 245, SO-1L)    36  Shanga Wilson (6-1, 215, SR-1L)WLB 36  Shanga Wilson (6-1, 215, SR-1L)    18  Tosh Burrus (6-0, 200, JR-2L)CB  19  Jamal Wynn (6-0, 185, JR-2L)    3   Ruschard Dodd-Masters (5-11, 175, FR-RS)SS  21  Chameion Sutton (5-11, 180, JR-TR)    41  Ross Dalton (6-3, 205, JR-2L)FS  42  Sam Brandon (6-3, 195, SR-2L)    27  Jamaal Brimmer (6-1, 205, FR-RS)CB  28  Kevin Thomas (5-11, 180, SR-3L)    3   Ruschard Dodd-Masters (5-11, 175, FR-RS)
REBEL SPECIALISTS
P   16  Gary Cook (5-11, 180, FR-HS)PR  86  Troy Mason (5-10, 170, JR-2L)KR  86  Troy Mason (5-10, 170, JR-2L)    1   Bobby Nero (6-1, 180, SR-1L)    34  Joe Haro (5-10, 190, JR-2L)