Churchill would love Rebels’ chances

It's a wonderful day, the one time each fall I can go all Churchill on UNLV's football team and truly believe an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.

The Rebels have 12 more of the latter this year, beginning on national television against a Top 10 opponent.

Enough doom and gloom. This is the day to dream the impossible, to predict the impractical, to tell you how the Rebels will produce an undefeated season.

(We will return to our regularly scheduled dose of pessimistic views at 5:05 p.m. PDT on Thursday, or just after Wisconsin's offense takes the field at Camp Randall Stadium.)

For now, here is how the Road to Perfection plays out:

■ AT WISCONSIN -- Think of the Rebels as Luke Skywalker and the Badgers as The Emperor.

Luke: "Your overconfidence is your weakness."

The Emperor: "Your faith in your friends is yours."

I'm not sure who the friends of UNLV are, but my guess is as 35-point favorites, the Badgers have watched more film of their second opponent (Oregon State) than of the Rebels and that he is so sure of victory, new Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson will have found one of those 7,446 streams to fish and rest, eventually falling asleep at the water's edge and missing the game.

■ AT WASHINGTON STATE -- A first-grader could connect these dots. Bobby Hauck coached Montana and is now at UNLV. Paul Wulff coached Eastern Washington and is now at Washington State. Hauck went 4-1 in head-to-head Big Sky Conference matchups. Hauck owns Wulff like he does a fondness for a trout rising over the rocks. Why even play?

■ VS. HAWAII -- The Rebels have won their past four home openers against teams not named Wisconsin, and no one confuses Warriors with Badgers. That, and the law of war dances insists that odds favor a few sprained ankles for key visiting players during pregame rituals. Haka that.

■ VS. SOUTHERN UTAH -- Hauck, ever the good sport, has already vowed to play only freshmen and his 13-year-old son at quarterback against the overmatched Thunderbirds. Besides, Southern Utah coach Ed Lamb is a graduate of Brigham Young and this is as close as the Rebels will get at beating the Cougars in football again.

■ AT UNR -- Ah, revenge. Vengeance. Retribution. Payback. Retaliation. Bring the red paint. Colin Kaepernick is no longer around, and the cannon needs a different shade of color. Hauck does what Mike Sanford couldn't the last time UNLV visited Reno, meaning win a game while holding the Wolf Pack to less than 63 points and 773 yards on 74 plays. I still love typing those numbers.

■ AT WYOMING -- The last time I predicted a UNLV win against the Cowboys, I received more emails (50) than people I thought existed in the state, and the coach (Dave Christensen) acted like a (non) tough guy in ripping my thoughts AFTER the fact, which I forgave given I'm not sure his office had working telephones that he could have used to call me beforehand.

This time, I'll only tell you Wyoming had a quarterback (Austyn Carta-Samuels) who was a two-year starter, the former conference Freshman of the Year and who chose not to return. 'Nuff said.

■ VS. COLORADO STATE -- The Rams boast of being the nation's only football program that requires 100 percent of its players to make a minimum of three community appearances each year. I have to believe that the days and weeks and months it takes to discover people who actually want to meet the players must take away from important football hours, giving the Rebels a decided edge in focus and preparation.

■ VS. BOISE STATE -- The security guards at Sam Boyd Stadium will win this one for UNLV. Finally, someone will look at Kellen Moore and refuse to believe he's the All-America quarterback who has put up such staggering numbers, refusing him entrance into the locker room and instead ushering him to the press box to assume his duties as sports information director. After which, that micro-manager of a coach (Chris Petersen) will not allow Moore to comment.

■ AT NEW MEXICO -- UNLV has won three straight in the series. UNLV doesn't beat anyone three straight in football. This is called having another's number.

■ AT AIR FORCE -- Straight from a fact sheet on the Falcons: Air Force Academy has far surpassed its counterparts at West Point and Annapolis in terms of fielding competitive athletic teams. The Falcons play in the Mountain West Conference alongside quality teams such as UNLV. Oops, they were talking about basketball … I suppose, then, we can pray for a blinding snowstorm and a last-second field goal to win 3-0.

■ VS. SAN DIEGO STATE -- Another easy victory when you consider: To own a true rivalry between schools, one can't dominate the other. It seems the Rebels last beat San Diego State in basketball around the time Ricky Sobers was handing out assists, so you figure the Rebels football team will begin balancing things out.

■ AT TEXAS CHRISTIAN -- You know what I have always said about Hauck -- if there is one coach who won't allow his team to look ahead and make its Bowl Championship Series title game plans, it's him. The Rebels remain perfect here, send the Horned Frogs on their way to the Big East Conference, and Hauck breaks the hand of his old friend Brent Musburger when shaking it in accepting a bid into the season's final BCS game against Louisville.

At which time the Cardinals' offensive coordinator immediately congratulates Hauck for getting UNLV to such a point while recruiting to such awful facilities.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.