UNLV football finds Big Ten soul mate in Minnesota

If UNLV had a Big Ten Conference football soul mate, it would be Minnesota.

Both are longtime struggling programs led by head coaches who have succeeded elsewhere with a philosophy of building with young players and keeping the staff intact from year to year.

And both schools, which play each other at 8 p.m. Thursday at Sam Boyd Stadium, enter this season believing it will be better than the last.

For Minnesota, that would mean improving on a 3-9 record, but also building off the momentum of a somewhat strong finish. Two of the Golden Gophers' victories came in their final five games - wins over Iowa and Illinois. They also gave Michigan State a scare, losing 31-24 in East Lansing.

"I do think it sets a tone going into the offseason," Minnesota coach Jerry Kill said Tuesday. "Even though we don't have many seniors, our 12 seniors have done a great job of getting our younger kids to understand the direction we're headed. We do have a young team, but I think they're a hungry team, and they've worked hard.

"I think we have a better team than we had a year ago, but we have to go out and prove that."

Kill has a history of showing second-season improvement, even if the progress wasn't dramatic. His teams at Saginaw Valley State, Emporia State and Northern Illinois each gained a victory in the second season, and Southern Illinois added three wins to get to 4-8.

Those seasons, however, usually helped lead to even more success by the time Kill left those places. Southern Illinois, for example, went 12-2 in 2007, Kill's final season there, to turn around what had been a program on the verge of extinction. Kill then led Northern Illinois to bowls in all three of his seasons there, capped by a 10-3 finish in 2010.

In his various stops, Kill tried to keep his assistant coaches together and brought back the staff from last season at Minnesota. That might not sound important, but for the revolving-door Gophers, it could be game-changing.

This is a program that before Kill arrived had four offensive coordinators and four defensive chiefs in five years.

"I think that's probably the most critical thing for us," Kill said. "The kids are hearing the same coaches say the same thing for a second year in a row, and they haven't had that stability here at the University of Minnesota in a long, long time."

Playing UNLV will be the first opportunity for Kill to get a true gauge on his program entering his second season.

It's also the only road game on a Gophers nonconference schedule that is less intimidating than a championship boxer's hand-picked opponents. Minnesota hosts New Hampshire, Western Michigan and Syracuse.

So a victory over UNLV could put the Gophers on their way to a 3-1 or 4-0 record entering Big Ten play.

"We certainly have put a huge amount of importance on the (UNLV) game because we need to know where we're at and what we need to do," Kill said. "We do have a long season, but this is the first game, and I always say it's important to get off to a good start."

In facing the Rebels, Minnesota will see a near-mirror image of itself.

Both programs have been down for so long that fans in the Twin Cities more eagerly await the next Joe Mauer commercial, and those in Las Vegas get more pumped up over basketball games that don't count.

But optimism for better days ahead fills both locker rooms, which is typical when the season's first kickoff hasn't even taken place. For both programs, however, they can find tangible reasons to think the victories will come.

Kill has proven the second season is the time his programs begin to move forward. Coach Bobby Hauck hopes to show his third season is the key at UNLV.

"I know visiting with (Hauck) in the offseason, he felt that the program had taken big strides," Kill said. "They had a young group. They had gotten better. He's done this thing before also."

■ NOTE - UNLV senior guard Doug Zismann, who missed more than a week of training camp because of a head injury, is expected to start.

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.