UNLV football to honor 2000 team during Air Force game
Jason Thomas remembers that football season well.
The one in which UNLV went 8-5 and beat Arkansas in the Las Vegas Bowl.
The one in which he was game’s Most Valuable Player after throwing three touchdowns.
Thomas remembers what it meant to UNLV then and now.
“I feel like I’m part of a team that’s building a house,” Thomas said. “You come in and might lay some electrical or do some plumbing. You’re not part of the guys putting up the framing, but when the house is done and you drive by it, you know you played a part.
“That’s how I feel when I look at our program now. If I wasn’t able to get us over the hump, I know we started some momentum. We put UNLV on the map in a way with the success we had.”
Thomas and other members of that 2000 team will be honored Saturday when the unbeaten Rebels (5-0) meet Air Force (1-4) at Allegiant Stadium.
Funny. The 2000 team had its share of impact transfers, led by Thomas from USC. This season’s team has over 60 new faces for coach Dan Mullen, many of whom have played a major part in the 5-0 start. It’s a similar mindset now as it was 25 years ago.
UNLV went 0-11 two seasons before reaching the Las Vegas Bowl. The Rebels were 0-6 in 2020 and 2-10 in 2021 before taking off under former coach Barry Odom.
“If there’s baggage when you come in, it’s not mine,” Thomas said. “If you won the national championship last year, it’s not mine. For us, we didn’t go 0-11 a few years before coming to UNLV. It’s that irrational confidence most athletes have when you believe you can do it, no matter what it is.”
The passing Falcons?
Thomas’ team back then beat Air Force 34-13.
Back when Air Force was strictly an option team.
Back when the Rebels, Thomas said, were extremely confident when facing the Falcons.
“We always felt like we had a size advantage on them,” he said. “We were like, ‘We’re about to go out there and beat these boys up and go home.’”
Well, this current bunch isn’t your father’s Air Force.
The Falcons might be 1-4, but they’re scoring at an explosive rate. They’re tied for first in the Mountain West in points per game at 36.5. UNLV is third at 35.6.
The crazy part: Air Force ranks ahead of the Rebels in most passing categories. Not sure who had that on their bingo card.
It’s not just that the Falcons are throwing the ball more, but how they’re doing so. Off play-action and the option. It’s not a traditional attack. UNLV will have to be disciplined defensively and tackle well.
“When I look at their record, I’m like, ‘Oh, OK,’” Mullen said. “But then you look at their statistics and what they’ve done as a team and the games that have come down to the wire. We’re going to have our hands full and have to play really well on offense to keep up with them.
“It should be pretty exciting. A play here or there and they’re 5-0 and not 1-4.”
Come one, come all
Mullen implored students and alumni and fans to attend the 12:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday, to make Allegiant Stadium even more of a home-field advantage than it was for the Rebels’ win against UCLA on Sept. 6.
It has been that long since UNLV was at home. Been that long since you could gauge what kind of impact the team’s successful start to the season has made locally.
Maybe one day soon Mullen’s team will experience the same sort of reaction a certain 2000 squad did when beating SEC foe Arkansas 31-14.
“You see pictures of people rushing the field and tearing down the goal posts,” Thomas said. “It was crazy.”
His former team will be honored Saturday for all it accomplished. For laying down some electrical and doing some plumbing.
It takes a lot of hands to build a house.
Contact Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.
