UNLV’s Hauck still stewing, but turns attention to UNR

UNLV football coach Bobby Hauck didn’t need much time getting past Saturday’s events in Hawaii.

All it took was watching video Sunday of the Rebels’ next opponent.

But with this rivalry with UNR, drama extends beyond the strategy sessions.

There could be everything on the line or nothing at all, and it’s still big news when the teams meet. They play at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium.

“We certainly are not lacking focus on this particular contest,” Hauck said Monday. “As the year goes on, we talk about it openly right up until the season starts, and then we’re focused on (each) week. College football rivalry games are special when you have a good one. When you don’t have one, I think the guys in the program are missing out on something’s that a really cool deal, maybe the coolest deal in college football.

“When it’s in-state, it’s really an awesome deal.”

Both teams certainly want to win for bragging rights, but each side also enters the game not in the greatest of moods.

For the Rebels, they believed they had a victory taken away at Hawaii.

UNLV scored a touchdown with 15 seconds left to take a 35-31 lead, but wide receiver Marcus Sullivan and running back George Naufahu were hit with penalties for not having their helmets on after they ran down the sideline to celebrate with their teammates. Hauck disagreed with calling double penalties, which put the Rainbow Warriors in position to steal the game.

And they did.

Hawaii had the ball at UNLV’s 20-yard line with five seconds left. Then four seconds went off the clock when quarterback Ikaika Woolsey threw an incomplete pass. Hauck thought the play lasted more than four seconds, and video shows it went 4.355 seconds, so less than the five that had remained on the clock.

His better argument could be against the excessive celebration calls that forced UNLV to kick off from its 10. The Warriors and many of their fans poured onto the field after their winning touchdown, but no flags were thrown, even though many players didn’t have on helmets.

“I’ve never been that angry after a game, and it still pains me to talk about it,” Hauck said.

Perhaps the Rebels can transfer some of that anger into motivation against UNR, but the Wolf Pack also enter this game as one unhappy team.

UNR had a chance to put itself in position to win the West Division but lost 40-20 at home to Fresno State on Saturday.

“I’m embarrassed, disgusted,” UNR quarterback Cody Fajardo told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “It’s going to hurt, just knowing that going out on senior night was an embarrassment for all the stuff we had to play for. The good news is we’re playing for probably the biggest game of the year. We’re going to try to get the cannon back.”

UNLV, a 10-point underdog, took the Fremont Cannon from the Wolf Pack with a 27-22 victory in Reno last season. That ended an eight-game skid to the Rebels’ top rival.

The Rebels paraded the cannon through campus while the Wolf Pack stewed and waited for the rematch.

Now it’s here, and the last thing UNLV wants to do in the season finale is hand back the cannon.

“There’s no better feeling in the world than going against the guys up from up north defending our cannon,” UNLV safety Mike Horsey said.

■ NOTE — The final Chalk Talk with Bobby Hauck will be at noon today at the Stan Fulton Building at Flamingo Road and Swenson Street. Admission is $20 for the public and free to members of the Rebel Football Foundation.

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