Win could give Rebels chance to establish momentum for rest of season

The situation is eerily similar, and UNLV hopes the response is, too.

UNLV answered a 58-13 loss to Arizona last football season with a four-game winning streak and an eventual berth in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

Now, the Rebels are coming off another 58-13 defeat to the Wildcats, and with a lower-level team on an 11-game losing streak coming to Sam Boyd Stadium, they have another chance to establish some positive momentum.

UNLV (0-1) welcomes Northern Colorado (0-0) at 7 p.m. today.

“Most of the guys in the locker room that are playing were a part of that last year,” Rebels coach Bobby Hauck said. “One of the things we’re trying to emphasize is odds are you’re probably not going to go undefeated, but never do you want to lose two in a row. Also, each week is vitally important, and you have to win that week. After the corrections are made, we need to flush last weekend’s game and get on to the next one and focus in on winning this week.”

The Rebels entered this season with plenty of optimism, and for 13 minutes at Arizona, they played with the Wildcats. Then Arizona broke open the scoreless game with a series of big plays, and after UNLV’s defense gave up 787 yards and its offense produced just 119 yards rushing, the Rebels showed they have plenty of questions.

Any concerns weren’t assuaged Thursday when Arizona went to Texas-San Antonio and struggled for a 26-23 victory.

But with Northern Colorado in town, the Rebels have no excuse when it comes to breaking into the victory column. There’s no Las Vegas line on game, but offshore oddsmakers made UNLV 25-point favorites. The bigger the win, the better it bodes for the Rebels.

If they struggle to win — or lose — then odds are this won’t be the joyous season the Rebels are expecting.

UNLV, after all, will put playmakers on the field in wide receivers Devante Davis, Devonte Boyd and Marcus Sullivan that the Bears — picked by the coaches and media to finish last in the Big Sky Conference — should have no business containing.

Northern Colorado, however, presents a little bit of a mystery. The Bears are breaking in a new quarterback in sophomore Sean Rubalcaba, and they have other holes to fill as well.

“Preparation for them is a little bit difficult because they haven’t played yet,” Hauck said “They had some changes on their staff, so we don’t necessarily even know the specifics of what we should prepare for.”

Davis said the presence of Larry Kerr as one of those new Northern Colorado staff members was enough to get his attention. Kerr was Colorado State’s defensive coordinator from 2008 to 2011, and in January took the same position with the Bears.

“Colorado State always came to play, so I know he’ll have these guys geared up and ready to go,” Davis said.

No doubt, Northern Colorado will come out fired up. This is the Bears’ season opener, and any time a Football Championship Subdivision school has the chance to knock off an upper-level team, expect an all-out effort.

But whether the Bears have the talent to give UNLV a quality fight for 60 minutes is the question.

For their part, the Rebels need to take care of this game early. If they don’t, this has the makings of a long season.

Their goals remain in front of them, though, and the Mountain West this season doesn’t remind anyone of the Southeastern Conference. A convincing victory would be big moving forward.

UNLV was in a similar situation last season. Now it’s a matter of putting together the same sort of response.

“The overall morale in talking to the guys, everybody’s still excited about the season,” UNLV quarterback Blake Decker said. “I think we did a lot of good things that we can build upon. I think the guys’ confidence is still there, and we know we have a great football team, and we know we’re going to play well this year.”

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