Upset over UNR in ’94 should inspire Rebels
Bobby Hauck seems to prefer actions over words, which is another way of saying the guy tips his hand about as often as a poker champion covered in gold bracelets. Maybe the first-year UNLV football coach is more a visual sort.
If so, Hauck might be smart to search for game film from 1994, from when UNLV hosted UNR with a conference championship at stake.
He might be smart to show his team how things went that November night in preparation for Saturday's game here against the unbeaten Wolf Pack.
Show it as proof that an underdog UNLV team can, in fact, take down its biggest rival.
There hasn't been much proof lately.
"The game against Reno was obviously the defining point of that season for us, even more than winning the Las Vegas Bowl," Nick Garritano said. "Beating (UNR) that was an amazing night."
The Hall of Fame class that will be honored by UNLV on Friday night includes Garritano and the 1994 team he kicked for, a side built by former coach Jeff Horton from a modest group left him at the end of the Jim Strong era.
"There had been some down years when we got there, and there weren't more than 40 guys left," Horton said. "They were beat up (mentally) pretty good. But you could tell they wanted to be successful, so they bought into what we were doing.
"It was remarkable to see the steps that (1994) team took. It just got better and better as the season went along."
UNLV hasn't won a conference title since that '94 team beat UNR to stand atop the Big West and advance to whip Central Michigan in the Las Vegas Bowl, so it's appropriate Horton's first team here is honored at this level.
It went 7-5 that season, 5-1 in conference and had five games decided by five or fewer points.
You win four such games often by the aid of a terrific kicker, and the Rebels have known none better than Garritano, who led the nation with five field goals of 50-plus yards in '94 and ranks second all time in scoring with 240 points.
He remembers the 54-yarder that put UNLV up 16-14 on UNR in a game the Rebels would win 32-27, remembers his freshman season when Jason Hanson kicked a Sam Boyd Stadium-record 61-yard field goal for Washington State that "sounded like a bomb went off," remembers most everything about his UNLV days as a former Chaparral High player who has produced a successful career coaching baseball and golf at Green Valley.
"(Horton) and his staff came in that first season and made us believe because they wouldn't settle for anything but our best," Garritano said. "I have goose bumps right now talking about the (Hall of Fame). It's an honor I will cherish forever.
"To be in the same fraternity with Jerry Tarkanian and Randall Cunningham and Larry Johnson and all the great athletes in there is a phenomenal feeling."
Horton today is the co-offensive coordinator at Minnesota, and the Gophers on Saturday host Northwestern in a Big Ten opener. He hoped to attend the Hall of Fame ceremony and be back home in time for a morning kickoff, hoped to find a private plane and personally speak on behalf of the '94 team.
It didn't work out, so he instead taped a video message for the ceremony.
His first season was by far his best at UNLV, Horton's teams never again producing a winning record in his five years with the Rebels. He won seven games in '94 and six thereafter.
It makes sense, then, why the '94 team is so special to him, why when he talks about it, you can hear through a telephone line the pride he still feels for it.
He can recite you most every important snap from that victory against UNR, a program he had coached the previous season before taking the UNLV job.
He still can see the countless shifts of momentum, the back-and-forth scoring, the long field goal from Garritano, the interception return for a touchdown by Rossie Johnson, the 91-yard punt by Brad Faunce, the final, thrilling minutes as UNR kept throwing deep in hopes of pulling out a win, the scene of UNLV fans storming the field and tearing down goal posts.
"(UNR) had been playing very well coming in and was expected to win, and emotions were high the entire game," Horton said. "It has to rank as one of the greatest wins ever (for UNLV).
"Not a lot of teams there have been conference champions, so I think that team being in the Hall of Fame is definitely deserving. To have that honor for the rest of their lives is special. Coming as far as they did to win a championship was really rewarding for all of them."
There's a story in there for Hauck and his team this week. If not, maybe a certain game film.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618.
