Rebels stuck in skid on unforgiving road

UNLV football coach Bobby Hauck knows it's coming. But that doesn't make it any easier.

At some point during his Monday news conference the week of every Rebels road game, the cringe-inducing topic is broached.

The question comes in many forms, but it's essentially the same each time: Why can't UNLV win on the road?

Hauck, now in his third season, really hasn't had any answers.

But this week he hopes Hawaii is the end of that line of questioning, about a string of road losses that stands at 21. The Warriors (1-9 overall, 0-7 Mountain West Conference) host UNLV (2-10, 2-5) at 8 p.m. PST Saturday, and the Rebels are 3½-point favorites.

"This team has carried itself really well," Hauck said. "They've been confident throughout. They've played hard and fairly well through the season, and we just have not been able to break through. So (ending the skid) would be great for our guys, great for our team, great for our seniors.

"I think we'll go over there with that in mind. I can't imagine we wouldn't. I think our guys will be very motivated to go over there and play an inspired game and fight their tail off trying to get a win."

The road skid is the second longest in school history. UNLV lost 26 in a row from 1994 to 1998, broken in the first game of coach John Robinson's tenure when the Rebels defeated North Texas 26-3 to open the 1999 season.

Robinson's Rebels won in dramatic fashion the following week at Baylor on cornerback Kevin Thomas' 100-yard fumble return on the final snap.

Hauck hopes his team doesn't need a miracle play to beat Hawaii, but he probably would take anything at this point to stop the losing streak.

If not against a Hawaii team that has been outscored by an average of 41-18, then who knows when UNLV's next realistic shot at a road victory will be.

UNLV opens next season Aug. 29 at Minnesota, a bottom-tier Big Ten Conference team, but not an easy opponent, as the Rebels discovered in their season-opening 30-27 triple-overtime loss to the Golden Gophers this year.

Their other nonconference games are at home, so it's difficult to say how the Rebels' chances in Mountain West play line up until the schedule is released.

Of course, it might not matter.

UNLV went to New Mexico last season as a 7-point favorite and lost, 21-14. The Rebels were 1-point favorites two weeks ago at Colorado State and lost, 33-11.

Perhaps Saturday will be different.

"I've never had a road win since I've been here," said senior linebacker John Lotulelei, a former junior college transfer. "I think it would be fantastic for the football players, sending them on a great note next year. The first challenge next year is a road game, so that would give them some hope and motivation to start off on a great note."

Junior running back Tim Cornett agreed it would be huge for the returning players, but he warned against taking the Warriors lightly.

"We looked at Hawaii on film, and they're a good team," Cornett said. "They had some bad things go their way. We can't go in there and underestimate them because of their record. We've got to in there and play, and I feel like if we play, we can really pull out the win."

Maybe next season when the Rebels open at Minnesota, the streak will be an issue of the past.

Otherwise the topic will linger all the way until at least late August.

"We kind of get tired of answering that, obviously," Hauck said. "Certainly, winning on the road, to get all that behind us, would be good."

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