UNLV, Arkansas To Meet in Bowl Game

Thursday, December 21st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LAS VEGAS (AP) â€” Randy Black remembers watching as a redshirt freshman while UNLV lost its first game of the year to Tennessee by 59 points. He has painful memories of an 0-11 season as a sophomore, part of a 16-game winless stretch.

No wonder the UNLV safety is so excited about finishing his college career in the one spot he never figured to be â€” playing in the Las Vegas Bowl Thursday against Arkansas.

``I'm not sure you guys understand how big this is to me,'' Black said. ``Going through what we went through, this is a real big deal to me.''

Black, a hometown product, is the inspirational leader of a UNLV defense that has come a long way from his redshirt season, when the Rebels gave up an average of 50 points a game.

This year's defense was more than four touchdowns better â€” allowing 21.8 points a game â€” as the Rebels continued an improbable rebound under second-year coach John Robinson by winning just enough to get into the Las Vegas Bowl.

``I took the 62-3 loss (to Tennessee) as a freshman so I know about those things,'' Black said. ``To be able to play an Arkansas, well, that in itself says it all.''

UNLV (7-5) gets a chance to show just how far the program has come under Robinson when it meets the Razorbacks (6-5) in a bowl game it was invited to only after winning its last three games and only because it is the hometown team.

The selection process matters little to the long-suffering UNLV players, though.

``We're so happy to be able to play in this bowl. I'm just speechless,'' said tackle John Greer, a former walk-on who, like Black, is playing his last game for UNLV. ``It's amazing the turnaround we've had. Coach Robinson brought an attitude that we're winners and we will be winners.''

Winning hasn't done much, though, to turn the football Rebels into an attraction like the university's basketball team was during its prime.

UNLV was forced to cut the price of tickets last week to try to rally local fans to the game, the first bowl appearance for the Rebels since they were in the 1994 Las Vegas Bowl. With disappointing sales to Arkansas fans added in, a crowd of only about 15,000 is expected.

That hasn't dampened the spirits of the UNLV players and their coaches, however, who see the game as a test of a fledgling team against an established power.

``We're anxious to test ourselves against a very classy team,'' Robinson said. ``We're looking at a team that represents a conference that probably has the best athletes in the country.''

Some of those athletes are healthy again for Arkansas, which started the season 4-1 but lost four straight during a stretch when a number of key players were injured. Arkansas came back to beat Mississippi State and Louisiana State in its final two games to become eligible for the third bowl in three seasons under Houston Nutt.

In all, 11 Razorbacks are out for the season with injuries, including the top three tailbacks on the preseason depth chart.

The key for Arkansas may be a defense that held then-No. 13 Mississippi State scoreless for the final three quarters and in overtime, and came back to allow only three points to then-No. 24 LSU. Arkansas has not allowed a touchdown in nine consecutive quarters.

That defense will be tested by UNLV quarterback Jason Thomas, who threw for 1,708 yards and rushed for 599 more. Thomas is big, mobile and dangerous out of the pocket, but has been hampered by a sprained ankle since midseason.

``He can throw the ball and he's very smart,'' Arkansas linebacker Quinton Caver said. ``He doesn't make any bad decisions on the field.''