Las Vegas (NV) — Las Vegas may be the city of lights, but in Sam Boyd Stadium, situated far from the glittering strip on the northern edge of the city, luminance was in short supply Saturday night. After dominating the UNLV Running Rebels for three-and-a-half quarters and posting a 27-7 lead, the power literally went out on the UW Badgers and the Nevada state-record crowd of 42,075 in attendance.
With 7:41 remaining in the fourth quarter, the large banks of lights ringing the field simultaneously shut off, stopping play and causing commotion throughout the stadium. When power failed to be restored after approximately 25 minutes, referee Clair Gausman called the game, handing the Badgers the 27-7 victory and concluding what had been a dominating effort by UW against the bungling Rebels.
“We were originally told by the officials to wait and then see if the lights would come back on,” UW head coach Barry Alvarez said. “But once the kids started to cool down, we didn’t want to take the chance of an athlete getting hurt, and we agreed to end the game at that point.”
Prior to the power outage, UW played solidly on both sides of the football while making the most of five first-half turnovers by UNLV, including four by quarterback Jason Thomas, who fumbled twice and threw two interceptions.
Wideout Jonathan Orr, who set the UW single-game record for receiving yards by a freshman, was the offensive catalyst, while the Badger defense kept UNLV at bay throughout the contest. The UW defense allowed 305 total yards and gave up several big gains on the ground to the mobile Thomas but clamped down whenever the Rebels ventured into UW territory.
“I thought our defense played well, I thought they adjusted well on the run, made some plays,” Alvarez said.
Adversity didn’t take long to find Thomas, the left-handed senior QB. On the game’s first series Thomas’ third down pass sailed over his receiver’s head and directly into the hands of the newest star of the UW secondary, safety Jim Leonhard. Leonhard’s interception was already his third of this young season.
Thomas turned the football over again in the beginning of the second quarter, fumbling the snap at the UNLV 37, and on the next play, Brooks Bollinger connected with Orr on a post pattern for a 37-yard touchdown.
Orr, who gave the Badger passing attack a much-needed spark in the absence of the injured Lee Evans, finished the day with seven catches for 150 yards, breaking the mark of 132 yards set by Tony Simmons against Illinois in 1994.
“Whatever the team asks me to do in the way of making plays, I think I can do it,” Orr said. “When the opportunity presents itself, I just have to take advantage of it. I think I played a little bit better than last week. I had some mistakes I wasn’t too happy with, but I’m confident they can be corrected.”
Yet another Rebel turnover led to UW’s second score, as tailback Larry Croom fumbled on the UNLV eight-yard line. Two plays later, the Badgers ran a play-action pass and Bollinger rolled out to his right, finding tight end Bob Docherty wide open in the end zone. Mike Allen’s kick gave the Badgers a 14-0 lead, and that was all the points UW would need.
Bollinger finished with 157 yards and the two TDs, and backup Jim Sorgi, who entered the game for one series when Bollinger was winded, completed both his pass attempts for 34 yards, leading the Badgers to a touchdown that gave them a 24-0 lead. Bollinger also escaped the UNLV rush many times, breaking several long runs and finishing with 39 yards on the ground despite being sacked twice.
“[On offense] they put a lot of pressure on us, putting nine men in the box and blitzing from all over the place,” Alvarez said “They forced us to come up with an answer to the blitz, and quite frankly, we didn’t find one, but that’s something we’ll have to work on. I like the way the guys responded, and we were able to get our passing game going in the second quarter and put some points on the board.”
UNLV contained Anthony Davis for most of the game, crowding the line and allowing the speedy tailback only two runs over ten yards. Davis kept plugging away, though, running hard between the tackles and finishing the day with 81 yards. Freshman Dwayne Smith, a 5-foot-11 219-pound hammer of a back, impressed in his first action as a Badger, carrying the ball seven times for 38 yards, including a two-yard touchdown run to cap Sorgi’s drive.
The road trip was the Badgers’ last for the next month, as UW’s next four games are at home. The time at home and three non-conference games in front of the Camp Randall crowd should give UW plenty of time to gel before the Big Ten season opener against Penn State Oct. 5.
“These aren’t easy trips,” Alvarez said. “You get out here, the heat’s a factor, focus is a factor. My main concern now is that we just need to improve. We have a tough week of practice up ahead, but I do like the fact that we’re going to be at home for awhile.”
