Kickoff classic
The start of a new college football season generates optimism and excitement among alumni and fan bases everwhere.
That’s not usually the case when a program begins play on the road as a 35-point underdog against a team widely seen as a national championship contender. But let’s consider the glass as half-full when the UNLV Rebels kick off their 2011 season tonight at No. 11 Wisconsin.
Second-year coach Bobby Hauck is building a team in his image: tough and disciplined with no quit whatsoever. His young squad heads to Madison facing a stiff challenge. They go, however, not as a sacrificial warm-up for a BCS heavyweight, but as a team determined to make a statement about what it can become.
For these Rebels are not being relegated to some unknown cable TV channel and an AM radio broadcast. Tonight’s game is being broadcast nationwide on sports giant ESPN as the network’s kickoff contest for the 2011 season. It is a stage college athletes dream about. And it’s just the start.
Here’s hoping Mr. Hauck’s Rebels make the most of this opportunity and play with the fire and intensity that will carry them on the way to a succesful season.
