Ex-Rebel Jon Denton recalls what could have been against USC

Seriously. It happened in October of 1997.

“It’s something,” Jon Denton says now, “I will never forget.”

The Rebels on Saturday afternoon begin their fourth season under head coach Tony Sanchez at one of the more momentous places in college football history against one of it most recognized teams, meeting Southern California at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

It’s just the second time UNLV has wandered into the place of Conquest and Traveler and drum majors stabbing the turf, of lighting the torch to welcome the fourth quarter and song girls in timeless white sweaters.

The Trojans are a 26-point favorite.

Yeah. This will be a tough one.

It was a similar storyline nearly 21 years ago, when Denton and the Rebels headed to Southern California a year after they opposed Peyton Manning and Tennessee in Knoxville, where they were drilled 62-3 amid the orange and white universe of Rocky Top.

But there is such a thing as turning your wounds into wisdom, and from that beat-down, the Rebels arrived at the Coliseum far more prepared to deal with the moment.

Ready for big stage

“I think the Tennessee game, when we were mostly all freshmen and saw that kind of atmosphere up close, made us a little unfazed going to USC,” said then-UNLV quarterback Denton. “Honestly, I think we were all just about playing ball and trying to win a game in California, where like 60 percent of our roster was from.

“There wasn’t that moment of, ‘Wow, this is the big stage.’ We knew the Coliseum was a very historic place and, growing up in Las Vegas, I always had USC games on. I was just so focused on completing passes. We went toe-to-toe, blow-to-blow with them. I remember throwing the pass …”

Oh, yeah. That.

It came with nine minutes remaining in a tie game, UNLV wide receiver Damon Williams having beaten free safety Rashard Cook by a few steps, a 38-yard toss by Denton into the end zone that, if converted along with the ensuing extra point, would have given the Rebels a 28-21 advantage.

Would have brought them oh-so-close to what would rank as one of the school’s biggest wins in history.

Williams dropped the pass.

He would catch 11 balls for 165 yards, but was so distraught at not hauling in that score, removed himself from the game with under five minutes left and vomited on his way out.

Denton did his best to console his teammate.

It was gut-wrenching — obviously in more ways the one — all the way around.

“We missed an opportunity and it flipped the game,” said Jeff Horton, then head coach for UNLV and now associate head coach/offensive coordinator at San Diego State. “But it was neat to be part of. The kids hung in there and played as hard as they could. It was a special thing.”

Tables were turned

The Trojans, as what often happens when one side fails to take advantage of such a critical scoring chance, answered with two touchdowns and walked away a 35-21 winner, the 100th victory in Robinson’s college coaching career.

He would be fired at season’s end, the Trojans having finished 6-5.

A year later, he was named head coach at another school: UNLV.

“I remember UNLV never quit in that (’97 game),” Robinson said. “It was a classic scenario of thinking you’re going to be fine and then saying, ‘Oh my God, they’re not going away.’ They played their asses off. We felt fortunate to get out of there with the win.”

He would seek out Denton — who threw for 354 yards and a touchdown while also running for a score — in the UNLV locker room afterward, not stopping until he found the sophomore in the shower. Talk about an awkward handshake.

Denton, along with Williams and others from that ’97 team, are expected back in the Coliseum on Saturday to witness the second game between the schools.

It’s a new era, a different UNLV team, a matchup separated by more than two decades, and yet in the minds of most, still very much David vs. Goliath, haves against have nots, tradition against irrelevancy.

“I still watch every game I can, online or otherwise,” said Denton, who lives with his wife and three daughters in Northboro, Iowa. “I love UNLV. I’ll always be a Vegas kid.

”(Sanchez) has definitely turned a corner with the program. Most people don’t realize how hard it is to win there, but Tony is doing a hell of a job getting things right. It takes time. I wouldn’t miss this game.”

He knows the history of it well.

However brief it is.

Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.