When the University of Nevada-Las Vegas joined the Western Athletic Conference a decade ago, its football program was heralded as a "sleeping giant" and a future power in the West.

When John Robinson took over UNLV in 1999, he promised to awaken the "sleeping giant" and make it "second to none."

As the Rebels (1-1) come to Aloha Stadium for Saturday's University of Hawai'i home opener, the wait continues for the "giant" to stir. The watch is still on for a time when potential might equal production in the desert.

Neither the WAC nor UNLV's present home, the Mountain West Conference, have seen the long-awaited emergence of the Rebels as a consistent winner. And you have to wonder why.

For a school that would seem to have a lot going for it — and current head coach Mike Sanford calls UNLV a "gold mine" — the Rebels have historically been curious underachievers. It has been six seasons since the Rebels have had a winning season. A feat they have managed just four times in 20 years with two bowl appearances and no conference championships.

In the same span, UH, which is burdened by geography, has had 10 winning seasons, two conference championships and six bowl games.

The Rebels have a large and growing population to recruit from, an area made larger by having California next door. They are decently funded ($23 million athletic budget) and not burdened by highly selective admission requirements. Nor has a program that once produced Randall Cunningham and Ickey Woods, lacked for talent as the regular influx of transfers from Southern California and the Pac-10 underlines.

They might always play in the shadow of their more renown basketball team, but somehow that hasn't stopped their across-state rival, Nevada, from prospering of late.

To tell you how cursed it has sometimes seemed for the Rebels, their best Division I season, an 11-2 finish and California Bowl championship of 1984, resulted in UNLV forfeiting for the use of ineligible players.

Some of UNLV's problems have come in choice of coaches. When they could have had an up-and-coming assistant named Barry Alvarez in 1990, they took Jim Strong (eventual UNLV record: 17-27) instead.

Of course such has been the Rebels' funk that even Robinson, who took USC to four Rose Bowls and a national championship and the then-Los Angeles Rams to six playoffs, could manage one winning season in Vegas. Their last one, 8-5 in 2000, was supposed to have marked the turning of a corner.

Now it is Sanford's turn to roll the dice. Now his spread option offense, the kind of boutique attack that would seem to give the Rebels a fighting chance to be competitive by being different, gets its shot at delivering a jackpot.

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, they continue to wait for that giant to awaken.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.