LAS VEGAS — In newspaper and TV ads, on billboards and posters the message hereabouts is the "Rebels on the Rise" when it comes to University of Nevada-Las Vegas football.

For Mike Sanford, who is in his fifth year as head coach, you've got to believe those expectations resonate tonight in a 5 p.m. (Hawai'i time) game against the University of Hawai'i.

The Rebels are 12-37 under Sanford, who has yet to achieve a .500 season, and the perception here is that he needs a winning year — preferably with a bowl appearance attached — to finish out his current contract.

This is supposed to be the much-awaited payoff year on all that Sanford and UNLV have invested in resurrecting the Rebels. It has been no easy task to be sure for the man who was Urban Meyer's offensive coordinator during the transformation of Utah's fortunes.

Now the hope and, indeed, the expectation is that there will at least be a corner turned at UNLV. Finally, these are all Sanford's players schooled in his schemes with a favorable, home-heavy schedule. All reasons why, for the first time in five years UNLV has been picked higher than last place or one rung out of the cellar, forecast for a fifth place finish, in the nine-team Mountain West Conference.

A big step toward meeting some of those hopes, both in perceptions and toward the postseason, could have been made by UNLV had it held on against Oregon State last week. Instead, in one of those close-but-no-cigar finishes that have bedeviled the Rebels for years, OSU took advantage of a controversial penalty and pulled out a 23-21 victory with seven seconds remaining.

So, here the Rebels are seven-point favorites against UH in the final game of a three-game homestand to start the season and at something of an early crossroads. They need to hit the road no worse than 2-1 to have a running start at a winning season, which after beating Sacramento State and losing to Oregon State, means they have to get past UH.

A loss to Hawai'i under these circumstances would revive all the questions from last year when the Rebels, after a promising start that included wins over Arizona State and Iowa State, struggled to a 5-7 finish.

Sanford has three more seasons left on a four-year extension he was given last year, but it came with a built-in ejection mechanism in the fine print. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the school can buy Sanford out at anytime for a total payment of $225,000, a considerable discount on his reported $425,000 annual salary plus bonuses.

Against that backdrop, "Rebels on the Rise" is as much a pointed demand as a promotional slogan.