Chris Murray

cmurray@rgj.com

The first time Wolf Pack receiver Hasaan Henderson saw Nevada play UNLV he was a high school kid living in Las Vegas.

“I didn’t know much about it and I went with a friend and saw nothing but blue in the stadium,” Henderson of the scene at Sam Boyd Stadium. “I thought, ‘Why when I come to a UNLV game are there more Wolf Pack fans here?’ It didn’t make sense. I didn’t know much about the colleges at the time.”

A a prolific prep quarterback, Henderson eventually earned scholarship offers from both Nevada and UNLV, picking the Wolf Pack’s offer over the one extended by his hometown college. Henderson admits he still gets “a lot of flak” from friends and family in Las Vegas over that decision, but he’s converted others from UNLV to Nevada.

“My principal went to UNLV but she will be wearing Nevada Wolf Pack gear at the game,” Henderson said. “To be able to come to this school and change supporters who went to UNLV and have them become supporters of the Wolf Pack for this game to be my final game possible, it means the most.”

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Henderson, who converted from quarterback to wide receiver during his redshirt freshman season, and Nevada play their regular-season finale at rival UNLV at 1 p.m. Saturday. It will be Henderson’s first game in Las Vegas since he played for Las Vegas High. Henderson missed Nevada’s 2014 game at UNLV after suffering a serious head and spine concussion that caused him to miss the final three games of the year.

Henderson traveled to that 2014 game and watched from the sidelines as Nevada won the Fremont Cannon.

“It was a great feeling to see everybody smile,” Henderson said. “Coach (Brian Polian) instantly dropped a couple of tears and to to see him being so new to the community and all of the players who were new to get emotional and drop a couple of tears, it meant a lot for the seniors to go out with a bang like that.”

Henderson called Saturday's game, which is potentially his last as a football player, “the biggest of my life.” His senior season hasn’t gone exactly as planned. Henderson has missed two full games and large chunks of two others to what has been termed concussion-like symptoms. Migraines also have been an issue.

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As a result, Henderson is sitting on career lows in catches (27) and receiving yards (257), but a strong game in the finale against the rival Rebels and a win in his hometown to cap his time in college would be the perfect ending.

“To basically have three games taken away from me my last season at Nevada, it’s been hard, it’s been rocky, very emotional, but Coach Polian and the coaches have done a good job keeping me emotionally attached,” said Henderson, who is 16th on Nevada's all-time receiving yards list.

Henderson has played against UNLV twice before. In 2013, he was held without a catch as a backup in a 27-22 loss. In 2015, he had five catches for 40 but a shoulder injury knocked him out of the game and he watched from the sidelines as the Wolf Pack’s late rally came up short in a 23-17 defeat.

“This game, I plan on finishing with my team and celebrating with my team,” Henderson said.

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NEVADA VS. “UNR”

How deep the Nevada-UNLV rivalry run? Even the local papers in Las Vegas refer to Nevada as “UNR.”

While the school prefers UNR for academic references, it’s long been called Nevada from an athletic standpoint. UNLV’s football coaches have typically opted for “Reno” or “UNR” when referencing the school rather than Nevada, a move Las Vegas’ two major newspapers have followed.

“Personally, it bothers me a little bit and it did from the beginning,” Polian said of UNLV not referring to the school as Nevada. “I have no control over how other people reference our university. They can say what they want. We’ve been here since 1874. We’re the flagship state institution. None of that changes regardless of how people choose to refer to us. It is what it is. This is a really high academic institution, it’s a beautiful campus, it’s a great community. We are the University of Nevada and have been forever.”

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Henderson said he views the “UNR” moniker as a form of disrespect.

“It hurts that they don’t have that type of respect for a program that cares deeply about Nevada,” Henderson said. “We are Nevada. Battle Born. Battle Ready. At at the same time, hearing people say UNR you have to let it go and you can’t let it get to you. But deep down inside you feel some type of disrespect toward it. We in Reno know we are Nevada and that’s what we go by in this community.”

THE RIVALRY KING

As you might expect, no person has been involved in more Nevada-UNLV rivalry games than former Wolf Pack coach Chris Ault. But he will he have some company atop that list after Saturday’s game.

Ault has coached in 25 of the 41 games between the teams – 22 as Nevada’s head coach and three as a UNLV assistant – and posted a 17-8 overall record (15-7 when at Nevada and 2-1 when at UNLV).

Wolf Pack safeties coach Mike Bradeson will coach his 25th game in the rivalry Saturday. Like Ault, he’s spent time on both sidelines. Bradeson was an assistant at UNLV from 1996-2009 and was on Nevada’s staff from 1986-91 and from 2010-present. Bradeson is 12-12 in the series (7-3 at Nevada; 5-9 at UNLV).

Wolf Pack offensive line coach Jonathan Himebauch also will join the club of coaches who have seen the rivalry from both sides. Himebauch was 3-0 against Nevada as a UNLV assistant from 2000-01 and 2004. This year’s game marks his first in the rivalry as a member of the Wolf Pack.

A RARE FINALE

For just the second time in the last 20 years, Nevada and UNLV will meet in the regular-season finale.

“It stares at you the entire season,” offensive lineman Austin Corbett said of the date.

The only other time in the last two decades that the game has been played on rivalry weekend was 2014 when Nevada beat UNLV, 49-27. In all, the Nevada-UNLV game has been played on the final weekend of the regular season 11 times, including seven of the first eight matchups. Nevada is 4-7 regular-season finales against Nevada.

WOLF PACK FOOTBALL

Who: Nevada (4-7, 2-5 MW) at UNLV (4-7, 3-4)

When: Saturday, 1 p.m.

Where: Sam Boyd Stadium (capacity, 40,000)

TV/Radio: None/94.5 FM

Online: ESPN3

Weather: High of 64; low of 43

Betting line: UNLV by 9