In its 2018 media guide, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas politely, but firmly, reminds folks that the football team is not to be called the “Runnin’ Rebels.”

“Only the men’s basketball team at UNLV is nicknamed the Runnin’ Rebels,” the guide explains of a nickname coined in the Jerry Tarkanian era of hoops.

Fair enough, but the distinction would be considerably less blurry in these parts if the Rebels, running back Lexington “Lightning” Thomas chief among them, hadn’t been so successful at running past the University of Hawaii these past few years.

There is a common thread to UNLV’s lengthening mastery of the Rainbow Warriors in recent seasons — three consecutive victories and five in the past seven years — and it is the runnin’ being done by the Rebels.

In that stretch UNLV has averaged one 100-yard running back per victory. Both UH wins in the seven-year span have come when there has been an ability to slow the Rebels’ run, keeping running backs well under the 100-yard threshold.

That might have to be the prescription if the ’Bows (6-5, 3-3 Mountain West) are to emerge with a breakthrough seventh victory of the season tonight in Halawa. Win and the ’Bows assure themselves of their first winning regular season since 2010, ending the longest such drought in the team’s Division I history. A berth in the Dec. 22 Hawaii Bowl would be an added, holiday-season bonus.

Lose and the pressure gets multiplied considerably, coming down to a win-or-else regular-season finale next week at San Diego State.

This season’s records — UNLV is 3-7 (1-5 MWC) and SDSU is 7-3 (4-2) — say tonight’s game is UH’s best opportunity. Oddsmakers, who have the ’Bows listed as 6 1/2-point favorites, suggest the same thing.

But as UH has learned the hard way, the Rebels’ record has rarely been an indication of their ability to frustrate the Warriors. And slowing anybody’s ground game this year has been easier said than done for a UH defense that is ranked 102nd among 129 team in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The ’Bows are yielding an average of 5.04 yards per opponent rush and 204.7 yards per game.

The Rebels rank 23rd in rushing offense, averaging 5.09 yards per carry and 224.5 yards per game this season.

That is despite the absence of quarterback Armani Rogers, who had been averaging 122 yards a game until being sidelined with a toe injury Sept. 22 and missing the past six games. He returned to practice two weeks ago and is available tonight.

But the biggest threat is the Rebels’ smallest starter, the 5-foot, 9-inch, 170-pound Thomas, who has averaged 107 yards and a touchdown a game against the Rainbow Warriors over three previous seasons. He managed 133 yards and two touchdowns in last week’s upset of San Diego State and is second in the conference, averaging 89.7 yards per game.

But it was against UH that Thomas made his name. After Thomas had a particularly elusive game against UH in his last visit to Aloha Stadium, Spectrum TV analyst Rich Miano compared him to “lightning” and Thomas quickly adopted the nickname across his social media platforms. UNLV began employing it as well.

Tonight capturing — or at least putting the brakes on — “lightning” would go a long way toward helping the ’Bows reach the postseason.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.