LIVE GAME BLOG: UNLV keeps bowl hopes alive, holding on to down New Mexico, 27-20

By Ryan Greene

Saturday, Nov. 8, 2008 | 10:14 p.m.

Final, UNLV wins 27-20

The season and bowl eligibility appeared to be a lost cause late in the second quarter, as New Mexico led 14-3 and was driving deep into UNLV territory again. A Quinton Pointer interception essentially changed all of that, as the Rebels never relinquished momentum again, hanging on for a 27-20 win Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The victory improved UNLV to 4-6 on the season, 1-5 in Mountain West play and, most important, keeps bowl hopes alive with games against Wyoming and San Diego State left on the slate.

It also snapped a five-game skid, and was UNLV's first win since a Sept. 20 home triumph over Iowa State.

Following Pointer's pick and 77-yard return, UNLV tacked on a field goal to make it 14-6. Then, a touchdown pass from Mike Clausen to Rodelin Anthony just before the half made it 14-13.

The Rebels took the lead on a four-yard connection on a fourth-and-two from Clausen to Frank Summers, and went up 10 when Deante Purvis blocked a punt attempt and Anthony took it in for a score.

Clausen's first start for the Rebels was a success, as he went 17-of-34 for 204 yards, two TDs and no interceptions.

The Rebel defense played its best game since a win at Arizona State on Sept. 13, as the front four got incredible push off the snap all night, spearheaded by Malo Taumua and George Fa'avae.

UNLV is home again on Thursday against Wyoming, who also at 4-6 defeated Tennessee in one of Saturday's biggest shockers, 13-7. New Mexico, now 4-7 and out of bowl contention, travels to face Colorado State next Saturday. The Rebels actually need the Lobos' help, as UNM can knock the Rams out of bowl contention with a win in Fort Collins.

For full postgame coverage, including stories, photos, video and numbers, stay tuned to www.lasvegassun.com/rebels.

3:19, fourth quarter, UNLV leads 27-20

The Rebels held the Lobos, though it was scary for a bit. Jermaine McQueen was overthrown by Brad Gruner on what could have been a sure-fire long touchdown play, and New Mexico opted to punt facing a fourth-and-five near midfield.

The Rebels took over possession at their own eight-yard line, and New Mexico is oddly opting not to call their timeouts, allowing time to melt off the clock as it approaches near the two-minute mark.

4:22, fourth quarter, UNLV leads 27-20

A second straight three-and-out for the Rebels, in which the ball moved backwards five yards on a sack, coupled with a short 30-yard punt by Dack Ishii, and New Mexico is taking over at its own 35-yard line.

Wonder what's going through the heads on the UNLV sideline right now.

6:34, fourth quarter, UNLV leads 27-20

The Rebels went three-and-out with a chance to bump up a 10-point edge, and the defense again bent a bit, but failed to break. New Mexico worked the ball down the UNLV five-yard line, but a holding call and an incompletion left the Lobos to settle for a 32-yard field gaol with 6:34 to play.

Of course, if you've been following this team this season, it's a familiar feeling. It's a fourth quarter lead, and UNLV's trying to break the cycle and close one of these out.

The Lobos helped the cause a bit, as James Aho sent the ensuing kick out of bounds, giving UNLV possession at its own 40-yard line. So even if Clausen & Co. can't get much going, New Mexico will at the very least have tough field position to work with as long as the Rebels don't turn it over.

A quick numbers update, by the way ...

-New Mexico's Rodney Ferguson now has 121 yards on 27 carries to pace the Lobo offense. Brad Gruner, though, is just 9-of-19 for 94 yards.

13:32, fourth quarter, UNLV leads 27-17

Mike Sanford has held back this season from putting speedy freshman Deante Purvis on on defense, but he's making enough of an impact on special teams so far, that there's really no reason to change that.

Purvis, who had a 55-yard kickoff return earlier tonight, just blocked a New Mexico punt which was scooped up by Rodelin Anthony and run in for a touchdown to put UNLV up 27-17 on the Lobos with 13:23 to play.

Purvis then made a stop on the ensuing kickoff.

The special teams play came on the heels of New Mexico stalling out on another drive. The Lobos have become less and less creative offensively ever since Quinton Pointer's second quarter interception, and the momentum just continues to build for the Rebels, who now hold their largest fourth quarter lead since the opener against Utah State.

The chances of this one salting away are pretty slim, as UNM quarterback Brad Gruner is far from accurate tonight and the Rebels' front four is getting incredible push off the snap.

9:59, third quarter, UNLV leads 20-17

The Lobos moved the ball pretty well on the ground to start the second half, but UNLV's defense held them to a field goal, bringing Mike Clausen and the offense back onto the field still down just one score.

Clausen continued to look good, with the highlight of the drive being a 28-yard pass over the middle to Rodelin Anthony, who is emerging tonight in Phillip Payne's absence. Payne, by the way, is out of his pads on the sideline and will not return.

The Rebels then got gutsy at the four-yard line, facing a fourth-and-two. Clausen flipped a pass into the flat to Frank Summers who scooted in for a touchdown to give UNLV its first lead of the game at 20-17.

Clausen is not only looking better and better as the game goes on, but he's more efficient with his passes, and has shown a good rapport with Ryan Wolfe, who now has seven catches for 100 yards.

Clausen is 14-of-29 for 181 yards and a pair of scores. He was 5-of-6 on that drive.

Halftime, New Mexico leads 14-13

Boy, just a few minutes ago, bowl eligibility seemed to be slipping fast. Quinton Pointer's pick and return, though, started an avalanche for the Rebels, who are now heading to the halftime locker room trailing by just a point at 14-13.

The Rebels responded to their field goal with a big defensive stop, and Mike Clausen then drove the offense 84 yards, finding Rodelin Anthony on a fade pattern from 10 yards out with three seconds to go. Anthony caught the ball despite being interfered with.

Of course, typically the fade is Phillip Payne's thing, but the freshman was knocked out earlier in the drive attempting to catch a ball over the middle. He was motionless for a bit, but walked off under his own power. I'll try to have an update on that before long.

Overall, a gutsy first half for the Rebels, who could easily be out of this one by now.

Here are some first half numbers and thoughts of note ...

-Mike Clausen has completed just nine of 23 passes, but they've gone for 124 yards and a TD. He also has a team-best 37 yards on the ground. Overall, an effective half.

-New Mexico's Rodney Ferguson has 57 yards on 14 carries. Take away a 27-yard gain earlier, and it's 30 yards on 13 carries. The Rebels haven't allowed him to have too much breathing room up the middle.

-Brad Gruner is just 3-of-7 through the air for 25 yards for the Lobos, another sign that UNLV's defense has tightened up some.

As for a second half outlook, UNLV needs to carry the momentum over, plain and simple. New Mexico gets the ball first, and the Rebels need to stay consistent with their push up the middle. Malo Taumua has been a beast so far, and the linebackers are hawking to the ball. UNLV certainly has a better than good chance to keep the bowl hopes alive.

And, again, weirder things have happened.

7:03, second quarter, New Mexico leads 14-6

What a difference an interception can make.

The Rebels came up with their first pick in 28 - yes, 28 - quarters, as Quinton Pointer stepped in front of Brad Gruner on a trick play. Just as the Lobos were driving to make it potentially 21-3, Pointer stepped in and ran the pick back 77 yards to the New Mexico 12-yard line.

That's where misfortune set in a bit for the Rebels. Pointer tripped and fell while on his way to a surefire defensive score. The Rebels couldn't move the ball on three plays and only tacked on a field goal.

But still, the turnover created a bit of momentum for a UNLV sideline desperately in need of it. A stop is big now, as UNLV can hardly afford to be down more than one score at the half.

As for the trick play, New Mexico may now decide to throw it into the bag, as it was the third time Rocky Long had run the QB throwback play. Once, it turned into a 40-yard touchdown run, and on the second time around, it went for a big completion. This time, it was near-disaster.

11:47, second quarter, New Mexico leads 14-10

Talk about a touchdown that should have been avoided ... twice.

The Lobos scored on a five-yard run by Rodney Ferguson, but were aided along the way quite a bit.

First, UNLV had held New Mexico to a punting situation, and was taking some momentum away on the heels of Ben Jaekle's 52-yard kick. But Michael Johnson botched the return on a fair catch, attempting to get up too soon. Then, after the Rebels made another huge play behind the line of scrimmage on second down, Jacob Hales was called for a late hit personal foul, giving New Mexico an automatic first down.

The score put UNLV in an 11-point hole, and a situation in which a response is pretty much necessary. Deante Purvis helped that along a bit by returning the ensuing kick to the New Mexico 43.

1:23, first quarter, New Mexico leads 7-3

Mike Sanford showed a good deal of faith in the struggling Ben Jaekle, and was rewarded as UNLV has pulled to within four points of New Mexico at 7-3.

Jaekle's miss from 42 yards out on the game's first drive stunted an impressive possession. He got a shot at redemption on the heels of the Lobos' touchdown run, and connected from 52 yards out. The big play on the drive was the 28-yard connection between Clausen and Wolfe.

But Clausen continued to chip away at the New Mexico defense with his legs. He's showing nice burst up the middle, and has 21 yards on the ground so far tonight.

5:07, first quarter, New Mexico leads 7-0

New Mexico is certainly having little trouble running straight ahead on UNLV so far tonight, but relied on a bit of trickery to score the game's first touchdown.

On a reverse play, Bryant Williams was sprung along by a pair of lethal blocks en route to a 40-yard touchdown run.

The Rebels have responded quickly, though, as on the first play of the ensuing drive, Mike Clausen floated a beautiful ball in between three defenders down the middle to Ryan Wolfe for a 28-yard gain, as UNLV is again inside the New Mexico 40.

You'd have to think that if it comes down to a decision between going for it on fourth down or a Ben Jaekle field goal attempt this time, Mike Sanford might hesitate more to opt for the latter.

10:12, first quarter, game tied 0-0

Mike Clausen put any anxious fans at ease right off the bat in his first career start. On the Rebels' opening drive, he went 2-of-3 for 30 yards, and also had an 11-yard run on second-and-10.

The drive stalled out when Ben Jaekle missed his third straight field goal attempt, this time from 45 yards out.

But the reason he even had a kick to attempt was Clausen's playmaking ability. After Michael Johnson was dropped for a 10-yard loss, Clausen kept a third-and-19 play live long enough to step back from a near sack, roll left and find Phillip Payne for a 14-yard gain.

With Jaekle's recent struggles, it's debatable whether UNLV should have gone for it or not, but now it's too late. Either way, the Rebels should be able to move the ball effectively tonight.

Pregame 2

One more quick note. Representatives from the New Mexico Bowl and the Las Vegas Bowl are present tonight. It can be argued that New Mexico, Colorado State, UNLV and Wyoming are all jockeying for position to land a bid to go to Albuquerque.

In terms of what the Rebels would probably need to do and have happen for that to go down, here's a rough guess ...

-Utah needs to win out and go to the BCS.

-Colorado State needs to lose one of its final two games.

-UNLV, of course, needs to win out.

In the words of Lloyd Christmas, 'so you're saying there's a chance ...'

Pregame

Weirder things have happened.

That's kind of the theme of the night, in my mind. For all intents and purposes, on paper, you would think that New Mexico making Vegas oddsmakers look smart tonight would pretty much be a lock.

For one, they're coming off of a close 13-10 loss to Utah a week ago, while UNLV has lost five straight and last time out was throttled by TCU and lost starting quarterback Omar Clayton in the process.

UNLV has not been great against the run this year, and New Mexico runs the ball very well.

There won't be probably more than about 4,000 or 5,000 fans here, so an intimidating road atmosphere more than likely won't present itself to the visiting Lobos.

But, still, weirder things have happened.

Want proof? Wyoming won at Tennessee today.

The atmosphere here should be pretty reminiscent of last week's ... sparse and relatively quiet. More of a baseball crowd than football.

There are a couple of big names in the crowd tonight, though. Former Rebel greats Beau Bell and Keenan McCardell have been spotted down on the field, and Bell, just sauntered into the locker room.

Anyways, this week's three big prognostications ...

1) Rodney Ferguson will be held under 100 yards tonight on the ground. The Rebels have strengthened in recent weeks against the run up the middle, so they should be able to prevent him from hitting the home run. The guy to look out for might be backup Paul Baker.

2) Mike Clausen will have a steady starting debut behind center. Don't sell the redshirt freshman short just because he hasn't seen tons of snaps this season. It's hard not to think back to camp, where Clausen at times outperformed Clayton when running with the ones. The big question is whether or not he's as much of a gamer as Clayton. Numbers prediction? About 175 yards, two TDs and one pick.

3) UNLV will finally get the ever-elusive interception, which the defense has craved since its last pick. Yes, that was Sept. 13 at Arizona State. But Brad Gruner is the most turnover-prone gunslinger the Rebel defense has faced since then.

Talk to you after kickoff.