Wyoming’s offensive trickery will be a handful for Rebels

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Oct. 6, 1999 | 9:50 a.m.

The Triple Shoot Offense.

It's enough to make a defensive coordinator pull his hair out ... if he had any. Fortunately for UNLV defensive coordinator Jeff McInerney, who has shaved his head bald, that isn't a problem. But trying to find a way to stop Wyoming's unorthodox offense for Saturday's Mountain West Conference game in Laramie is another matter.

"Here's the headache," McInerney said. "We're teaching in a growing defense, trying to improve areas, and we're having trouble putting four consistent quarters together. What (preparing for the Triple Shoot) does is it kind of stops that growing because we have to take time to teach something unconventional."

After all, it's not every day you see the old Swinging Gate or Statue of Liberty plays. Or, for that matter, a center and guard lined up with six-yard splits on both sides to the next offensive linemen.

"It's hard to simulate it in practice, especially the speed at which they run it," McInerney said.

And with UNLV's offense struggling badly in the first half of games this year, the last thing the Rebels can afford to do is give up an early touchdown or two to the Cowboys while adjusting to the tempo of the game.

McInerney says getting ready for the Triple Shoot Offense in one week is comparable to trying to get ready for a Wishbone attack in the same time period.

"There's three phases of it," McInerney said. "You have to eliminate the belly, the sweep and the pass off of it. And everybody's eyes have to be right. If your eyes aren't right, you can struggle."

One advantage for UNLV is that Iowa State ran similar misdirection type of plays. The Cyclones won that game, 24-0, thanks in part to some horrendous Rebel tackling and the outstanding running of Darren Davis, a likely first- or second-round NFL draft pick next spring.

"They didn't run the belly, but they ran a fake inside game and a reverse on everything," McInerney said. "That forced us to get our eyes right. We were all right in that game if we had tackled better. I wasn't embarrassed by it."

The key, according to McInerney, is stopping the run.

"You've got to stop that," he said. "Against Air Force they tried to run the ball and they controlled the clock and they won, 10-7. Air Force never really stopped their sweep play. Tennessee (which handed Wyoming a 42-17 season-opening loss) did it with flat out athletic ability and still gave up 17 points. But once the third quarter started and they got a feel for what (Wyoming) was doing, they murdered them. Now, we can't do that because we're not as fast as Tennessee. ..."

But at least count on the Rebels trying to stop the Triple Option.

"We're not going to go out there and wave the white flag or anything," McInerney says with a smile. "We'll show up and do the best we can to contain it."

* SMALL WORLD: Jason Thomas ran into a familiar face at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday night while flying back from a weekend trip back home in Carson, Calif.

Fellow named Paul Hackett.

The USC head coach, whom Thomas had a well-publicized falling out with last spring when he felt he wasn't given a fair chance at the Trojans' starting quarterback job occupied by Carson Palmer, was picking up his wife at the airport.

"He said something like, 'You never know, it's a funny game,"' Thomas said. "I think he was referring to the fact that if I had stayed I might be starting there now."

Palmer suffered a broken collarbone against Oregon two weeks ago and may miss the remainder of the season.

Thomas is redshirting at UNLV this year per NCAA transfer rules.

* PIERUCCI MISSING: Starting outside linebacker Jerrad Pierucci will miss the entire week of practice while attending the funeral of his grandmother in Bakersfield.

Pierucci is expected to return to school late Thursday night and fly with the team to Wyoming on Friday night.

* INJURY UPDATES: Defensive tackle Kawika Sagapolu (persistent headaches) and starting free safety Quincy Sanders (sore knee) sat out practice on Tuesday night but are expected to play Saturday.

Starting offensive guard Tony Terrell missed the last half of practice with a stinger.