UNLV has plenty of respect for BYU

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Sept. 22, 2000 | 10:32 a.m.

Next up

Who: UNLV at BYU

When: Saturday, noon

Where: Cougar Stadium

TV: KFBT, Ch. 6

Radio: KBAD 920 AM

The natives are getting a little restless in Provo these days.

Three losses in a season usually is cause for concern for longtime BYU football followers. But the Cougars (1-3, 0-1), who host UNLV (1-1, 0-0) on Saturday in the 200th game in Cougar Stadium history, have lost three times already in just one month.

Not exactly the kind of fond sendoff Cougar fans had in mind for retiring head coach LaVell Edwards.

But don't try telling UNLV senior strong safety Randy Black this is not a vintage BYU team.

"I don't care what anybody says: BYU is still the powerhouse of the Mountain West Conference," Black said. "I think the goal every year is to beat BYU.

"A lot of teams get lucky each year and maybe tie for the title. But every year since the beginning of the WAC, BYU is either No. 1 or No. 2 in the conference. So they're the team you really want to be able to beat. If you circle one of two games on your schedule, BYU would be one of them."

UNLV, coming off an impressive 38-0 shellacking of North Texas last week at Sam Boyd Stadium, has only defeated BYU once in seven tries. That victory came way back in 1981 in Provo, 45-41.

A win on Saturday by the Rebels would go a very long way to establishing some much needed credibility to a program that was in complete disarray two years ago before new head coach John Robinson took over.

"I think it's the opportunity of a lifetime," Black said. "It's a chance for us to come out and play a good game against a real good program. If you can win, it gives you respect."

BYU, which has had 10 days to prepare for the contest after losing to Mississippi State, 44-28, last Thursday night, should have both starting quarterback Bret Engemann (high ankle sprain) and tailback Luke Staley (minor knee surgery) back for Saturday's game.

Going back to the end of the 1999 season, the Cougars have won just one of their last seven games, the worst stretch in Edwards' 29 years in Provo.

Part of the problem, besides a brutal nonconference schedule that included back-to-back East Coast trips to Florida State and Virginia, has been turnovers.

BYU has already turned the ball over 14 times this season while garnering three takeaways.

"We just have got to keep grinding it out and sooner or later we're going to turn this thing around ... definitely sooner," backup quarterback Charlie Peterson said.

The Cougars blanked UNLV 29-0 last year in Las Vegas in a game that really wasn't that close. The Rebels managed just 118 yards and 10 first downs in the game.

Edwards believes it could be much more competitive this time around.

"UNLV is a vastly improved team from a year ago," Edwards said. "Bringing (quarterback) Jason Thomas in brings them a huge step up from where they were a year ago."