Robinson to stay with same O-line this week

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Sept. 25, 2000 | 11:01 a.m.

UNLV coach John Robinson said Sunday night that he would stick with his same offensive line starters for this weekend's ABC Regional broadcast game with Mountain West Conference-leading Air Force (3-0, 2-0) at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The line came under severe scrutiny following UNLV's 10-7 loss at BYU on Saturday. The blitzing Cougars front seven appeared to manhandle the Rebel offensive front most of the afternoon, finishing with four sacks and registering an amazing 12 tackles for lose.

"We're sticking with the same group of six or seven guys," Robinson said. "We just have to keep working and get better."

BYU's defensive front came up particularly big midway through the fourth quarter when it appeared UNLV might be on the verge of taking the lead.

Rebel quarterback Jason Thomas, who could be seen several times during the game huddling with his linemen on the sidelines, completed back-to-back passes of 26 yards to Nate Turner and 40 yards to tight end DeJhown Mandley to give UNLV a first-and-10 at the BYU 25.

But tailback Jeremi Rudolph, who suffered through a long day (minus 10 yards rushing on 11 carries), was tackled for a five-yard loss on the next play by Cougar defensive end Ryan Denney.

On the following play, Thomas, who probably saved UNLV at least another six sacks with his mobility, was tackled for a five-yard loss by blitzing Cougar linebacker Paul Walkenhorst.

Faced with a third-and-21 at the BYU 36, Thomas was sent running for his life again by a swarm of Cougar defenders while attempting to pass, finally getting sacked for a 13-yard loss.

With a little less than six minutes remaining and his team facing a fourth-and-34 at the BYU 49, Robinson sent Ray Cheetany in to punt with the hope the Rebels' bend-but-don't-break defense could get the ball back one more time. However, the Cougars, behind the strong running of sophomore tailback Luke Staley (career-high 167 yards on 28 carries) managed to churn out four first downs and ran out the clock.

"I think their defensive interior won the game for them," a dejected Thomas said afterward. "They were coming!"

After watching tapes of the games before Sunday night's short workout, starting center Pete Tramontanas came away believing most of the offensive line's blocking problems were more mental than physical.

"They didn't beat us, we beat outselves," Tramontanas said. "That's the hardest part to swallow. I know that we're the better team. But we were just a half-step behind on our assignments some of those plays.

"It was hard," Tramontanas continued. "There's 11 of us out on the field and each time it seemed to be a different breakdown."

Playing in front of over 40 friends and family from the Salt Lake City area, where Palepoi attended Hunter High School, the first team J.C. All-American from Dixie College in St. George, Utah, responded with five tackles and two quarterback sacks.

Sunia had eight tackles and two quarterback sacks at BYU. He injured the knee on a play in the first quarter but continued to play.

The previous low was 27 points in a 27-0 loss in 1982.