UNLV couldn’t run vs. Utah

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Nov. 5, 2001 | 9:34 a.m.

Greg Hulett grimaced as he took off a brace from his injured right knee. But the senior offensive guard, who started in UNLV's 42-14 loss to Utah despite tearing a ligament only a week earlier, was really hurt when he heard the Rebels' final rushing totals in Saturday's home finale at Sam Boyd Stadium.

UNLV, which entered the game ranked fourth in the nation among the 117 Division I-A teams in rushing offense with an average of 250.1 yards per game, finished with just 38 yards on 26 attempts in the loss to the Utes.

"That's ridiculous," a stunned Hulett said. "I don't even know what to say. I'm completely speechless.

"Obviously, we didn't do our job. Obviously, it's not the way to end your season year at home. If our guys coming back need any motivation with running or summer conditioning next year, they can just pull out this tape."

Although Utah entered the game ranked second in the Mountain West Conference in run defense allowing just 110.7 yards per game on the ground, Hulett and UNLV's veteran offensive line felt they were more than ready to meet the challenge.

"Coming in I thought we could run on them," Hulett said.

Senior center Peter Tramontanas said Utah surprised the Rebels with a few new defensive wrinkles.

"They were slanting and doing different blitzes we hadn't seen from them before," he said. "Before, they had played everybody pretty much straight up. They just got us."

The Rebels will need to fix their offensive line problems quickly. Next up is New Mexico on Saturday in Albuquerque. Rocky Long's Lobos lead the MWC in run defense allowing just 80.9 yards per game. Then its off to Air Force and a defensive line that Fisher DeBerry was touting as potentially his best ever before the season.

"We've got two more tough games against two more tough opponents," Hulett said. "Obviously, we're going to drop (in the national rushing statistics). Hopefully we can get back in the top 10 and get Joe (Haro) over 1,000 yards."

UNLV dropped to 12th nationally in rushing with a 226.56 average as Haro, slowed by back spasms, was limited to 11 carries for 34 yards.