Rebels unable to solve Utes QB

Nick Christensen

Monday, Oct. 20, 2003 | 10:41 a.m.

Editor's note:The key matchup of each UNLV football game will be previewed in the Las Vegas Sun this season, and followed up after the game by an examination of how it turned out.

Coming into Saturday's critical conference matchup with Utah, the UNLV defense was focused on Utes running back Brandon Warfield.

Perhaps a bit too focused.

While holding the Mountain West's rushing leader to "just" 96 yards, 61 of which came in the second half, the Rebels apparently had no idea about the mobility of Utah quarterback Alex Smith.

"Their quarterback mystified us," UNLV coach John Robinson said as he was leaving the stadium Saturday. "We had to make adjustments, but the adjustments we made didn't get it done."

Smith ran for a career-high 97 yards this weekend in Utah's 28-10 romp against UNLV. The net total actually was deceiving UNLV recorded three sacks on Smith, costing the Utes and Smith 34 more rushing yards.

That much success against the UNLV defense meant that Warfield's offensive role went from focal point to protector.

"Running the quarterback gives us an extra blocker," Utes coach Urban Meyer said. "Alex was running well the whole game."

"The offensive line played great," Smith said. "With Warfield running the ball hard all day, the defense keyed on him, and that opened up room for me to run."

Warfield said it was no surprise that Smith was able to make the plays he did.

"On some of the plays, when I read the plays, the quarterback took the ball," Warfield said. "He just took the ball and ran with it. He had success and kept doing it. Whatever works, we go with it."

The struggling UNLV offense didn't help their defense much, either. The Rebels defense was on the field 13 minutes more than the offense, surely worn out by only getting 23 minutes of rest during game time.

Warfield said he sensed UNLV's exhaustion, particularly when their backs were to the goal line.

"In the red zone, it felt like they laid down, they backed off," Warfield said. "It happened every time in the red zone, so we just kept pounding it in."

Warfield scored two touchdowns in the game, and Utah scored every time they made it past the UNLV 20-yard line.

Rebels linebacker Ryan Claridge disagreed with Warfield's assessment.

"I don't think so, I don't think we were anywhere near worn out," Claridge said. "I know nobody gives up on the defense. We might make mistakes."

Call them mistakes or missed opportunities, but some of Smith's longest runs were on blitzes he managed to elude.

But on the bright side for UNLV's defense was their handling of Warfield. Even with their fatigue and having to extend their coverage to include Smith, Warfield's 96 yards was well below his season average of 122 yards.

"Sometimes I got down a little bit," Warfield said. "I was up and down, but I tried to fight through it, and I got some first downs when we needed it."