Robinson vows to shed his conservative ways on offense

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Oct. 27, 2003 | 10:13 a.m.

Frustrated with UNLV's lack of offense lately? You're not alone.

Following their third consecutive loss, a bitter 27-20 overtime defeat to BYU on Saturday afternoon at Sam Boyd Stadium, Rebel head coach John Robinson has vowed to open things up during the final four games of the season.

"We've become too conservative," Robinson said during his team's brief practice on Sunday night at Rebel Park. "Earlier in the year we were playing with leads and protecting them, controlling the clock and all. Now we find ourselves not free-wheeling at all.

"We've got to let it go ... go after it a little more."

Robinson wasn't prepared to say what kind of changes would be made in that regard although he was referring more to the offensive gameplan and play calling than the status of starters like quarterback Kurt Nantkes.

"It's still Sunday night," he said. "But if you're looking at an evaluation of what we're doing, we're not challenging the defense enough."

Part of the problem has been that with Nantkes struggling passing the ball in recent games -- he completed just 14 of 35 passes for 161 yards against BYU -- the Rebels have had to focus more on running the football.

"It's kind of a Catch-22 situation," Robinson said. "The games have all been close and we've kind of been sitting there saying don't screw this up. We've allowed ourselves to become too conservative.

"I thought it was tough (Saturday). The defense let (BYU) go down and score at the end. But we also let the ball go (on another fumbled snap by Nantkes) on their 6-yard line. And we didn't do a good job of converting points off of their turnovers. We've got to start attacking more."

Does that mean different plays and formations?

"Just letting it go," Robinson said.

As for any changes being made at quarterback, forget it. Even though the Rebels rank just 90th nationally in passing offense with an average of 183.63 yards per game through the air, it is highly unlikely Robinson would be willing to take the redshirt off promising true freshman backup Shane Steichen this late in the season. And backups Scott Turner and Tyler Arciaga haven't been nearly as impressive as Nantkes in practices.

"Our best solution is for (Nantkes) to get us going," Robinson said.

There is some hope around the Rebels that UNLV's final touchdown drive against BYU, which concluded with a nice 22-yard touchdown pass from Nantkes to Earvin Johnson, may be a sign of better things to come.

"Everybody believes in each other," linebacker Reggie Butler said. "We have a real tight bond and everybody is sticking together. We have four victories that (Nantkes) has obviously contributed in. How can you not back a man that helped your team get to four victories? If you go back to that first game against Toledo, he just picked them apart.

"It's been a combination of things lately. I think Kurt's a good player. I think all the players on our team think he's a good player. I think all our backup quarterbacks believe he's a good player. But when you lose, people usually point first at the quarterback and then the coach. That's just the way it is. You can point fingers at everybody, but we lost as a team."

"I think the character of this team is the best of any I've been on," added linebacker Adam Seward. "I think we'll all stick together through this whole thing.

"We're still 4-4," Seward continued. "It's not like we're 0-8 and totally in the hole. We still have a decent chance to go to a bowl game. That's what we're shooting for. And the only way we can do that is to continue to come out and play hard and stick together."

Good news on the injury front. Starting outside linebacker Reggie Butler, who missed the second half of the BYU game with what was first believed to be a potentially serious hamstring injury, was feeling much better on Sunday and says he expects to play at New Mexico. "I'm going this week," Butler said. "There's no way I'm not going (to play) this week. We've got to go out and get a (win)." Starting corner Willie Tagoai, who has missed four games with a knee injury, participated in Sunday's light workout but probably is still a week away according to trainer Kyle Wilson. ... New Mexico opened as a 7 1/2-point favorite against the Rebels on Sunday night at the Stardust.