Rebels leave a mistaken impression

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2004 | 10:09 a.m.

UNLV head coach John Robinson had a simple message for his team in the locker room after Sunday night's 42-17 loss at 14th-ranked Tennessee.

"I told them (not to) feel sorry for yourselves for more than a half-hour because you've got to do it again next week," Robinson said. "Which we will.

"I like our football team. ... I think this football team has some substances that I like. Obviously we've got more potential offensively than we have had in the past and I think that will begin to show."

The Rebels (0-1), playing before a school-record crowd of 108,625 at noisy Neyland Stadium, appeared to be their own worst enemies at times Sunday.

Defensive coordinator Mike Bradeson counted at least 30 missed tackles while going over the game film on Monday. Tennessee finished with 513 yards in total offense including 272 yards rushing.

"I don't ever remember us having that many (missed tackles)," Bradeson said.

Senior outside linebacker Reggie Butler, shaking his head, said: "We missed a lot of tackles ... a lot of tackles. If we make 90-percent of those tackles that we missed, it's a different game."

There was plenty of blame to pass around.

The Rebels' offense managed just a field goal on three first-half possessions in the red zone, including a costly fumble by tailback Dominique Dorsey at the Vols' 5-yard line. Another drive into Tennessee territory also came up empty when quarterback Kurt Nantkes misread coverage and threw an interception right at free safety Corey Campbell, who was standing by himself on the UT 16.

The halftime score was 21-3 but the Rebels easily could have been within a point without all the miscues.

"We moved the ball well," Nantkes, who completed 13 of 24 passes for 175 yards, said. "We just have to do a better job of finishing those drives. That's part of being a good offense, being able to finish drives. You get the ball in the red zone, you've got to score. It could have been a much closer game if we had."

Robinson said: "They were coming at us and I don't know if we could have stopped them. But we certainly would have kept them in check (without the turnovers)."

UNLV's defense, which led the Mountain West Conference with 35 takeaways last season, managed just one against the Vols as senior linebacker Ryan Claridge extended his MWC record with a 10th forced fumble in his career. All-American safety Jamaal Brimmer finished with 11 tackles and a sack but dropped a potential interception before another Tennessee touchdown.

"We didn't cause enough turnovers on defense," Butler said. "That's our thing ... we cause turnovers. We only got one. When we get four or five takeaways in a game, we win. We just have to go back and retool."

Butler was excited about the performance of his roommate, Dorsey, who juked-and-jived his way to 121 yards rushing on just 18 carries (6.7 avg.) and finished with 230 all-purpose yards against a top-notch SEC defense.

"Our offense could have had 30 points tonight," Butler said. "If you look around (the locker room) there aren't too many heads hung because we know this is a good building point for us. The offense leaves here knowing they can move the ball against a good SEC defense. I mean, they had two great linebackers out there."

"The game's over and we can't feel sorry for ourselves," Claridge said. "We've got to get ready for the future. Everybody knows that. It was one loss. We've got to let it roll off our backs and go on to the next game."

Or, in other words, On (to) Wisconsin.

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