Air Force QB takes off

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Sept. 17, 2004 | 10:21 a.m.

Saturday's UNLV-Air Force game, the first Mountain West Conference game of the season, will be the 10th meeting between the schools. Air Force leads the series, 6-3.

1981-H...UNLV, 24-21

1996-H...AF, 65-17

1997...AF, 25-24

1998-H...AF, 52-10

1999...AF, 35-16

2000-H...UNLV, 34-13

2001...UNLV, 34-10

2002-H...AF, 49-32

2003...AF, 24-7

H -- UNLV home game

As if the UNLV Rebels needed any extra motivation for Saturday night's Mountain West Conference opener against Air Force at Sam Boyd Stadium, Falcons freshman quarterback Shaun Carney gave John Robinson's squad a little bulletin board fodder to contemplate.

Carney, the first true freshman to start a season opener at quarterback in school history, called out the Rebels defense during his weekly teleconference on Monday.

Said Carney: "If we can stop UNLV from scoring once, that's all we need. We're confident we can score on them every time."

Ouch!

News of Carney's comments, which also appeared in a college football column in the Deseret News in Salt Lake City on Thursday morning, brought more than a few raised eyebrows from UNLV defenders after practice at Rebel Park.

"Whoa!" said All-American safety Jamaal Brimmer with a smile. "That will be interesting to see how that works out."

Outside linebacker Reggie Butler added: "I guess that's lofty thinking on his part. To have somebody come out and say that they're going to score on us every time they touch the ball, it's kind of insulting."

Kind of?

"I mean, I think if you watched our last two performances (against Tennessee and Wisconsin), you can tell we have a pretty good defense," Butler said. "The more I think about it, the more upset it gets you. But I'm not going to get too upset and let it affect my game."

Besides, the Rebels were well focused on Saturday night's conference opener well before Carney's comments made their way around the locker room.

"It's a must-win game for us," said sophomore quarterback Shane Steichen, who learned before practice on Thursday that he will make the third start of his college career. "It's crucial."

UNLV (0-2) has not won a conference opener since 1995 when it was still competing in the Big West Conference. It has also lost two in a row to Fisher DeBerry's Falcons (1-1) including a 24-7 setback last season in Colorado Springs.

"Oh-and-1 makes you urgent, oh-and-two makes you real urgent, oh-and-3 is a different word," Robinson said. "Every game is important. When the season is over I suppose you can look back and probably identify one game that was more important than the other. But when you're going in, every game is important."

DeBerry said: "It is a very, very important game for both teams."

While Carney's comments focused the pregame attention on UNLV's veteran defense, the key to the game may be how well Air Force's young defense, which returns just three starters, handles the Rebels' offense.

Air Force allowed 573 yards in total offense in a season-opening 56-14 dismantling by No. 13 Cal. The Falcons bounced back with a 42-20 victory against Eastern Washington last week but still surrendered 413 total yards to the Division I-AA Eagles, including 293 yards passing and three touchdowns by EWU quarterback Erik Meyer.

Meyer told the Colorado Springs Gazette afterward that it was clear from watching film that the Falcons' secondary could be exploited.

"We thought we would be able to move the ball on them in the air," Eagles coach Paul Wulff said. "We thought we could throw the ball, and we thought we could run the ball."

DeBerry said: "At the beginning of the year you've got to be patient with this team. You look up there and see how many guys are playing for the first time. As they play, they are going to get better but we've got to learn to play with intensity and that's what it's going to take."

Steichen, for one, thinks the Falcons defense is better than it has shown so far.

"They run a good scheme on defense and bring a lot of blitzes," he said. "But I think we'll be ready."