Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2005 | 8:25 a.m.
This is where Mike Sanford will earn his salary.
After three consecutive road losses and four in five games to start the season, the first-year UNLV head football coach will spend the remainder of the season attempting to ensure his players don't give up.
So far, so good -- even in Saturday's 42-17 Mountain West Conference loss at Wyoming, Sanford said.
"We wanted to evaluate, in a game like that, if guys kept playing (and) if they kept competing, and we looked at it very closely and evaluated it very closely, and we had nobody that quit," Sanford said.
"What we've got to do is ... continue to teach them what it takes to win and how you win. That's (going to be) an ongoing thing because in that game, we did a lot of things not to win and dug ourselves a hole."
Wyoming jumped to a 42-3 lead before the Rebels scored two late touchdowns against the Cowboys' second-string defense. The Rebels' defense is allowing an average of 30 points through the first five games, and Sanford said he is hopeful that playing three of the next four games at home might be a partial cure for what ails his team.
"It has been a grind," he said of playing four of the first five games on the road. "It has been hard, and the trips have been hard ... they've all been draining trips. We're at home (this weekend) ... and it's good to be home, and we're going to use that as a positive."
UNLV (1-4 overall, 0-2 in the conference) hosts San Diego State (2-3, 1-1) at noon Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium.
JJ'S PLAY 'OK'
Sanford said he saw some "positive" signs in the play of quarterback Jarrod Jackson, who made his first Division I-A start Saturday against Wyoming and completed 26 of 48 pass attempts for 229 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
"I thought Jarrod Jackson played very effectively, (and) I thought he showed excellent leadership for our offense and for our team," Sanford said. "Looking at his performance, I wouldn't say I was pleased, I thought it was positive -- I would be pleased if we won. But I thought he did a lot of good things."
That said, Sanford pointed to a Jackson interception in the second quarter as the turning point -- at least from a psychological standpoint.
Backed up to his own goal line, Jackson's short pass to Donell Wheaton was picked off by Wyoming cornerback Derrick Martin and returned for a 10-yard touchdown that gave the Cowboys a 21-3 lead with eight minutes remaining in the half.
"Obviously, the interception for a touchdown was a negative," Sanford said. "I think the timing of that was a big deflator for our team."
Jackson was making his first start in place of Shane Steichen, who underwent surgery last week for a broken ring finger on his left (non-throwing) hand. Steichen is expected to be out 4-6 weeks, Sanford said.
ALSO NOTED:
San Diego State holds an 8-6 lead in the series with UNLV after its 21-3 victory in San Diego last November in John Robinson's final game as the Rebels' head coach.
Saturday's game will be televised live locally on KFBT Channel 33 (Cox cable 6).
The Rebels are off to a 1-4 start for the third time in five years.
After opening the season with losses to UCLA, Air Force and Ohio State, San Diego State beat San Jose State (52-21) two weeks ago and is coming off a 31-10 victory against BYU.
Sophomore running back Lynell Hamilton paced the Aztecs with 161 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries against BYU.
San Diego State boasts two players and one staff member with ties to Southern Nevada. Offensive linemen Mike Kravetz (Durango High) and Brandyn Dombrowski (Green Valley High) played their high school ball here, and Steve Irvin, SDSU's assistant director of football operations, lettered for the Rebels at linebacker in 1998.
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