Sanford needs a loud alarm clock for Air Force game

Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2005 | 9:20 a.m.

Imagine trying to get a college student to wake up at 5:45 in the morning. On a Saturday.

Now imagine trying to wake up 65 student-athletes at that hour to prepare for a football game and you understand UNLV head coach Mike Sanford's dilemma this weekend.

Sanford and the Rebels travel to Colorado Springs for a 10 a.m. (MDT) Mountain West Conference game Saturday against Air Force. It will be the second time in seven games this season that the Rebels have had to play the role of early risers on the road.

"If I was to pick, it's not the ideal time, but it's because of television," Sanford said of the game that will be televised in Las Vegas beginning at 9 a.m. on KLAS Channel 8.

In an attempt to acclimate his players to the early start, Sanford said he would give them an early wake-up call on Friday morning. But the Rebels won't be able to practice Friday morning because of classes.

"We had an early kickoff against New Mexico (on Labor Day) ... (but) the thing that was different about that was that we had a weekend and we could control their environment; we practiced in the morning on Saturday and we got them up early on Sunday morning."

Sanford said Saturday's pregame ritual will consist of a 5:45 a.m. wake-up call, a team walk at 6 and pregame meal at 6:15.

"That's Mountain Time," Sanford pointed out, "so all that translates to 4:45, 5 and 5:15 (Pacific Time) on their bodies."

For the record, the Rebels lost their other morning game this season, 24-22 in Albuquerque.

BIG WIN

Sanford said it was impossible to overstate the importance of UNLV's 13-10 victory Saturday over San Diego State, which improved the Rebels' record to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the conference.

"It's huge for our confidence and our hope and expectations for the rest of the season," he said. "It comes at a really good time, too, because ... three out of the five remaining games are at home, which I think is a real plus.

"I think the big thing is that (the players) saw some results of playing hard and doing things right. There was some frustration there for a while, and it was great to see our defense play really hard and create as many problems as we did for San Diego State's offense."

ALSO NOTED:

* Rebels placekicker Sergio Aguayo and linebacker Beau Bell earned Mountain West Conference Player of the Week honors, the league announced Monday. Aguayo kicked two 52-yard field goals in the final 5:05 of the game Saturday against San Diego State, and Bell had three and a half quarterback sacks and a career-high 14 tackles against the Aztecs.

* Air Force (2-4, 1-3 in the conference) has lost four in a row after opening the season with victories over Washington and San Diego State.

* Air Force has won three consecutive games against UNLV, including a 27-10 decision last year at Sam Boyd Stadium, and holds a 7-3 lead in the series.

* UNLV's next home game, against Utah on Oct. 22, has been picked up by ABC and will start at 4 p.m.