LOOKING IN ON: UNLV FOOTBALL

Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006 | 7:50 a.m.

Keeping hope, confidence alive

Coming off blowout losses at Hawaii and at home to rival UNR, UNLV's football team begins conference play this weekend with plenty of optimism but not much certainty.

Head coach Mike Sanford said his team is capable of playing better - on both sides of the ball - than it has while getting waxed 73-16 in its past two outings.

But he's not counting on it.

"I would say there are two different words: There's confidence and there's hope," Sanford said when asked whether he had seen his team do enough good things to give him a sense of confidence as the Rebels prepare for the Mountain West Conference schedule.

"I would say that confidence is something you build based on history and doing things. I do believe there's a ton of hope because I think we have a lot of really good players on this team. I think we're a better team tha n what we're playing - and I know because I've seen it. It just hasn't shown up the last two games."

UNLV (1-3) travels to Colorado State (3-1) on Saturday in the conference opener for both schools. Sanford said the key this week - and for the remainder of the season - will be to get his players to play with the discipline they showed in the first two games of the season.

While some observers singled out the Rebels' offensive line for its poor play in a 31-3 loss to UNR last weekend, Sanford said there is plenty of blame to go around.

"I don't think the story is that the offensive line is not playing well; I do think the story is that individual people on offense - and that includes every position - are breaking down, individually, while 10 other guys are doing the right thing," he said. "I can't give you a percentage of the plays, but we have 10 guys doing it right and one guy doing it wrong and we've got to get 11 guys collectively doing it right all the time.

"I think some people could say, 'Well, your defense did good except for a few plays.' Well, 'except for a few plays' makes a huge difference, so our defense is not playing the way we can play."

In an attempt to correct some of those problems, Sanford said, he is trying to foster more competition for starting positions at a variety of positions.

"Competition is the only thing that breeds improvement, and our deal now is we've got to improve," he said.

Sanford said his intention is to keep Rocky Hinds as his starting quarterback, but said that would be a "continuous evaluation process" throughout the season.

Aguayo to be limited

Junior placekicker Sergio Aguayo will be limited to point-after kicks and field goals for the remainder of his career at UNLV and no longer will be used on kickoffs, Sanford said Tuesday.

Aguayo tore two ligaments in his left (kicking) knee while trying to make a tackle on a kickoff in the Rebels' season opener against Idaho State. Aguayo elected to put off surgery until after the season, rehabilitated the knee for four weeks and returned last Saturday against UNR.

Sanford said freshman walk-on Ben Jaekle from Bonanza High would continue to handle kickoffs for the Rebels this season.

"There's no point, with a guy with that much talent, who's kind of an excitable guy and wants to get into the middle of the fracas," Sanford said in explaining why he would no longer allow Aguayo to handle kickoffs.

Colorado State's national ranking in total defense (233.25 yards allowed per game)

102

UNLV national ranking in total defense (396 yards allowed per game)