LOOKING IN ON: UNLV FOOTBALL

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2006 | 7:17 a.m.

Barring a last-minute Hail Mary, UNLV's third consecutive football game will not be televised in Las Vegas when it plays at Hawaii on Saturday.

While UNLV head coach Mike Sanford is trying to remain positive about the Mountain West Conference's television deal with CSTV, a subsidiary of CBS, he anticipates that his team's lack of presence on television will have an effect on recruiting.

"I think, temporarily, yes, it's hurting us in recruiting, but I think long term (the TV package is) going to be a great thing," he said.

Because the conference's TV partner, CSTV, owns the rights to UNLV's games but does not have a deal in place with Cox Cable in Las Vegas, the university has been unable to arrange for local telecasts of the Rebels' first two games.

Ditto for Saturday's game, which will be televised on pay-per-view cable in Hawaii, unless negotiations between CSTV and Cox Cable produce a deal today.

The subject of the Rebels' television situation has not yet come up when he has been dealing with potential recruits, Sanford said, but it's only a matter of time before it does.

"Non-Mountain West Conference schools that we compete against in recruiting (will bring it up) without a doubt because people are going to use negative things in recruiting," he said. "It has not come up so far - but it will."

Still, Sanford said, the long-term benefits of being aligned with CSTV and having a spinoff network - the mtn. - dedicated to the Mountain West Conference outweigh the current inconvenience of not having his team's games on TV.

"Ideally, we'd like to be on TV but I think this whole CSTV/mtn. thing is a long-term commitment and we're in the adjustment phase of it all; we're not where it's going to be," he said.

"I think it's very much like the whole ESPN thing when it was in its early years as far as being able to get it on TV. I think, just because of the backing of CBS, that whole thing is going to end up being a really good thing."

As it stands now - again, barring a last-minute deal between CSTV/the mtn. and Cox Cable - only one UNLV football game (Nov. 4 at home against Texas Christian University) is scheduled to be televised in Las Vegas - on the Outdoor Life Network. To further confuse matters, OLN will change its name to Versus on Sept. 25.

Seven other UNLV games, including the Sept. 30 game against UNR at Sam Boyd Stadium, are scheduled to be shown on the mtn. - a channel that is not offered on DirecTV, the Dish Network or Cox Cable.

Answering critics

Sanford used his luncheon Tuesday with local media to respond to criticism that he and his team looked "desperate" during a 16-10 loss at Iowa State on Saturday.

"We, philosophically, are going to be different than most normal football teams," Sanford said. "We're going to go for it on fourth down more than most people do, and we're going to be a very aggressive team.

"It's a very non-NFL, very nonclose-to-the-vest mentality but I want to be on the cutting edge as far as being aggressive. We're not going to be the No Fun League."

No swimming allowed

Sanford said he would give his players some time to enjoy the island of Oahu on Friday morning - with certain restrictions.

"No (swimming in the) ocean," Sanford said. "New Mexico State almost lost a guy in the ocean when they went over there."

The Rebels will be staying at the Turtle Bay Resort on the north end of the island, where, Sanford said, the ocean's undercurrents can be dangerous.

Number of players from Nevada on Hawaii's roster (Joshua Rice, a redshirt freshman linebacker from Coronado H.S.)

2-6

UNLV's record against Hawaii in games played in Honolulu

Number of consecutive road losses for UNLV