No matter the source, a burning sensation

By Ron Kantowski

Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008 | 2 a.m.

You don’t have to listen carefully to Mike Sanford to pick up on the local theme of the 2008 college football season, which for UNLV begins tonight against Utah State at Sam Boyd Stadium.

There’s a sense of urgency about it.

Sanford seemingly can’t open his mouth without speaking those words. He speaks them so often you want to get him an antacid or a giant bottle of Pepto-Bismol to take care of it. Or three more Beau Bells.

During his 10-minute teleconference with Mountain West Conference media this week, he spoke them twice. But only once in the context of the Rebels.

When one of the Utah State beat reporters — I don’t think it was the one who referred to the Aggies as “us” — asked why the perennial Western Athletic Conference doormat was able to close last season with two wins after opening it with 10 losses, Sanford didn’t hesitate.

“I think they played with more of a sense of urgency,” he said.

Pass the Tums.

I don’t think “Sense of Urgency” is the Rebels’ official slogan this year, because if it were, they’d probably put it on a T-shirt and/or the cover of the media guide. All it says on the cover of the media guide is “UNLV FOOTBALL 2008.” In smaller type on top it says this is the 40th anniversary season, which suggests UNLV is counting the 23 seasons since Randall Cunningham left, only four of which have resulted in more wins than losses.

Come to think of it, they should have put “Sense of Urgency” on the cover of the media guide a long time ago.

So if it’s not a slogan, let’s just call it a catchphrase, and as far as catchphrases go, it’s certainly not as tiresome as “Where’s the Beef?” That could be the catchphrase by Week 3, if the Rebels’ offensive line can’t protect young quarterback Omar Clayton from those behemoths on the other side of the ball at Arizona State.

But maybe “sense of urgency” isn’t a catchphrase, either. Maybe it’s just a euphemism for “pressure,” because most of the time Sanford uses it, it’s when somebody “outside the program” asks whether he’s feeling any after guiding the Rebels to just six wins against 29 losses during his first three years.

This week, when somebody else outside the program — that darn Salt Lake media — asked if he was feeling pressure, Sanford said all he, his assistants and his players feel is self-induced.

I guess pressure is like cholesterol. Just as there is good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, there is good pressure and bad pressure. The good kind is self-induced. The bad kind is when the athletic director, your boss, says, “It’s time to win football games.”

That’s what Mike Hamrick said this week. And he’s inside the program, at least most of the time.

Hamrick may or may not be bluffing, because UNLV doesn’t have enough cash in the coffee can to fly to all of its road games, much less buy out coaches who make lots of money and still have one year remaining on their contract after this one.

But that’s what he said. And it was sort of refreshing to hear him say that instead of “it’s just a matter of time before the Rebels morph into Wake Forest,” which is what he usually says.

The Rebels should win the football game that will be played tonight, but don’t read too much into that. They are favored by 12 1/2 points. Palo Verde High could probably give Utah State a game. Plus, opening day is Sanford’s forte. He’s like Sandy Koufax on opening day. And like Anthony Young (1-16 for the ’93 Mets) after that.

Three years ago, UNLV nearly upset heavily favored New Mexico on Labor Day in Albuquerque. The next year, the Rebels turned Idaho State into mashed potatoes at home, 54-10. Last year, they won 23-16 at Utah State.

Yet, Sanford says there’s ... well, a sense of urgency, as the Rebels prepare to block and tackle a real live opponent — or at least one that’s breathing heavily — for the first time in a new season. I suppose there always is, which would explain why a team like Appalachian State is capable of beating a team like Michigan when it’s still hot outside.

Sanford says he believes the Rebels are a better football team, but that they need to start showing it on the field. That’s why he says tonight’s game against a program in worse shape than his is big, huge, crucial, significant, monumental, consequential, meaningful and momentous.

I agree.

But only if the Rebels lose.