Sam Morris

UNLV quarterback Mike Clausen finds some daylight during the game against New Mexico Saturday.

By Ryan Greene (contact)

Sun, Nov 9, 2008 (2:17 a.m.)

Should the UNLV football team be able to finish the season 6-6 a couple of weeks from now and obtain the ever-elusive bowl eligibility it craves, then you can rightfully say that Quinton Pointer made the play Saturday night in a 27-20 victory over New Mexico that saved the 2008 campaign.

With New Mexico already up 14-3 and driving to score again mid-way through the second quarter at Sam Boyd Stadium, the sophomore cornerback jumped a route on a trick play that involved Lobo receiver Bryant Williams throwing a pass back across the field to quarterback Brad Gruner. Pointer stepped in, recorded UNLV's first pick in 28 quarters and returned it 77 yards to the Lobos' 12-yard line.

The fact that his legs gave out and kept him from scoring was beside the point. It was the momentum-changing play -- and the first of several on the night -- that the Rebels had needed so badly on several occasions in recent weeks.

From that point on, UNLV (4-6 overall, 1-5 Mountain West) resembled the team that started the season 3-1, playing with swagger and, more importantly, an equal amount of productivity and reliability on both sides of the ball.

"It wasn't beautiful, it wasn't perfect, but they played hard and they kept playing," UNLV coach Mike Sanford said. "One of the things we talked about going into the game was we needed to keep playing and not try to figure out what was happening in the game, what was going on. Make up your mind that you're going to win it, and then do all the things you need to do to win and do it."

If that mentality wasn't showing early on, it certainly came on in full force following Pointer's game-changing moment.

The Rebels settled for a field goal after the interception, but then pulled to within a point at the half on a 10-yard connection between Mike Clausen and Rodelin Anthony.

Clausen, making his first career start in place of the injured Omar Clayton, got increasingly more comfortable and accurate as the game wore on, ultimately going 17-of-34 for 203 yards and two touchdowns. But even he can admit that a good amount of that relaxation came from knowing that the defense could make stops on a regular basis, which has been a sore spot all year for the Rebels.

Coming into Saturday's game, opponents had converted 44 percent of their third-down attempts against the UNLV defense. New Mexico only picked up three fresh sets of downs on 14 third down tries. The Rebels also made six tackles for a loss and got incredible penetration through the middle of the Lobos' offensive line on practically every snap. The most visible of them all was sophomore Malo Taumua, who had four tackles and two for losses.

"It was bringing momentum onto our side, knowing we can go down and score and they've got our backs," Clausen said. "It puts a lot of confidence in us. They played well, stopped them when we needed them to, then we got the ball back and just went out and handled business."

Clausen really began to find a groove in the second half, taking heed to the 'Just have fun' message former Rebel linebacker Beau Bell delivered to him just before the game. After completing just nine of his 23 pass attempts in the first 30 minutes, the southpaw quarterback came out of the locker room to go 8-of-11 in the final two frames.

"It wasn't perfect, but for a guy in his first start to lead us to a win, that's tremendous, and a lot of that has to do with that he wasn't a completely cold starter," Sanford said. "I talked to him at halftime, that he was all of a sudden becoming a veteran, and he became a veteran at halftime. He wasn't a rookie anymore."

Added Clausen: "I'm pretty sure if I hadn't ever played before, I'd go out tonight and the first half would have been completely different, as far as me getting acquainted with the game. But that experience before really helped a lot."

The play that required the most veteran savvy, coincidentally, was the one on which UNLV took its first lead of the game.

Trailing 17-13 in the third quarter, the Rebels faced a fourth-and-2 situation, with the ball at the Lobos' 4-yard line.

"We were torn between kicking a field goal and going for it," said Sanford, who called a timeout to mull the decision over. "To me, in a game like that, you just need to take some chances. We had some momentum there, and we have some plays that we like down there that we believe in that we believed we could execute.

"It was a staff decision. You've got to get wise counsel to make wise decisions."

Clausen was forced to improvise on the play, though. New Mexico brought a blitz, and on a whim, he flipped the ball to the flat on the right side, where Frank Summers awaited. The senior back out-ran a Lobo defender into the right corner of the end zone to help push UNLV ahead 20-17.

"Mike just did a great job of reading me and giving me a chance to make a play," Summers said. "I'm not even a read on that play. He just gave me the ball and let me make a play. That's all on Mike."

Even though the game came down to the closing minute, it was the Rebels' final score of the night, seven minutes after Summers' touchdown grab, that all but sealed things up.

UNLV brought the house on a New Mexico punt attempt with the score still at 20-17 early in the fourth quarter, and speedy freshman Deante Purvis was the first to reach Adam Miller, shooting the ball backward. After the Rebels played hot potato with it for a moment, Anthony scooped the ball and toted it the final 11 yards to pay dirt.

And just like that, new life has been pumped into the Rebels' 2008 season. An announced crowd of just 13,154 showed up Saturday, but there could be a few more warm bodies present on Thursday night, when the Rebels play their lone mid-week game of the regular season against Wyoming, who at 4-6 and coming off a shocking 13-7 win earlier in the day at Tennessee, has bowl aspirations of its own.

The Rebels, who entered the postgame locker room yelling 'It ain't over yet!', are well aware of that.

"(Saturday's win) means a lot, but it can't mean too much this week," Summers said. "We've just got to put this in the past, and just be thankful and blessed that we're still in a race to be where we want to be."