UNLV hoping past lessons pay off at BYU

Associated Press / FILE PHOTO

UNLV receiver Phillip Payne celebrates with receivers coach Kris Cinkovich, right, and teammate David Peeples, center, after Payne scored a touchdown against Arizona State earlier in the season. The Rebels are hoping for similar success over another ranked foe on Saturday when they travel to BYU.

By Ryan Greene (contact)

Friday, Oct. 24, 2008 | 5:46 p.m.

Two ranked opponents in two straight weeks. It's two weeks of the UNLV football team probably being a double-digit underdog and two weeks of hearing why it can't win either contest.

Sound familiar? It should. Because as the Rebels get set to face No. 18 BYU and No. 15 TCU back-to-back, it conjures up a few memories of the preparation for this season's second and third games, which involved trips to face then-No. 22 Utah and then-No. 15 Arizona State, respectively.

OK, so it's not exactly the same situation.

But lessons learned from that earlier swing -- in which the Rebels surprised many by pulling off a split -- also apply this time around.

"I'd just say the biggest difference is being game-tested," sophomore quarterback Omar Clayton said. "I don't see a difference in our focus, goals or attitude so much. But we've been through games, know what to expect in crunch time and I feel like we do a good job of putting up points when they're needed. Every possession this week will count, so from an offensive standpoint I would say value in each possession that we get."

Getting those quality offensive drives will be easier for UNLV (3-4 overall, 0-3 Mountain West) on this second trip to Utah compared to the first visit. No matter how loud LaVell Edwards Stadium (capacity 64,045) gets on Saturday, the Rebels feel like their issues in dealing with crowd noise were taken care of after their 42-21 loss to the Utes on Sept. 6.

In the week following that game, before heading to Tempe, the coaching staff piped in crowd noise during practice at Rebel Park to shake out any remaining jitters and confusion. The next Saturday, UNLV upset Arizona State in overtime, 23-20. The same preparation was done this Thursday.

"When you don't have to deal with it and then you step on the field and you can't hear anything, that's a big problem with communication," Clayton said. "After that, we got it straightened out in practice and it wasn't even a factor at ASU."

More of what UNLV will need to focus on at BYU (6-1, 2-1) involves the technical aspects of slowing down one of the nation's most high-powered offenses.

Despite falling to TCU in embarrassing fashion, 32-7, the Cougars still posted about 300 yards of total offense against the nation's top-ranked defense. BYU ranks 24th in the nation in total offense, averaging 430.4 yards per game. They're 26th in scoring offense, posting an average of 33.4 points on the board each week.

Quarterback Max Hall (2,119 yards, 20 touchdowns) and receiver Austin Collie (53 receptions, 789 yards, 8 touchdowns) have formed the most dangerous connection in the Mountain West, while the Cougars are more than capable of getting it done on the ground behind sophomore Harvey Unga. He's looking to break out after being held to a modest 53 yards on the ground against TCU.

The great unknown in this game is just how BYU will respond to having its BCS dreams almost completely torn up midway through the season.

That offense, though, won't be welcoming for a UNLV team that has surrendered 500-plus yards of total offense in three straight games (all losses).

One area worth pinpointing within the defensive struggles is the lack of takeaways. The Rebels have not picked off an opposing quarterback since Beau Orth did so at Arizona State, and rank 115th out of 119 FBS teams with just six turnovers gained this year.

On the fumble front, you can argue that some bounces just haven't gone UNLV's way. Opponents have coughed it up 11 times, but the Rebels have only recovered three of them. The three interceptions, though? A lot of that stems from getting pressure on the quarterback, and UNLV ranks 93rd in the country in quarterback takedowns.

The defense hasn't necessarily been the consistent complement it's needed to be to an offense that typically puts three or four touchdowns on the board. And TCU made clear what has to be done to get the best of BYU, and that's force turnovers. Four of the Cougars' 13 giveaways this season came in that game alone (two fumbles, two picks).

"It's been frustrating," defensive tackle Malo Taumua said. "It's all we've been working on all spring, all summer, and I've only got to the quarterback once, and that was last week.

"I know TCU beat them with speed. You need speed to beat BYU. They're big, they're strong, so you need speed."

That all sounds familiar, as many of the same things were being said about Arizona State not too long ago: high-powered offense, tough road atmosphere, big, strong and fast.

"There were some things that we learned at Utah that helped us at Arizona State, and then I think there's some things that we learned from both of those that will help us going into BYU," UNLV coach Mike Sanford said. "I would say that we are excited about going in there, and at the same time we know it's gonna be a huge challenge."