Mondays with Mike: They get no regards

By Ryan Greene

Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008 | 2:10 a.m.

Between Omar Clayton coming back from some brutal shots and the UNLV offense clawing its way to a fourth quarter lead last Saturday at BYU, it was easy for one element of the success to get lost in the mix.

The line -- typically the most overlooked piece of any offense -- kept Clayton relatively clean and allowed him plenty of time to rack up 321 yards through the air.

The play in the trenches has been solid all year, but has gotten a boost in recent weeks with junior Joe Hawley now playing more at center as opposed to guard.

"That's a good line when (John Gianninoto) is playing the center and Hawley's playing guard," Sanford said. "The thing it allows you to do when Joe goes to center is you can have Sifa Moala and Johan (Asiata) in the game at the same time (at the guard spots). When Joe plays guard, only one of those guys can play.

Sanford said Hawley will continue to be the team's primary center.

That protection of Clayton will probably be the main focus this week as UNLV welcomes No. 12 TCU to Sam Boyd Stadium for a 5 p.m. kickoff Saturday evening.

The Horned Frogs rank second in the nation in total defense, and much of that success has come from the ability to pressure opposing quarterbacks into taking sacks and making bad throws. Just two weeks ago, TCU handed BYU its lone loss of the season by picking off QB Max Hall twice and getting in his kitchen the entire game. The Horned Frogs lead the MWC this season with 35 quarterback sacks.

"They're very fast and they're very good," Sanford said. "I think what (TCU coach Gary Patterson) does is he recruits the best athletes and puts a lot of them on defense. Not all of them, but a lot of them. Most of their defensive ends are former running backs and they do a good job. You look at their depth, and that's where we're trying to get to."

But Sanford said there's no quarterback he'd rather have face the challenge this weekend than the one he's currently running out there.

"I think any quarterback I think in the country that plays against this defense is at risk, but we're gonna play our game," he said. "I think Omar, my beliefe is after watching what happened Saturday and how he came back, he's the toughest quarterback that I've been around in my coaching career. And I wouldn't pick any other quarterback in the country."

Injury updates ...

Sophomore middle linebacker Ronnie Paulo (sprained ankle), who is second on the team in tackles this season, made the trip to BYU but did not play. His status for this weekend is still up in the air.

"We won't be able to know exactly how he is until tomorrow and Wednesday," Sanford said.

The same goes for freshman safety Beau Orth, who did not make the trip to Provo with an ankle injury of his own.

Right tackle Evan Marchal is probable. He played every snap of the BYU game on a -- you guessed it -- sprained ankle.

Run, run, run ...

The Rebels have continued to develop new wrinkles in the run game in recent weeks.

Against Air Force, it was freshman C.J. Cox rushing for 60 yards and a score in his first extended action at UNLV. Last weekend it was freshman wideout Michael Johnson gaining 41 yards on speed sweeps and one direct snap.

Plus there's still senior Frank Summers in the mix. The Rebels' short-yardage specialist leads the team this season with 615 yards on the ground.

"Obviously Frank is our senior and our 'bell cow' as they say, but I think it makes him better when you have another guy that's as good as C.J. is," Sanford said.

And plan on seeing both against the Mountain West's top run defense, which allows just 31.2 yards per game.

"I think you've got to run the ball," he said. "In order to win, you've got to be able to run the ball. We're too early in our game-planning process to be accurate in how much we'll run versus pass, but I think you've got to run to win."

As for Johnson ...

Don't think that Johnson taking a direct snap, such as the one he did before running for a short gain Saturday, automatically means he'll run the ball.

"He was a high school quarterback, and he was a good high school quarterback," Sanford said of the Suisun, Calif., native. "We recruited him to be a receiver and a kick return, punt return guy. But he was dynamic as a runner as a quarterback, and he can throw too."

And more on Summers ...

Summers began seeing some time Saturday on kickoff coverage. Of course, if you're familiar with YouTube, Summers doing so is nothing new.

For now, though, it's more a situation of getting the best guys on the field, regardless of primary positions.

"He's one of our best football players - We're gonna utilize him," Sanford said. "And that's something we're gonna look this week at any way we can improve our special teams by putting better players on special teams not just for this week, but for the rest of the season. What happens this time of year is you start getting thinned out at your depth and sometimes you play some guys that aren't ready to play on special teams, and you've got to play the best guys.

"It's interesting. Going into the season that was a big thing, that a lot of our leaders wanted to be on special teams, and we did it with some guys and then other guys we decided to hold off a little bit. But Ryan Wolfe's been on the kickoff team all year. He's kind of a safety. Because he's one of our best football players."

So much nail biting ...

Five of UNLV's eight games so far this season have come down to the final drive or overtime in terms of deciding the outcome.

The last three games have fallen under that category, and none of them have panned out in the Rebels' favor.

But there is certainly some positive to draw from it, according to Sanford.

"I think it forces us to learn to play in those situations and to learn about those situations, because we've had a lot of opportunities to talk about how to deal with and how to play in those situations," he said. "And we had some success in two of them earlier in the year against Arizona State and Iowa State and I think the combination of the two having success and then having difficulty is great for our football team. Obviously I want to win every one of them, but it's better to be in those situations than other situations that I've been in here in the past."

Sanford was referencing in large part to an embarrassing 52-7 loss two seasons ago at BYU.

"Even though it's frustrating, I like a lot better being in a position where you're playing to win the game, rather than where we were two years ago."

It's that theory again ...

Some believe in the 'look ahead' theory, some don't.

If you're a UNLV fan, you can't help but think it has some validity this season. And with that said, the Rebels are taking it into account as they prepare to face TCU, who a week later will travel to take on No. 10 Utah with an inside track to a potential BCS berth on the line.

The obvious example of this benefiting UNLV earlier this season was in a 23-20 overtime victory against then-No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 13. At that time, many around the ASU program were already thinking about Georgia's trip to the desert a week later.

"I think that they thought we were an easy win, they were just going to show up and get ready for Georgia," Sanford said. "That was the attitude of the media, their fans and fortunately their team.

As for this week ...

"That game, obviously, that Utah-TCU game is huge for both teams," Sanford added. "To me, the big thing we've got to be concerned with is us and our preparation. But do I think that next week is a very important game to them and they're going to have some focus on it? Yes."