By Ryan Greene

Sat, Sep 6, 2008 (2:42 a.m.)

Omar Clayton passed the first test.

But if, for comparison's sake, last week's 27-17 win against Utah State was a pop quiz, this week's road opener at Utah is a legitimate midterm exam.

The sophomore quarterback, who was 17 of 29 for 192 yards, three scores and no picks in his fourth career start, is taking his starting gig on the road for the first time. And today's tilt at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City should show what both he and the Rebels are really made of.

"The biggest thing I'm looking forward to, as a team, is we have an opportunity to play against a team that's ranked high nationally," Clayton said of the No. 22 Utes. "So this is an opportunity to test our will against what's seen as some of the country's elite. It's a great challenge for our team, and we plan on winning the game, which would be great for us."

If Clayton sounds confident, it's because he has plenty of reason to be. Aside from the numbers he posted last weekend at Sam Boyd Stadium, he was in control of an offense that didn't turn the ball over once, and avoided drawing the pesky yellow flags.

Now he has the challenge of doing so against a different brand of defense. Utah, in its headline-making 25-23 win last week in Ann Arbor, Mich., held mighty Michigan to 36 rushing yards on 25 carries, plus forced coach Rich Rodriguez to play musical quarterbacks to try and generate some offense.

"They want to be able to come off a great win and stay focused," Clayton added. "We definitely want to be able to show up, play great and win a game. I think them coming off the win they had against Michigan, it definitely heightens the stage of the game."

Clayton facing new music is hardly the only story line heading into Saturday's Week Two showdown.

Reverse the ball, and UNLV's defense also faces a whole new type of challenge in comparison to last week.

In last season's shocking 27-0 shutout of Utah in Las Vegas, Utes quarterback Brian Johnson only played half the game. Having dealt with a series of injuries the past two years -- even missing the entire 2006 season -- Johnson now is utilized in a much different way.

Rather than using his feet often to pick up yardage, as once was the case, he's now morphed into an almost exclusive pocket passer.

The Rebels are taking notice.

"He's not the scrambler that we played last week," UNLV defensive coordinator Dennis Therrell said, referring to USU's Diondre Borel. "He kinda scrambles around to buy himself time to throw the football, but he's been hit two or three times and knows that their football season, if he goes down, is going to take a big turn, because their second quarterback is hurt right now. So if I'm their offensive coordinator, I'm going to protect him a little bit."

Johnson's backup, Corbin Louks, is questionable heading into Saturday with a shoulder injury. But outside of that, the Utah offense more healthy than it's been in quite some time. On top of Johnson's current condition, starting tailback Matt Asiata, who broke his leg in last year's opener, makes his long-awaited Rice-Eccles debut this weekend.

The home atmosphere Saturday for Utah also plays into another major theme heading in -- Utah's want for revenge.

Some of the Utes have hinted through the local media this week the importance of this game not just for potential BCS purposes this winter, but also to exact some payback on UNLV for snapping their 11-game win streak a year ago.

"I think revenge is something that happens when games take place like the one last year," UNLV coach Mike Sanford said. "We've got to match their intensity, come in there and expect a fired up team and be the same way."