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Instant analysis: Despite loss, Hauck has Rebels headed in right direction
Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010 | 11:27 p.m.
Wisconsin vs. UNLV
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No. 12 Wisconsin defeats UNLV, 41-21, in the Rebels' season opener.
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Ryan Greene, Ray Brewer and Case Keefer talk about the highs and lows from UNLV's 41-21 setback against No. 12 Wisconsin to start both the 2010 football season and the Bobby Hauck era.
Next game
- Opponent: Utah
- Date: Sept. 11, 1 p.m.
- Where: Salt Lake City
- TV/Radio: The Mtn./ESPN 1100 AM
Players on the UNLV football team jogged onto the field at Sam Boyd Stadium 40 minutes before the start of their season opener against No. 12 Wisconsin, took their place on the north side of the field and began the pregame stretching routine.
The players took off their helmets and carefully placed them on the field line they were stretching in front of. All of the helmets where perfectly aligned.
Yes, everything first-year coach Bobby Hauck has installed in the program has a purpose behind it. One of his biggest messages since being hired last December is paying attention to detail — whether that’s keeping helmets in a line during warm-ups or executing a play during a crucial moment of the game.
That attention to detail can partially be credited to the Rebels staying competitive in the first half against the national respected opponent in a 41-21 defeat. There were few dumb mistakes — a staple of previous coach Mike Sanford’s five-year tenure — and the improvements were glaringly obvious.
Even though the Rebels gave up 24 unanswered points to open the second half, and the final score is definitely an eyesore, it was a small step in the right direction.
Those improvements start with Hauck’s obsession for the details.
Most of spring practice was spent making sure players knew where to be on the field and when to be there — something defensive back Will Chandler seemed to get right by stepping in front of a Wisconsin pass in the first half for an interception and returning it for a 19-yard touchdown.
UNLV was outgained 279-12 in the first half, yet only trailed 17-14 at halftime. They only got into positive yardage on Mike Clausen’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Phillip Payne with 1:08 to play in the half.
The excitement displayed by the players when they ran off the field for halftime hasn't been seen by the scarlet and gray in sometime. The players truly believed they belonged competing against the likes of Wisconsin.
While the excitement ultimately faded, and Hauck won’t be satisfied with a moral victory, the end result was a solid debut.
Here are some more observations from the game.
• Rush defense still a problem : Last year, the Rebels ranked No. 112 nationally out of 119 teams in run defense, allowing 220 rushing yards per game. They surrendered 278 rushing yards to Wisconsin, giving up 123 yards and two touchdowns to John Clay. Sure, Wisconsin has one of the nation’s best ground attacks, but similar results later in the season will continue to spell disaster.
• Establish the run : The Rebels only rushed the ball 27 times for 112 yards with more than half of the yards coming in the fourth quarter against Wisconsin's reserves. In the first half, each of UNLV’s three tailbacks — Channing Trotter, C.J. Cox and Bradley Randle — received one carry each. More times than not, football games are won by the team that best runs the ball. Wisconsin had 166 more rushing yards than UNLV — enough said.
• They didn’t break : You have to give credit where credit is due — the Rebels didn’t quit. And in past seasons, they would have surely rolled over after being physically outmatched and dominated in virtually every facet of the game in the first half. The two big defensive plays by Chandler gave the Rebels more than a spark, it gave them confidence for future games.
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Ray, were you at the game??
I want to be optimistic as well but there were times tonight when I thought Stanford was still on the sidelines.
We were definitely NOT ready for prime-time. Two fumble recoveries do not a game make.
We closely resembled a chorus line offense; 1-2-3-kick.
I am not giving up on them but what I saw at practices is sadly playing out.
btw, I could care less how NEAT their helmets looked.
Getalife: Wisconsin was too talented for UNLV, but you have to give the Rebels credit for not throwing in the towel. Last year's team would have lost by two more touchdowns.
I saw a lot to be encouraged about. You could tell before the game ever started that the Rebels were seriously overmatched physically. And yet, they held up pretty well against the run (the yardage total was as much on the offense as the defense). Their tackling was the best I've seen it in recent memory. And it was great to see Hauck in control on the sideline, instead of looking lost, like the previous coach.
Pass defense was disappointing, other than the two big turnovers. Offense was disappointing, though seemed to come to life when Clayton took over. I realize that coming from behind in a hurry up offense can make a QB look good, but Clausen showed me nothing. I think he may have already lost the job.
Make no mistake, this was going to be an ugly season, no matter who they hired, but I agree with Ray that Hauck has them headed in the right direction. (To focus on the helmet thing tells me you missed the point about attention to details.)
Start Omar, get Phillip Payne involved earlier than we did.
This was a better first game debut than Sanfords at New Mexico. That game was filled with undisciplined mistakes throughout to a team we were evenly matched with. This game was very unevenly matched talent wise and we had very few penalties and undiscplined mistakes in the game. We simply got ran over by some talented stampeding cattle.
Give Hauck time to change the culture and recruit players for his schemes. I see a difference in the culture already so give it some time. Hell we gave Sanford 5 years at least give Hauck a season or two to make a difference.
As long as we beat UNR, I will be happy. And from seeing how we played against Wisconsin, I firmly believe we can get the cannon back.
Agreed about getting the cannon back.
Payne is a beast. He's going to be playing on Sundays in another couple years. He reminds me of Randy Moss, but without the attitude. Not saying he'll turn out that good, but I see similarities in their style of play. So yeah, involve him early and often.
They should bronze this article as Exhibit A as to why the UNLV football program stinks.
Only a UNLV football beat writer can scrounge up silver linings from a 21-pt defeat that was actually much worse than the score indicated.
Seriously man...stop with the silver linings in blowout losses. There was NOTHING positive to take out of that game, other than the fact that it looks like we tackle a little better.
I am pretty sure that we could go back to 2004 and 2005 and find an article VERBATIM to this one about Sanford, and how he has the program going in the right direction, all of the same BS silver linings, etc.
I mean seriously, call it like it was - a terrible performance that was actually, surprisingly, two steps back from where we were with the Almighty Sanford running the show. That's a FACT. And that is terribly depressing considering we should have seen at least some tangible improvement.
JahReb-
It was 20 not 21. Apparently you didn't watch the Sanford led Rebels last year at UNR or you would not make the comments you did. If Sanford were coaching, Wisconsin would have piled up 400 yards rushing and the final would've been 63-21. Then you would really be fuming on here.
Truth is Wisconsin is really really good. I believe they are a little underrated at #12.
Good comments guys! We need more people with open minds to come out and back this team.
I was encouraged overall with the pass defense. Considering they had to load the box because of their imposing running game, the DBs did well with man to man coverage overall. Plus Chandler's read on the pick was all him and he played it perfectly.
When they average 330 across the O-Line and have a 260 lb half back, its hard to stop with a smaller-speed type defense, especially since we are not deep across the D line.
I thought Clausen looked rattled with his snaps, both Clayon and him missed open guys, but oMar seemed to be more under control. To be fair, they weren't blitzing Clayton as much
Cousin Ray
Are you sure that was the 2nd team D that Clayton was playing against? I remember checking Wisconsin's offense when our defense was doing better in the latter part of the second half and saw that Wisconsin still had its first team in. I thought I also checked their D but could be wrong.
There is optimism but still a lot to be worried about with this team. I still believe Hauck is the right coach for the job it is just this team cannot play smash mouth football. The rebs o-line is soft, flimsy, & is not designed to line up & punch someone in the mouth in front of them. The defense is much more disciplined they stayed at home a lot more than in the past which is credit to this staff but they are just overly undersized and got shoved around for 4 quarters. They could only make plays after 8 yards downfield and that wont get it done at any level. Anyone at the game will agree that the rebs aren't much bigger then a high school team. Maybe 5 wins this season IMO..
Ray,
I really do not get the blind optimism. We traded last year's awful defense and solid offense for okay defense and terrible offense. I do not see how that is in the right direction. I know you guys love Bobby Hauck at the Sun, but let's call this fair: he made a tactical error in who he started at QB for starters. He needs to fix this immediately, but reading other articles at the Sun, he is still making up his mind.
So, let's call this as it is without the editorializing. They lost...they lost bad. Now they have to just face it, move on and plan for next week.
I think this past week was a bad gauge for how things will go for the rebels... and this week against utah in salt lake will be also ... new coach, new philosphy, first game and wisconsin ... not a formula for nice results ... i think unlvs talent will be able to go toe to toe w/ idaho and unr than it will these first two ... lets recap then
I'm absolutely astounded that anyone would say that performance on Saturday was a positive. That was embarrassing! I don't care about if it was last year's team/coach. That was last year.
Did you guys even watch the game? We had 2 good defensive plays. They had consistently pushed our guys back a minimum of 5 yards every run play. They could have ran the same run play every down and our guys couldn't stop it. I don't know why Wisc even threw the ball, they didn't even have to. I know Wisc is very good, one of the best teams in the country in fact, but that doesn't mean UNLV should have gotten pushed around like they did.
We had zero offense until the reserves came on, and even THEN they were working us. I agree, call it what it is and not silver line everything.
Looking at that performance, I'd say the cannon is out of the question for sure this year. I REALLY hope I'm wrong.
We starting throwing the ball too late. Stop running the ball EVERY single play. This is a HUGE mistake, especially against a big and slow defense like Wisconsin. You need to pass to open up the run against a slow big defense. You must beat them with speed (not size) when you are a smaller team. Also, hats off to the defense to not allow this game to get REALLY ugly, like last year. Way to show leadership in the 4th quarter Coach. Maybe the first quarter should have been when you started to show it instead.
It could have been SOOOOO much worse, at least were not New Mexico!!!
Got to say there are some serious unrealistic expectations out there from some serious Rebel fans. I love the Rebels, but never did I expect them to compete for a W in this game. Wisconsin could be a legit contender against Ohio State, which many are predicting to be in the national championship. Time to get real and understand we are in what they call a "rebuilding" mode. It's just tough, because we have been in that mode since we can all remember.