Hauck takes blame for miscues against Utah, looks ahead to Idaho

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.

UNLV football coach Bobby Hauck spent his Sunday just like the typical sports junkie. He watched football games.

However, he wasn’t viewing the first week of action in the NFL. Rather, he watched “our game with Utah and all of Idaho’s games,” Hauck said Monday during his weekly press conference.

What Hauck saw on film was glaringly obvious: the Idaho team his squad will match up against Saturday on the road is a quality foe.

The film also confirmed the mistakes UNLV made three days ago in a 38-10 loss to Utah — such as a snap over the punter’s head and giving up a punt return for a touchdown — is a formula for disaster. If those mistakes continue against Idaho, or any opponent, Hauck knows the result will be the same.

“We went up there (to Utah) with a pretty decent game plan. We executed parts of it well enough to win the game,” Hauck said.

But after staying competitive early and controlling the clock for most of the first quarter, the Rebels let the mistakes get the best of them.

A fumble by freshman Sidney Hodge while returning a punt with a minute to play in the first half was the first of several miscues. Utah, which only led by seven points, scored a touchdown on the next play for a 17-3 halftime advantage in a game that was previously evenly matched.

Hauck took the blame for the errors, especially the ones on special teams — part of coaching he takes pride in. Four times during the 15-minute conference, Hauck made sure to stress the mistakes were his fault: “It starts with me. I have to do a better job,” he said.

Hauck knows a thing or two about doing a better job. He estimates this is the first time since the late 1990s that he’s been part of a team that has started the season 0-2.

He spent the past seven years at Montana, leading the Grizzlies to an 80-17 mark in becoming one of the Football Championship Subdivision’s powers. In the last four years, he was 51-6 overall and 31-1 in conference play.

Now, he’s 0-2 at UNLV, losing both games by 20 or more points. The Rebels fell 41-21 to Wisconsin two weeks ago.

“Losing should hurt. It should bother you — and it does,” Hauck said. “It’s been a while since we’ve (Hauck and the coaches he brought from Montana to UNLV) been in this situation, so yeah, we are in new territory.”

Changing the climate at UNLV, which hasn’t had a winning season since 2000, won’t be easy with this year’s schedule. Including Idaho, nine UNLV opponents played in bowls last year.

Idaho, which won seven games and the Humanitarian Bowl last year, isn’t ranked in the top 25 like Wisconsin or Utah. But it is still a formidable opponent and listed as a seven-point betting favorite.

Senior quarterback Nathan Enderle, who is a candidate for the Davey O’Brien Award as the nation’s top quarterback, leads Idaho. Hauck raved about Enderle’s ability and leadership, and calls the 6-foot-5 signal caller an NFL prospect.

“With a quarterback like that, you have to have a good plan of pressure,” Hauck said.

Regardless of which team they line up against, the UNLV players feel a win is within reach.

“No matter what team it is, we’ll go out and play our best for our first win,” said senior safety Alex De Giacomo, one of the team’s captains. “We are real hungry for that.”

• Coaching familiarity

Steve Axman, Idaho’s offensive coordinator, gave Hauck his break in the coaching business in 1994. Axman, then Northern Arizona’s head coach, hired Hauck as an assistant.

Hauck returned the favor in 2006 when he had Axman on his staff at Montana for the year. Hauck spoke highly of Axman and Idaho’s other coaches.

“(Axman) has forgotten more offense than a lot of coaches know,” Hauck said.

Also, Idaho wide receivers coach Luther Carr was on Hauck’s staff at Montana as the running backs coach from 2003-06.