LAS VEGAS (AP) -BYU is bringing its act back to Las Vegas, and UNLV coach Mike Sanford is hoping his run with the Rebels isn’t about to end.
Sanford was welcomed home this week with less job security after an embarrassing 63-28 loss at intrastate rival Nevada. His bosses at the university expressed displeasure after a game that saw UNLV give up 773 total yards.
The state’s largest newspaper ran a front-page story Tuesday under the headline: “It’s official: Sanford in hot seat” in which UNLV President Neal Smatresk called the game “disappointing.”
“We are concerned for our student-athletes, we are concerned for our fans, and we’ll be keeping an eye on the situation on a game-to-game basis to see how things go,” Smatresk told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We’re going to be watching.”
th season as the Rebels’ head coach, told The Associated Press on Friday that while the team has underachieved, its best response is to look forward to its next game.
“The big thing is you have to fight back – you can’t let that game affect you all week,” Sanford said. “We looked at it, learned from it and put it behind us.”
Sanford said he had several conversations this week with Jerry Koloskie, UNLV’s interim athletic director, and received a voice mail message from Smatresk. He declined to share details, describing the talks as “personal conversations.”
UNLV (2-3, 0-1 Mountain West Conference) has allowed a conference-worst 449 yards per game, including 201.8 rushing yards – 31 more rushing yards than the next worst defense.
Sanford said his players have practiced more this week on fundamentals, and starters on both sides of the ball scrimmaged against each other more than usual, as opposed to against a scout team.
“We are where we are and we’ve just got to keep fighting and right now, it’s all about focusing on BYU,” Sanford said. “You can’t worry about the past, you can’t focus on the future, you’ve got to worry about BYU.”
No. 18 BYU (4-1, 1-0) has become a regular visitor to Las Vegas, playing at Sam Boyd Stadium for the seventh time in the last five seasons.
the last four Las Vegas Bowls. Fans have been willing to make the trip roughly 375 miles southwest of Provo, Utah, to see the Cougars play and spend a few days in the tourist capital.
“There will be a lot of blue shirts at the game hopefully. We’ve played there a bunch,” BYU quarterback Max Hall said. “We’re looking forward to getting back there and playing UNLV.”
BYU has won four straight over UNLV and never lost to the Rebels in Las Vegas.
After playing three in a row at home, BYU has two weeks against teams near the bottom of the conference standings. After the Rebels, BYU visits San Diego State next week.
The Cougars are trying to avoid any setbacks that could derail a showdown with No. 10 TCU in Provo on Oct. 24, which could bring back BYU some of the respect it lost after getting beaten 54-28 by Florida State on Sept. 19.
BYU responded from the loss with wins over Colorado State and Utah State, but has had problems with turnovers and consistency.
“I think we are a solid football team right now. I wouldn’t put us in the great category yet because we’re not playing great in all phases,” coach Bronco Mendenhall said.
The Cougars are expected to get a chance at improving this week against the last-place defense in the conference.
Hall was asked this week if the Rebels’ poor performance in Reno has the Cougars especially excited entering Saturday.
hat every week when you watch film. You feel like there’s things that you can take advantage of and that there’s things that are good in your offense that you can run,” Hall said. “But UNLV is going to play us tough. They played us tough last year – down to the wire.”
BYU had to rally to win 42-35 with a late touchdown and two-point conversion last year in Provo, where the Rebels had a chance to force overtime until Andrew Rich intercepted Omar Clayton’s pass in the end zone on the final play.
“There weren’t many games that I remember from a year ago, but I do remember the last play in the UNLV game,” Mendenhall said. “So I’m sure our players have a lot of respect for UNLV and the personnel they have returning and knowing that it seems the Rebels play with an increased kind of urgency at home.”
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AP Sports Writer Doug Alden contributed to this report.
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