Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.
I've been saying all along -- well, more like one time in print -- that the key to baby-step success in UNLV's first season under coach Mike Sanford is to win the three or four games it should and be entertaining in the seven or eight games it shouldn't.
After a closer-than-expected loss at New Mexico last Monday and a closer-than-expected win against Idaho Saturday night, so far, so good.
Actually, make that so far, a little better than so good, provided Idaho wins as many games as I think it will once it gets past the Pac-10 portion of its schedule and starts knocking headgear against its Western Athletic Conference brethren.
So anybody who thought Sanford was going to give back a 34-31, last-play-of-the-game victory against the lightly regarded (at least by Rebels fans) Vandals on Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium had better guess again.
Even though his secondary looked absolutely awful after falling into a big sack of potatoes -- Idaho quarterback Steve Wichman torched the Rebels for 390 passing yards on 19 completions in 30 attempts -- Sanford floated into his postgame news conference with a smile wider than the Snake River Canyon.
"What do I do here? Where do I go?" he bubbled after entering the Sam Boyd Stadium interview room for the first time as a head coach.
When players score touchdowns their coaches tell them to act as if they have been to the end zone before, if for no other reason than to avoid a penalty for excessive celebration. But Sanford seemed to be enjoying his first trip to the winner's circle so much that I thought he was going to do a Billy "White Shoes" Johnson routine right there on the platform.
It may not have been his own private Idaho. But it was apparent that Sanford was relishing the victory as much as his raucous players in their nearby dressing room.
"I might have a hard time going to sleep tonight," he said after reprising his postgame speech at New Mexico about the Rebels not quitting and/or giving up.
While that would be considered rhetoric at most places, it hasn't always been the case at UNLV. Some close to the program have suggested the Rebels gave up on John Robinson -- and maybe even he on them -- as early as the fourth game last year.
So when the Rebels finally made a defensive stop inside their 5-yard line when it appeared they were going to be Vandalized again -- and Idaho missed a chip-shot field goal -- it was somewhat surprising to watch UNLV methodically march 56 yards in 12 plays to get into position for Sergio Aguayo's game-winning 41-yard kick into a stiff breeze as time expired.
"I had no doubt that we were going to make that field goal," Sanford said afterward, which can only lead one to believe he was huddling with the kickoff team when Aguayo's first PAT attempt at New Mexico sailed so wide it nearly wound up in El Paso.
Give Aguayo lots of credit for converting in the clutch and redeeming himself. But as big as his kick was, it wasn't the defining play of the night. In my mind, that came four plays earlier when Sanford audaciously went for it on 4th-and-8 at the Idaho 40-yard line with the game tied at 31 with 1:51 to play.
Had the Rebels failed, Idaho would have had plenty of time to move into position for a game-winning field goal try of its own. But quarterback Shane Steichen, who had another outstanding outing (22-of-34 passing for 250 yards and another 104 yards rushing) hit Casey Flair for nine yards and a first down. Three plays later, Steichen found Greg Estandia for 14 yards on 3rd-and-13, which set the table for Aguayo's winning kick.
Afterward, when I asked Sanford about going to the betting window on the riverboat, I expected him to say something about "making a statement" by going for it in a situation where most coaches would have punted. In fact, predecessor Robinson was so conservative, he might have kicked away on third down.
Sanford has just enough self-assuredness to lead you to believe he would make such a claim. Instead, he talked as if he might have had a rabbit's foot in his pocket, at least early in the decision-making process, when he called timeout to talk it over with his assistants.
"I think that was the kind of a deal where sometimes either you're real smart or you're real stupid," he said.
"Where the ball was, field position, our confidence in Sergio to win the game ... it was too far to go for a field goal because of the wind situation and we didn't want to punt because they were moving the ball on offense."
That's a lot of reasons to go for it, I guess, but not the one I was looking for. But Sanford wasn't through explaining himself.
"As a result of all that we just said 'Hey, we believe we are going to make the first down," he said.
See, I told you he was a little cocky.
The result was a victory that, like the Rebels' 24-22 loss at New Mexico that began the week, was something you could build on.
The name on the visitors' side of the scoreboard notwithstanding, it was no small potatoes.
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