Las Vegas Sun

By Ryan Greene

Tue, Nov 18, 2008 (2:14 a.m.)

Each Monday, UNLV football coach Mike Sanford meets with the media to discuss last weekend's action and next weekend's matchup. So each week the Sun will bring you notes and quotes discussing both.

More and more, it's sounding like Mike Clausen will be the one taking the snaps behind Saturday when UNLV tries to gain bowl eligibility at San Diego State this Saturday.

"I would say right now, almost for sure, Mike Clausen's going to start," UNLV coach Mike Sanford said Monday. "Just because of the fact that we're not sure right now, so we've got to get Mike ready to go."

When Omar Clayton tore his MCL on Nov. 1 in a 44-14 home loss to TCU, his recovery time from the injury was set anywhere from 2-6 weeks.

He has yet to suit back up to practice.

"We probably aren't going to make a decision until he's been able to practice, run around a little bit Tuesday and Wednesday," Sanford added. "We've just got to leave that option out there."

It's not 100 percent known yet if Clayton will even return to practice Tuesday following the team's day off. No matter which way Sanford goes with the quarterback situation, though, he has the luxury of not having to worry about chemistry issues.

"He and Mike are really good friends, and they're the best fans of each other," he said. "And that's a real healthy situation, because that's not always the case."

It's hard to deny that the Rebels have a healthy level of confidence in Clausen, as he's won his first two career starts and has yet to commit a turnover in eight games played this season. Sanford said much of that confidence was built in a 42-35 loss to BYU on Oct. 25, when he spelled Clayton twice and ran for a pair of touchdowns.

The one lingering question after two starts with Clausen is why he's had such dramatic splits in terms of his first half numbers compared to those after the intermission. He's completed just 16 of 40 pass attempts in the first halves of the two wins combined. He's been 17-of-24 in the second halves.

"I think it's a combination of confidence and fundamentals," Sanford said. "For some reason, early in the games, he throws off his back foot, doesn't follow through as well, then as the game goes on he follows through better. I don't know if that's us reminding him, or him thinking of it. Maybe it's nerves at the beginning of a game, I don't know. But both games he's gotten better as the game's gone on."

No kicking controversy

As far as UNLV's two-headed kicker situation goes, things will stay the same for this weekend's contest.

Junior kicker Kyle Watson was named the Mountain West's Special Teams Player of the Week on the heels of hitting three of his four attempts in the first half of last Thursday's 22-14 victory over Wyoming.

His one miss came from 45 yards out, which is the borderline territory in which the UNLV staff has had to go with feel this season. Watson is 7-of-8 on field goal attempts this season, while Jaekle is 5-of-10, having hit just one of his last five tries.

"That changes every week where we draw that line," Sanford said. "Watson will pretty much do anything under 45.

"If we have a plus-45 or 50-something-yard field goal, we'll definitely throw Jaekle out there."

Beauchamp heading home

Junior linebacker Jason Beauchamp, a San Diego native, is one of several Rebels from Southern California who will enjoy a homecoming of sorts this weekend by playing at Qualcomm Stadium.

Beauchamp is the Mountain West's leading tackler this season with 123 stops, including six for losses and a pair of sacks.

He's emerged more than anyone in the absence of both Beau Bell, who graduated last year and now plays for the Cleveland Browns, and Starr Fuimaono, who is shelved for the year as a recovers from a torn ACL suffered in the season's second game.

"We knew going into the year he was going to be one of our best players on defense, but he's been better than what we've expected," Sanford said. "He's becoming a very, very, very special player. I think he's gained confidence as the season's gone on. He worked extremely hard, had a great summer, gained weight. Up until this year, he's always had a hard time getting over 210."

Beauchamp is now listed at 230 pounds. Sanford said he should be good to go after suffering a slight ankle sprain against Wyoming.

Who to pick, who to pick

Special teams have played as big a role as anything in UNLV's recent two-game winning streak, and with the exception of a two-game blip against TCU and BYU, has been the unsung unit all year for the Rebels.

So much so that the coaching staff may have a tough time picking the team's special teams MVP when the season-ending banquet rolls around. The coaches recently made their nominations, and six different names earned nods.

Sanford said that of late, guys who have emerged, such as freshman Deante Purvis, have been positively affected by first-teamers offering up their services on special teams. Those guys include the likes of Ryan Wolfe and Frank Summers.

"A healthy progression in your program is when guys start off being really good special teams players, and develop into good offensive and defensive players, and that's what we expect out of a guy like Purvis," he said.

An impressive corps

UNLV's seen its fair share of impressive individual wideouts this season, but in 1-10 San Diego State, Sanford sees quite an impressive group.

"As far as teams we've faced this year, I think it's the best group of receivers," he said.

Freshman quarterback Ryan Lindley is second in the conference behind BYU's Max Hall in passing yards per game, averaging 226.6, and the wealth's been spread pretty evenly.

Sophomore Vincent Brown leads the show with 56 grabs for 512 yards and a team-high five touchdowns. Statistically, Darren Moughey and Roberto Wallace are pretty comparable behind him. Moughey has 31 catches for 412 yards and four scores, while Wallace has caught 29 balls for 372 yards.

Pretty focused

Sanford repeated the sentiments of several of his players in saying that the Rebels are not focusing on any of the other teams they'll need help from to land a bowl bid should they pull out a victory Saturday on the road.

They've got enough on their plates, anyways, as a road conference win is something Sanford has yet to land at UNLV.

"All we're talking about is becoming bowl eligible," Sanford said. "Some of that stuff's out of our control. The thing that's under our control is preparing ourselves and playing the best game we can play and finding a way to beat San Diego State Saturday night."

He also said his team is not beating itself up for blown opportunities during a 5-game skid earlier this season. Having landed a victory in just one of those narrow contests could have UNLV in a much more favorable position right now, but that's all in the past.

"It's reality and it's the situation as it has developed," he said. "We knew at those times and we talked about it with our team that we were in direct bowl contention with (Colorado State), when we played Air Force we knew we were in direct bowl contention with them, and then also BYU, no question about it. But the reality is we lost those games. Even though they were close, we lost them. So then we had to deal with the reality as it developed."

Crowd size won't matter

It's hard to imagine the San Diego State faithful throwing much of an intimidating road atmosphere the Rebels' way Saturday night.

An announced crowd of 19,342 turned out to see the Aztecs get smashed by Utah last weekend, 63-14. Qualcomm Stadium holds 54,000 spectators.

"It's one of those deals, if you love football, you'll play in a parking lot," Sanford said. "We aren't even gonna worry about that. It's a very important game, we don't care how many people show up. We'd love to have a lot of Rebel fans show up.

"We have a lot of Southern California guys, it's exciting for them to play in California. For an away game, we'll probably have our biggest family and friends contingent because of where it is."

Stay tuned to www.lasvegassun.com/rebels the rest of this week (and the season, for that matter) for all of your UNLV football coverage, including stories, blogs, photos, videos and live in-game coverage.

Back to top

SHARE

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy