Rebels not getting necessary results this season on most important down

By Taylor Bern

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014 | 2 a.m.

It’s the most important down in football, according to many folks, and UNLV coach Bobby Hauck happens to be one of them. What a team accomplishes during third down on both sides of the ball often dictates who wins the game, and when you’re so bad during those plays on one side it might negate whatever you accomplish the other way.

Like, for instance, allowing Northern Illinois to convert 15-of-19 third-down attempts, including 10 of its first 11 en route to a 28-5 lead at Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday. With a couple of days to reflect and look at more tape, Hauck echoed his feelings from after that 48-34 loss, ones shared by pretty much anybody who watched it.

“We were horrendous in third down,” Hauck said during Monday's press conference at the Lied Athletic Complex. “It pretty much cost us the game.”

Now the question is what to do about it as the Rebels (1-2) prepare for their first of three straight road trips at Houston (1-2) on Saturday evening in the new TDECU Stadium. The game kicks off at 5:06 p.m. Las Vegas time and will stream on ESPN3.

Thanks largely to Saturday’s performance the Rebels rank in the bottom seven nationally in getting the offense off the field with third-down stops. UNLV has allowed opponents to convert 53.8 percent of the time, though the Rebels can look around and find some familiar faces down on that list with them.

Overall there are only 14 teams allowing opponents to convert at a rate of 50 percent or better and five of them play in the Mountain West. The others, from best to worst, are Fresno State, Wyoming, New Mexico and San Jose State.

The good news is there’s almost no way for the numbers to be worse than Saturday. NIU quarterback Drew Hare consistently evaded the rush when necessary to find his receivers or pick up the yards himself.

“I know it’s a fixable problem,” said senior cornerback Kenneth Penny. “We’ve just got to win up front.”

Hauck said the same thing. If the Rebels get off their blocks quicker up front then they can chase down the quarterback without having to blitz, which takes people away from a secondary that generally could use as much help as possible.

Two weeks ago, against lesser competition, third downs weren’t an issue at all. The Rebels held Northern Colorado to 2-for-12, but that doesn’t mean this is nothing more than one bad game. Last season the Rebels ranked ninth in the Mountain West in the category, giving up conversions 47.6 percent of the time, and on offense they ranked 10th by converting only 39.9 percent of the time.

So far this year their offensive conversion rate is about the same, coming in at 40.9 percent. That’s actually quite a bit better than this week’s opponent. Through three games the Cougars rank in the bottom 20 nationally at 31.1 percent, so Saturday might finally answer the question of what happens when the Rebels’ movable object meets Houston’s stoppable force.

Playing solid defense for two downs and then giving up a first down not only helps the offense at that time but can also pay off later as the defense gets more tired and, sometimes, more demoralized.

“It’s very frustrating, especially playing against up-tempo teams,” Penny said. “You’re already a little fatigued out there.”

Improving their third-down performance alone won’t be enough for the Rebels to pull the upset as nearly three-touchdown underdogs, but it’s a good place to start. After all, Hauck said, there’s no better time to play your best.

“It’s the important down,” he said.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.