Decker questionable, Palandech could start in front of record crowd at Michigan

By Taylor Bern

Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015 | 2 a.m.

When UNLV coach Tony Sanchez saw senior quarterback Blake Decker drop untouched to the Sam Boyd Stadium turf on Saturday, he had the same feeling as most of the 31,262 people making up the Rebels’ 12th-largest attendance.

“The fortunate part is we’ll get him back a lot sooner than expected,” Sanchez said Tuesday at Lied Athletic Complex. “When I saw him go down, I thought it would be something a lot worse than this.”

After originally stating that Decker had injured his hamstring during a first-down run at the end of the first quarter against UCLA, Sanchez said at his weekly press conference that team trainers determined it was actually the obturator internus muscle that Decker strained. The obturator internus is part of the muscle group in the pelvic area where the femur bone connects into the hip socket.

It’s an easier injury to overcome than a hamstring, which often lingers or flares up until an athlete can devote a lot of time to rest. It’s probably a stretch to expect Decker back for Saturday’s trip to Michigan but on Tuesday he was back on the practice field and the plan is for him to travel and dress for the game.

“It might be a little much for him but we’ll find out and we’ll make a decision on game day,” Sanchez said.

Saturday’s game at The Big House kicks off at 9:01 a.m. Las Vegas time and will air on Big Ten Network. It’s the first of two Big Ten buy games for UNLV — it travels to Ohio State in 2017 — and the $1 million the Rebels (0-2) walk away with should help soften the blow of a tough matchup that will likely be even more difficult because of Decker’s questionable status.

Michigan (1-1) is listed as a 34-point favorite although as of Tuesday night no book in town was taking action because of the question at quarterback. Even if Decker is cleared he probably won’t play the entire game.

It’s more likely that sophomore Kurt Palandech, who went 4-of-15 for four yards with 31 rushing yards, will get his first career Division I start in front of the biggest crowd in UNLV football history. Michigan lists the capacity for The Big House at 107,601 but the home opener vs. Oregon State drew an announced crowd of 109,651. UNLV’s record crowd is 108,625 in 2004 at Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium.

If Sanchez is worried about Palandech starting in that environment a week after a poor relief effort, he wasn’t showing it Tuesday.

“(Palandech) got put in a tough situation the other night. He felt the pressure, tried to do a little too much but there were a lot of things we could have improved on and it starts with me,” Sanchez said. “It’s not all on Kurt. … I have faith in Kurt. That’s why we recruited him and we believe in him.”

True freshman Dalton Sneed, whose uncle Taber LeMarr played for Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh at the University of San Diego, is the only other available quarterback on the roster and is currently listed as Palandech’s backup. It will be interesting to see how Sanchez handles the situation in what’s not supposed to be a winnable game because the Rebels would prefer that Sneed not play this season.

“I’m sure he’ll be traveling to every game this year and if we don’t have to burn that redshirt we won’t,” Sanchez said.

The outside attention will focus on quarterback all week. Inside UNLV’s walls they’re trying to figure out how to get a similar first-half defensive performance for the third straight week while senior tight end Jake Phillips is sizing up defensive ends who are listed at more than 300 pounds.

“(They’re) not quite as fast as UCLA’s but they’re a physical team and we need to punch them in the mouth before they punch us,” Phillips said.

UNLV has actually been pretty decent at that so far. The problem is punching into the later rounds as the opponent swaps in more fresh legs.

Depth will be an issue all year and that makes getting out of this third game healthy arguably more important than the scoreboard. Junior defensive tackle Jeremiah Valoaga is expected to return next week, which helps, and the Mountain West slate seemingly contains more winnable matchups than ever after the league went 0-10 in nonconference games last weekend.

The good news is Decker’s injury isn’t as severe as expected. The better news will be if that’s still true Saturday afternoon.

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