Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Win No. 1 for coach Hauck, and Reno week is here

First off, lets look back at our first win under coach Hauck, last Saturday against New Mexico.

If anything, just 'relief' is probably the best word for it. Our confidence also went up a lot with winning by as much as we did. We knew it was coming sometime soon, it just happened to come last week.

The funny thing is that we knew that confidence was there in a way, but it never really got exposed. Once it finally did, we felt it. It felt like something that should have been there for us a couple of games prior.

We had several big plays in that game, too, which was huge for us.

If I had to pick one that stuck out to me, it would probably have to be B.J. (Bell)'s fumble recovery for the touchdown. Sidney Hodge made the sack, forced the fumble, that gave our defense something big, and it was very memorable. It was a good call from the coaches. Sidney came from the blind side, no one saw him and he took it to the quarterback.

Next up, things intensify with our rival coming to town.

A lot of people are quick to bring up last year's game in Reno, which was a very tough loss for us. What made it more tough was that at halftime, we were right there with them, tied. Then in the second half, we kicked off and it just went downhill. Everyone was really upset with how it went.

I thought the toughest thing was playing the same game in the second half that we played in the first half. Staying disciplined, staying with our keys, everything like that.

We let it get away from us, and as soon as we made a couple of slips, it gave them all of the momentum they needed.

This is, of course, our first time being around coach Hauck in a rivalry week.

He's been fired up as he can be. He's getting us really motivated, all of that. I love it, he's getting us psyched up, and he knows that we can do this and he wants this.

This is only my second time playing in this rivalry game, but I can easily tell what it means to everyone here.

If anything, it's a lot bigger than words.

It's huge, especially since it's been so long since we've had the Cannon. It makes it that much more valuable to everybody. I don't think there's any game we'd rather win than this one right here.

Hope to see you all at Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday, and I'll talk to you again next week.

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