Still on Cloud Nine, but can’t lose focus

Jason Beauchamp

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008 | 4:04 p.m.

First off ... any questions for me?

If you have any questions for Jason Beauchamp regarding last weekend's win at Arizona State, this weekend's Iowa State tilt or anything else UNLV football, e-mail them to Sun sportswriter Ryan Greene at [email protected]. Jason's responses will be posted Thursday afternoon.

Now, on with the show ...

Lets go.

This year was what made the difference. It is true that we're a different team, but really, what people need to understand, was this win was from years and years and years of taking lumps and losing and hard work. I can say that this game is something that the team, the coaches, the players can hang their hats on, and something that no one can take away from us. This game was something that we'll never forget, and I think that we always will be able to earn respect from. It was a magical night, and I knew that it was a magical night when we stepped on that field.

The stadium was amazing, and you looked in those guys' eyes, and the whole time I was saying 'This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,' and I think that everyone took advantage of that. We've got guys from Arizona. My roommate - Chris Brogdon - is actually from Arizona. Travis Dixon, Channing Trotter, we got a lot of guys from there. I know for those guys it was a special moment, and as I said earlier, we're an older team now, and we've been embarrassed. We've had games where we've been blown out and we've had games where games are almost embarrassing. This game was almost for the community and for the players on this team that went through that.

And coach Sanford. Coach Sanford went through that. I know he said that it's definitely the biggest game of his head coaching career. He had some big games as an assistant coach, but I think he went as far as to say it was the biggest game he's ever been a part of.

It was an emotional night. When I say that, with the team being a blue-collar team, working so hard and taking those lumps, those losses, the last three years, coach Sanford was right there with us. It's hard. People don't give credit, or they don't know what all goes into this sport. Football, it's the biggest team sport to be a part of, and for a head coach it's difficult to lose and, more than that, continuously lose. Even embarrassing games, and to come back the next day and keep coaching and keep working. It's really difficult, and I give him so much respect for hanging in there. As a head coach, he's had pressure since he got here. He actually made some promises even to the city, and I don't even think he understood how hard of a job that it would be, changing this program around. I think finally a brighter day has come.

I'm saying this because, I'm not saying that we won the entire Mountain West or anything, but it's a huge step forward in confidence levels and really proving ourselves, telling ourselves that we can do it. That game will change the recruiting here for years to come. It was the first time we've played Arizona State, so that topped it off. There's too much. This game was too much. Anyone who was watching understands that that game had all the aspects of what a football game should be - ups, downs, the game even went into overtime. What was nice was that we never gave up. We dotted the 'i', crossed the 't', we finished it.

The Mountain West deserves more respect than we're getting.We've got teams like BYU and everyone trying to go to the BCS, and those teams are realizing that they're not the only ones who are on the up-and-up. There's nothing wrong with the Mountain West, and the Mountain West deserves a lot more respect than it's getting.

Once small fact that I thought was funny, was that coach Andre Patterson, the defensive line coach, he says that every time he wore this suit - this gray suit he has, it's a real nice suit - every time he's worn that suit, he's won. He's never lost wearing this suit. It's unbelievable that the suit is still undefeated. He predicted it.

A wild, wild finish

What made those plays happen was we believed, we wanted that game more than Arizona State. we played that game like it was the Super Bowl, like it was the last game we were going to play.

If you saw the sideline, everyone was firing on all cylinders.

This might not be the greatest thing, but on offense, even the awesome catch that the young freshman - he's a superstar now - Phillip Payne, the catches that he made in those last seconds ... this is how destiny works. It was destiny. The game went our way the whole night. I definitely knew when Ryan Wolfe caught the ball and knocked it up in the air and Rodelin Anthony jumped in the air and knocked it back to him and Ryan Wolfe caught it on the one-yard line. I was like 'This is our game.' We got breaks. We usually never got breaks like that. I'll take getting breaks all the way to the touchdown that Phillip scored.

Phillip actually ran the wrong route. People think that Omar (Clayton) just ran, but he was running from the defensive end because he felt the pressure ... no. He rolled out like that, not just because no one was open, but because Phillip ran the wrong route. It was destiny. I mean, come on now. He ran the wrong route and made up for it. I don't think I've ever seen a better grab than that one in the corner of the end zone.

On to Iowa State

Once again, what I love about this game is that so much of what won the game at Arizona State to me was history. All the lumps and how we knew we could take advantage of that game, because we've been through so much, and that was exactly what we needed. I feel like this Iowa State game is the same way.

I was there two years ago in Iowa (a heartbreaking 16-10 Rebel loss on a controversial finish), and that game was taken from us, really. That's what it was. We had guys, they put their heart and soul out on that field. We tried to push it to overtime against a team that was predicted to beat us probably by the same amount Arizona State was predicted to beat us by. What, 24 points?

That was the same game where a team feels like, when you put your heart and soul into something, and you have nothing to show for it, it hurts. And we've been through a lot of that, where you put your heart and soul into everything - You put in time, you put in effort, you watch film, you've done everything possible to win a game and it doesn't happen, it really hurts. And here we go again. This is another opportunity, and history is going to make us want this game that much more. I don't think this game will be that much different from the Arizona State game in that we really want this game. The team, the older, wiser Rebels now, we understand what we've been through.

Iowa State, once again, they're a really good team, and I think that they're capable of coming in here and playing a great game. They understand now, I'm sure they've heard the news. They're going to play their hearts out, and it'll be a great game. One thing that'll be different this week is that the stands will be filled. Hopefully the community and the students will all join in. I think that's going to do nothing but just help us, and it'll be a jump start for the rest of the season. We're not for a second going to overlook this iowa State team. We're hungry, and we really don't want that feeling to end. We don't want to let down anyone.

We've seen coach Sanford, I've never seen him get teary-eye like (after the ASU game). He's been through a lot, and as players, we don't want to let the coaches down, we don't want to let each other down, the community or the students down. It's a great feeling, and we're not playing for ourselves. And that's what it used to be in the past. It was all about stats, and we almost went into a game believing that we couldn't win or we didn't have what it took exactly to win. Now we're playing for each other. We're not playing for ourselves, we're playing for the man next to us. We understand that's your brother.

My blog's called Judgment Days, and Arizona State, that game, that's looking good for the judgment. I think this Iowa State game is another one.

Signing off ...

This is No. 33, Jason Beauchamp, on Cloud Nine - Enjoying the victory on Cloud Nine and ready to continue this voyage and continue changing perception of UNLV football. We're pioneers now.