Mondays with Mike: Learning to capitalize

By Ryan Greene

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008 | 1:58 a.m.

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

Is Mike Sanford still beaming over Saturday's 23-20 overtime victory at Arizona State? You betcha.

Though on Monday he again preached how that win could get lost in the shuffle should his UNLV football team tread down the same path it did a year ago following a 27-0 shutout of Utah in its fourth game of the season.

"I think what happens after a win like that, or like this, people start telling our players how good they are, and they start believing it, and you forget how you got there," Sanford said, recalling the 2007 season, in which his team lost its final eight games following the Utah tilt. "We've got to counter that. We've got to make sure we understand how we got here, how we won this game.

"And sometimes you start trying to think that there are other things that cause you to win the game other than what it really was - things like not turning the ball over, playing hard for four quarters, not having stupid penalties."

Sanford also pointed out some technical differences there may be this time around following an attention-grabbing win early in the season. A couple of those revolve around how practices could change as the year wears on - both what is practices, and for how long.

That part is still being studied by the coaching staff, but one thing is already set in stone - Sanford will constantly remind his team this week that there's still plenty left on the plate.

"You can bet your bottom dollar I'm going to make a big deal out of it," he said.

More potential gains from Saturday's win

It isn't just the college football world which more than likely took note as a whole to UNLV's upset over the weekend. High school prospects - most notably in the Phoenix and Las Vegas areas - had to have, too.

Or at least the Rebels coaching staff would hope.

"I would say it was very positive," Sanford said. "We had, on this trip, there were only four coaches that went with the team. Everyone else recruited in Phoenix and Tucson on Thursday and Friday. There's always a positive buzz that you get off of this."

Las Vegas and Phoenix - behind California - are the Rebels' two largest recruiting bases.

Speaking of local recruits ...

The praise continued to come for true freshman safety Beau Orth, who just a year ago was playing for state champ Bishop Gorman.

Amazingly, Orth played just three snaps against the Sun Devils ... and on all three made an impact.

"He had one pressure, one tipped pass, one interception, one third-down stop and one tackle for loss," Sanford read from a sheet breaking down the defense's performance in Tempe.

In terms of grading him out, Sanford said he earned 11 production points in those three plays. To give some basis for comparison, 11 would be a good number for a rotation regular. For example, the team's defensive player of the game - tackle Isaako Aaitui - earned 14 production points.

So, why wasn't he on the field even more?

"We're stupid," Sanford joked. "We need to play him more."

In seriousness, though, Sanford said Orth could see more reps in the coming weeks, especially when opponents try to throw more receivers in the mix.

Offense still pitching a shutout

No one expects the Rebels to go the entire season without committing a turnover on the offensive side of the ball.

But there's no reason not to be impressed by the fact that UNLV has gone three game without doing so to start the season.

Most notably, sophomore quarterback Omar Clayton has played under control in running the show, with six touchdowns to zero interceptions so far.

"It's something that we have been coaching," Sanford said of eliminating turnovers. "We were coaching it last year, and (Clayton) had five (turnovers) in one game. It's become very important to him, and I think our players understand the importance of it.

"If there's any kind of fumble in practice, it's like the sky is falling."

Injuries abound, but nothing major

Some updates on bumps and bruises throughout the roster ...

-Right tackle Evan Marchal left Saturday's game on crutches. He sprained an ankle against Utah a week earlier, and sprained the same ankle at ASU - only a different part of it. He's listed as questionable for Saturday against Iowa State.

-Freshman running back Imari Thompson, a special teams contributor, is also questionable with an ankle sprain.

-Isaako Aaitui sprained his knee, but should be OK to go Saturday.

-Ronnie Paulo, who suffered a leg bruise at Utah, was kicked on the shin in that same leg at ASU. He should be good to go Saturday at his middle linebacker post, but Sanford said he could struggle through practice this week.

-Frank Summers was a little 'beat up' following his 103-yard performance, but it's nothing big.

-Cornerback Quinton Pointer sprained his right shoulder, but is probable for the ISU game.

-Omar Clayton was x-rayed at halftime in Tempe, when it was thought he'd broken his jaw. It turns out there is a small fracture in the quarterback's mandible, but it doesn't appear to be an injury which could get any worse, so he's a go for Saturday.

-Center John Gianninoto is listed as probable. He played on a sprained knee, but sat a couple of series at ASU.

-Defensive tackle Jacob Hales is still listed as the No. 2 guy in his spot, but Sanford said he's back to 100 percent, having fully recovered from a dislocated elbow. Sanford said bot he and Martin Tevaseu will play 'a ton.'

Correcting the correctible stuff

Sanford said following the second half meltdown at Utah that the positive to draw from it was that all of UNLV's mistakes were correctible.

Most of them, he said, were corrected rather quickly. Most notably ...

"Probably the biggest one was dealing with crowd noise," he said. "That was a big improvement from Utah to ASU. I think we had two false starts against Arizona State, and we had way too many against Utah that were induced by crowd noise. We piped in noise on Thursday at practice, and it drove our coaches nuts, but it was really good for us.

"I would say we improved a little bit on special teams."

Attendance notes

It's no secret that a few folks (maybe a few thousand?) who were not planning on making it to Sam Boyd Stadium this Saturday may now be provoked to.

"I don't know any projections or anything like that," he said. "We love to have a home field advantage. We'd love to have a bunch of Rebels fans out there. There's a bunch of teams that come in here that travel well. I would say that Iowa State will have a lot.

"I would say that that would be something we would want and desire, but there's other things that motivate us. We are a team that's motivated by a lot of other things than crowd size. But at the same time that's a huge help to our team if we get a bunch of UNLV Rebels fans out there."

As for last Saturday, the fact that ASU was probably overlooking UNLV was also pretty apparent given the amount of empty seats in Tempe. Sun Devil Stadium was roughly two-thirds full.

"It's ironic, I kind of expected that," Sanford said. "They're not like Nebraska, where no matter what the record is, there's going to be a butt in every seat."

But the Rebels didn't take that as disrespect.

"Once you get to the game, honestly, when you're a player or a coach, you have no idea," he said. "When you have a home crowd that has a lot of excitement, that helps you a lot, but as far as counting numbers or noticing empty seats, you don't notice that."

On to Iowa State ...

Sanford and his staff as of Monday afternoon were just starting to delve into the Iowa State film, though he pointed out some individuals who had stood out so far in their studies.

Those largely included skill position players on the offensive side of the ball, such as running back Alexander Robinson (34 carries, 135 yards) and receivers RJ Sumrall (11 rec., 185 yards, 2 TD) and Houston Jones (10 rec., 144 yards).

The Cyclones, under second-year coach Gene Chizik, employ somewhat of a two-quarterback system, using a pair of sophomores - Austen Arnaud and Phillip Bates.

Through three games, Arnaud has attempted 60 passes to Bates' 20, though Bates leads the team in rushing with 140 yards on 20 tries.

Rivalry hangover?

The 2-1 Cyclones are coming off of an emotional game of their own - a 17-5 loss to rival Iowa Saturday afternoon in Iowa City.

Will there be some hangover from that?

"I can't speak for them, but I can say last year's close loss to Nevada Reno (27-20) was a very difficult thing for us," Sanford recalled. "For us, it affected us the rest of the season last year."

That game against UNR, of course, was the first of eight straight losses for the Rebels to close the year.

Iowa State had similar misfortunes a year ago after earning their first win of the season against Iowa, 15-13, in Ames. The Cyclones went on to lose their next six games.

Four of those six games came on the road, where Chizik is 0-6 in his time at ISU.

Be sure to stay tuned to www.lasvegassun.com 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.