Sanchez, UNLV make statement in signature win

That’s the quip of the weekend for Tony Sanchez, the UNLV head coach whose teams at Bishop Gorman also crushed Reno-based high schools.

But his latest victory, UNLV’s second in 11 years against the University of Nevada, Reno, was special in more ways than one.

For the first time in two years, a UNLV football team showed poise late in a game. The Rebels showed they wouldn’t be run over, or overwhelmed when leading late in the fourth quarter.

They showed they could withstand a charge in a hostile environment, from a team with equal experience and arguably greater talent.

They showed the program is turning around, and it’s happening faster than expected.

One doesn’t have to look further than the head coach to understand why.

“Winners always find a way, and so do losers,” Sanchez said after Saturday’s 23-17 win.

“In the past those momentum swings have gone the other way for the other team,” he added. “Tonight, that momentum swing came for the Rebels.”

Forget holding a lead in big games, it has been a while since the Rebels have even been competitive.

Coming off a two-win season with one of the worst-ranked recruiting classes in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, UNLV, talent-wise, appeared more like a lower-division team from the Football Championship Subdivision entering this season.

They’ve lost to those schools before, too. Twice in the last four games against FCS teams, as a matter of fact.

But Saturday was different. UNLV players were motivated. They made plays and were poised. They even held their opponent scoreless for two quarters.

And when UNR was marching in the fourth quarter, on its way to what looked like a second straight touchdown to take its first lead of the game, the Rebels grabbed a pick-six for a touchdown of their own.

Sanchez called it the biggest defensive turnover of his coaching career.

Ryan McAleenan, the junior linebacker who made the interception and scored, called it the biggest play of his life.

“I just saw the ball tipped and broke on it,” he told the Review-Journal after the game. “I bobbled it a little, caught it and took off.”

Making progress

Five games into the 2015 campaign, UNLV has won just twice.

But, with the exception of a 37-3 blowout loss against UCLA, the Rebels’ progress this season is perhaps grossly overlooked.

Take UNLV’s last loss, at Michigan, for example. The Wolverines have outscored their last three opponents – the Rebels, BYU and Maryland – by a score of 87 to 7.

Of those teams, UNLV was the only team to score against the Wolverines. The 28-7 loss was also in Ann Arbor, in front of a crowd of 110,000 Michigan fans.

Idaho State, an FCS opponent, is not particularly formidable. But 80 points?

Dave Rice, who coaches some of the country’s most talented college basketball players as head of UNLV’s basketball program, could have learned something that afternoon.

Saturday’s win was the program’s best since beating Nevada two seasons ago. It might just be the highlight of a season Sanchez dubbed a “rebuilding year,” even after the game.

It might also be the start of a winning season, where the Rebels compete for respectability in a wide-open Mountain West conference.

Either way, the football Rebels are once again worth watching, thanks to what Sanchez has accomplished so far in Year 1.

Stay tuned.

Contact Chris Kudialis at ckudialis@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4593. Find him on Twitter: @kudialisrj