Injured QB Clayton never gets on field

RENO — UNLV coach Mike Sanford said all week the availability of injured quarterback Omar Clayton would be a game-time decision but that the junior would play against UNR on Saturday.

But Clayton, nursing an injured throwing shoulder, never left the Rebels’ sideline in a 63-28 loss.

“We just made a decision to play Mike Clausen today, and I thought he played well,” Sanford said. “I would say Omar was pretty beat up. It isn’t anything long term. We felt like he would be injured more if we played him, and we needed to get him back healthy.”

The Rebels certainly leaned on Clausen, who went 26 of 50 for 276 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions.

“I felt like I took care of the ball,” the sophomore said. “But definitely needed to score more points, that’s for sure. Can never be satisfied with a loss. It’s kind of hard to tell whether you played good because the scoreboard says a whole different story.”

• ONE WHO GOT AWAY — UNR redshirt freshman tailback Mike Ball, a Desert Pines High School graduate, showed his hometown team what it could’ve had, rushing for 184 yards and five touchdowns, including an 89-yarder.

Ball never considered choosing the Rebels in 2007 during his college recruitment because his parents thought UNLV’s staff was too late in recruiting him.

Ball credited his offensive line, saying, “My mother could have run through some of those holes.”

• CHANNING WHO? — Other than some runs by Clausen, who gained 16 yards on 15 carries, the Rebels abandoned the running game.

Four tailbacks combined for seven carries for 33 yards. Channing Trotter entered with a team-high 295 yards, but carried only three times for 2 yards and two touchdowns and did not have a carry in the second half.

• FUIMAONO HURT AGAIN — UNLV linebacker Starr Fuimaono suffered an ankle injury, but Sanford said the severity was not known. Injuries ended each of Fuimaono’s past two seasons.

• SALT IN THE WOUND — UNR made a statement midway through the fourth quarter that the day belonged to the Wolf Pack.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a snap, then with his right hand flipped the ball back to tailback Luke Lippincott. Then Kaepernick dashed left, and Lippincott hit him for an easy 6-yard touchdown for a 49-28 lead.

“That’s a play we worked on every day this week,” Kaepernick said. “So we were ready to run it. We really felt it would work.”