UNLV hopes veteran team means fewer first-game mistakes
College football — very sloppy versions of college football — were played on both ends of the country on Saturday.
Florida had a late lead it didn’t seem to want, committing a particularly egregious pass interference on fourth-and-34 to keep alive a Miami drive. The eighth-ranked Gators overcame that mistake and eventually prevailed 24-20 in Orlando, Florida, in a game that saw the teams combine for 23 penalties for 225 yards and five fumbles.
In Honolulu, Hawaii found a way to commit six turnovers and beat Arizona 45-38. The Rainbows Warriors, who were 10½-point underdogs, survived after tackling Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate at the 1-yard line as time ran out.
First-game mistakes are common for a sport without a preseason, but as UNLV prepares to play its opener, the Rebels hope their veteran team will minimize such miscues. Seventeen of their projected 22 starters for Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against Southern Utah at Sam Boyd Stadium are juniors and seniors.
“You know what to expect now,” junior quarterback Armani Rogers said. “You’ve seen many different teams. We’ve faced many different defenses. We know how to prepare more so. We know how to watch film better. We know how to go out there and not be too high and not be too low.”
Rogers will become the first UNLV quarterback to start the opener three years in a row since Jason Thomas between 2000 and 2002.
Coach Tony Sanchez said junior safety Drew Tejchman (hamstring) will start, but sophomore running back Biaggio Ali Walsh (back) won’t play.
UNLV, which went 4-8 last season but won two of its final three games, begins its last season in Sam Boyd. The Rebels will share Allegiant Stadium with the Raiders beginning next year.
The Rebels hope to be coming off the program’s first bowl appearance in six years, and to have a realistic shot at making the postseason, they need to beat Southern Utah. UNLV is a 24-point favorite, according to VegasInsider.com.
UNLV has a history of losing as a big favorite, and a sloppy first-game effort similar to the ones in the two nationally televised games this past week could create a closer-than-expected night.
Sanchez ran off a litany of details that need to be taken care of — communicating properly, getting lined up correctly, not committing turnovers — that are important in making sure the first game ends in victory.
“If you can eliminate all the little things that you can control, it’s going to increase your chances of winning every Saturday,” Sanchez said. “But I think an older team has a greater chance of doing that.”
Senior linebacker Javin White said Monday’s practice was encouraging because even the younger players were “locked in.”
“It’s fixing to get real,” White said. “For guys not to be looking nervous and getting a little scared, I think they did a great job of coming in and attacking and understanding this is just football. It’s Week 1. You really don’t know what the opponent’s going to do. You’re going to have to come out there and just play.”
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Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.