Defense saves UNLV late to secure win

LAS VEGAS — Apparently, the Aces aren’t the only team in this town which knows how to get stops.

UNLV’s football team has quickly figured out how to keep the other team from scoring. Which we couldn’t say three weeks ago after Idaho State put up 31 points and 555 yards in total offense on the Rebels.

But Paul Guenther has managed to figure a few things out. UNLV’s defense showed marked improvement from Week 0 to Week 1 when it kept Sam Houston in check. And the Rebels were even better Saturday in keep UCLA under wraps. At least in the first half.

However, it took a big play by the defense to save the day as Aamaris Brown intercepted Nico Imaleava with 52 seconds remaining to seal a 30-23 win and improve UNLV to 3-0.

Guenther, the defensive coordinator and mastermind of the schemes deployed by the Rebels, has got his guys in the right spots and making the right plays. Yes, they’ll still give up the big play on occasion and they’ll commit penalties that will leave the most loyal UNLV fan shaking their head. But overall, they’ve gotten better each week and it’s a big reason why this team is undefeated.

Head coach Dan Mullen sang the praises of his old teammate from Ursinus College, which is located 25 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

“He’s stuck with the consistency of the guys,” Mullen said of how Guenther utilizes his resources. “We’re playing a lot of people and it’s a new system. When we’re in position, we’re making plays.”

Like the one that sealed the win. Linebacker Marsel McDuffie made a great read on the ball, got a hand up to deflect it and Brown was waiting to grab it and snuff out the Bruins’ last hope as UCLA fell to 0-2.

For Brown, it was a bit of delicious irony. On Monday, he said that he had faced players like UCLA had and it wasn’t a big deal. Bruins coach DeShaun Foster decided to make a big deal of it and try to use it as motivation.

“I was asked what stuck out to me on film and having seen one game and I didn’t see much; but people interpreted it the way they wanted,” he said. “I saw all the trash talk about me and my team and I took it personal.

“Today we just closed out the game..”

Brown said the players are staying together, learning together and looking out for each other. They don’t let a bad play or a bad call derail them. And there were a lot of calls Saturday. UNLV was flagged for 13 penalties and 130 yards while UCLA had 14 penalties for 129 yards.

“We just stayed calm and didn’t let what the refs did bother us,” he said. “We said in the huddle ‘don’t worry about the refs, just do your job.’”

They managed to withstand Iamaleava’s right arm as he threw for 255 yards on 29-of-42 passing. And despite spending virtually the entire third quarter on the field, Guenther’s defense had just enough left in the tank to finish the job.

Mullen said before the season he intended to play a lot of people and that’s what he’s doing. The Rebels have a bye this week and Mullen said he will use the time wisely to clean up things and try to continue to make improvement. Because while these Rebels are undefeated, they’re not a perfect group just yet.

“It’s the little attention to detail,” Mullen said. It’s the first time with players and coaches in the program. We still have things to clean up.”

No, it’s not perfect. But each week, things get a little better for this team. So far, there hasn’t been any slippage from week to week. We’ll see if the progress continues in two weeks at Miami, Ohio.