UNLV’s football win total of 4.5 reflects rise in program

He has been credited with delivering to UNLV’s football program a renewed level of energy, a heightened sense of excitement, a notion that local interest in the Rebels doesn’t have to be reserved for that short stretch of time each fall between the start of school and beginning of basketball practice.

But perhaps more than anything else, Tony Sanchez should see this as a sign others believe he has the team moving in a positive direction: 4.5.

The win total released last week by the Golden Nugget for UNLV in 2016 would spell doom and gloom at countless programs across the country, but it should produce a different reaction when talking the continued work-in-progress that are the Rebels under Sanchez.

Houses and churches and town halls would be burned for 4.5 at Alabama.

It translates to hope at UNLV, where the Rebels have won more than four games in a season just three times since 2004 and haven’t produced back-to-back winning records since 1983 and 1984, when Harvey Hyde was coach and the computer mouse had just been invented.

Sanchez, in his second year as coach, can in no way discuss win totals or betting lines or anything in regard to sports gaming, but he knows more than anyone else how UNLV’s 3-9 record last season could have been better had the Rebels had the depth needed to finish.

Had they not relied on offensive linemen who weighed 270 pounds dripping wet and three linebackers playing more than 90 snaps for six consecutive weeks.

UNLV was leading or within a score in the fourth quarter against all but three opponents, losing four games by eight points or less and one in overtime. So when you add another offseason of learning and growing and maturing physically and mentally and Sanchez and his staff signing one of the best recruiting classes in school history, the right side would appear to be over 4.5.

“We just didn’t have enough bodies to rotate through last year,” Sanchez said. “If we were a hot air balloon, the more and more the season went on, the more air went out of us. There wasn’t enough gas in the tank a lot of weeks.

“I think we did a pretty good job of getting them fired up and jacked up at kickoff, but we just had a hard time finishing. It wasn’t for a lack of want or will. We just weren’t deep enough after the first level.”

Consider: UNLV this season is likely to be a big underdog in road games against UCLA, San Diego State and Boise State. The Rebels already have been tabbed a four-touchdown favorite in their season opener against Jackson State and also should be a clear favorite at home against Idaho, a Sun Belt Conference team that in 2018 will drop to Football Championship Subdivision status.

So if we go strictly by potential lines, that would equal a 2-3 record with seven remaining games for UNLV to either go over the win total and perhaps challenge for bowl eligibility of six victories or repeat last year’s trend of falling short more times than not.

Of the seven, four are at home.

Of the seven, there are games against the Fresno States and Hawaiis and Wyomings of the world.

A few more reasons to bet over 4.5: The quarterback play (junior transfer Johnny Stanton probably will start and be backed up by a junior with playing experience in Kurt Palandech) should be better and more consistent; UNLV won’t have to rely on freshman running backs to again play pivotal roles; the offensive front is bigger and deeper; and the Mountain West is hardly considered among the nation’s elite conferences.

It’s not even considered a good one after a few teams at the top.

Most important is this: The Rebels have had another year to either attempt reaching the level of commitment and desire and discipline Sanchez demands or, like a handful of players during the offseason, be shown the door.

“We will never accept excuses here,” Sanchez said. “We live in a day and age where all you hear from people is why A, B and C couldn’t get done. We’re not tolerating that. I don’t want to hear cop-outs about what we don’t have. Are there things that could dramatically help improve the product on the field? Absolutely. But we still need to find a way. I know plenty of programs that have struggled for a long time, and the right people came in and found a way to turn things around.

“We’ve had another year of lifting right, of eating right, of making sure everyone who walks through those doors each morning are all in and doing things the right way in terms of mind, body and spirit. We’ve had a full recruiting season to get out there and find good players. It’s a tough nut to crack. Not a lot of guys the last 12 or so years walked around here as winners, but we’re here to change that, to teach them how to work and become champions.

“It not easy, and it takes time, but it can be done.”

It takes small but decisive steps, like a win total of 4.5.

Around these parts, that’s a sign of definite progress.

Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be a heard on “Seat and Ed” on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Twitter: @edgraney