Talent gap aside, UNLV’s shortcomings glaring

MADISON, Wis.

It's not about talent. Wisconsin always was going to be a much better football team than UNLV on Thursday night. Bigger. Stronger. Faster. Better in every imaginable way.

It's not about effort. Those who play defense for the Rebels seem engaged enough.

It's not about scheme. The Rebels get lined up and all ... most of the time.

It's about experience, about technique, about mental and physical toughness, about those facets that make for a capable defense being those UNLV still lacks.

The Rebels never were in this season-opening 51-17 loss to the Badgers at a rowdy Camp Randall Stadium because UNLV is still woefully outmanned when trying to stop anyone good.

When it plays someone who is potentially great like the No. 11 Badgers, it gets real ugly real quick.

"They took it to us," second-year Rebels coach Bobby Hauck said. "They manhandled us up front. We just couldn't get off them. We were not ready to come in here and beat a (top-15) team, obviously.

"But with that said, we're going to be all right. I believe that."

The Rebels on Thursday started just three underclassmen on defense and yet six of the 11 were making their first Division I start.

At some point, they all appeared out of position, a few incredibly so.

Tackling is still an issue for the Rebels, and Wisconsin made things even worse because of how good its running backs are in space. The Badgers have done this to a lot of teams in recent seasons, most far better than UNLV.

When your line can't get off blocks and backs are allowed into the secondary without as much as a breath on them, linebackers and defensive backs face far many more 1-on-1 situations than desired.

UNLV hasn't tackled well in years, and a chunk of what Wisconsin did offensively -- it totaled 499 yards on 53 plays and needed the ball for just 16:08 over the first three quarters to score 51 -- was the product of the Rebels not stopping plays on first and often second contact.

A more disturbing sight: The Rebels were lost defensively on so many plays, their linebackers blowing coverages to where Wisconsin receivers on several snaps were open from here to Milwaukee.

There is allowing 51 points and there is allowing them in a few ways UNLV did, including giving up 10 over the last 1:45 of the first half. Even against the best of opponents, that's an unacceptable stretch.

"We'd have a few good plays (on defense) and then blow one where they had a big gain," UNLV linebacker Princeton Jackson said. "We have to adjust to motion better, tackle better, just be a better defense mentally. It was the first game against a real good team in their house. We have a lot to improve on, but we're going to get better."

It's nearly impossible following such a loss to gauge how much better UNLV could be defensively from a side that was awful last season, when it allowed averages of 450 yards and nearly 40 points. The discrepancy in talent between it and the Badgers is that vast, but the coming weeks should offer a clearer picture and more comparable opponents.

The Rebels won't play many quarterbacks better than Russell Wilson, the North Carolina State transfer who threw for 255 yards and two scores and ran for 62 and another Thursday.

They definitely won't play another who can beat you just as well with his feet as his arm. Wilson is a gifted player who was performing against a not-so-gifted defense, which is why his departure in the third quarter must have produced a giant exhale from Hauck in what were muggy weather conditions.

"I like our guys," Hauck said. "I like the way they play. There were a lot of negatives in the game but also a lot of positives we can build off of. We gave up too many big plays. We just have to do better (defensively).

"I think we'll be fine. We had some linebackers playing their first Division I game. We'll be OK."

The season's first game is finished, and there were no surprises, which is to say the better team impressively routed the inferior one. UNLV believes it is better than it was last season, and it could be proven so over the next three months.

But any long-term appraisal of the defense must wait.

Here, before 77,085 sweaty Wisconsin fans, not much seemed different with those Rebels trying to stop the other guys.

UNLV was, yet again, defenseless in pursuit of victory.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.