UNLV’s margin for error minuscule

LOGAN, UTAH - Some college football teams can be on the wrong side of four or five critical plays each game and still win comfortably.

Alabama can do so and win by 50.

UNLV can't.

Great teams' margin for error often is the size of the state each represents. The Rebels' margin for error is smaller than a fingernail.

Bobby Hauck is going to look at the film of his team's 35-13 loss to Utah State on Saturday night and see more than a handful of promising snaps, see a team that was an underdog by more than 20 points and yet trailed by just seven after three quarters.

He's going to see progress in different spots for a program that still hasn't won a road game since 2009.

He's also going to see why UNLV lost, which means he's going to stop the tape on those four or so times and shake his head.

The Rebels aren't near good enough to do foolish things at the most significant times and have any hope of remaining competitive, an ugly truth that showed itself throughout the game at Romney Stadium.

You can't be UNLV and do this:

■ Have a defensive back fail yet again to get over the top of a post pattern and allow a 50-yard touchdown pass when you're trailing 10-7 in the second quarter.

The secondary is brutal. It's killing the Rebels. If Hauck and his staff must address one major area of emphasis in the next recruiting season, it's to find bodies that can cover someone, anyone.

You can't be UNLV and do this:

■ Have a senior offensive lineman - Doug Zissman - commit a personal foul on third-and-3 from the Utah State 20 with 39 seconds left in the first half and UNLV down 17-7.

Nick Sherry threw an interception on the next play, but if Zissman keeps his temper, the Rebels likely get at least a field goal and momentum entering halftime. It's not the first personal foul on Zissman this season. He has to be better than that.

Utah State's answer? Four plays, 69 yards and a field goal for a 20-7 lead at intermission.

Momentum, killed.

You can't be UNLV and do this:

■ Have the perfect play called on fourth-and-goal from the 1 when trailing by 10 late in the third quarter, watch your quarterback sneak into the end zone for an apparent touchdown and ... have a wide receiver called for a false start. Instead of seven points, UNLV got three.

You can't be UNLV and do this:

■ On the first play of the final quarter, trailing by a touchdown, with Utah State facing third-and-9 from its 26, not sniff out a screen play and allow the Aggies to hit for a 74-yard touchdown that ended any Rebels hopes of an upset.

Four plays. Not taking care of business on four snaps over 60 minutes.

It might mean nothing to a great team.

It means everything to UNLV.

"Absolutely," Hauck said. "In the past two years, we needed every break to win a game like this. Now, we don't. We can compete, but it is a game of four or five plays and it showed again tonight. We're going to keep fighting and get over the top and find a way to make those critical plays.

"We have a lot of things we did right tonight. We didn't make a ton of mistakes. It was a fairly clean game for us in terms of turnovers (one) and penalties (five for 50 yards). We just have to finish the deal.

"We can't play well on first and second down and then give them 50 percent (success) on third down. I'm well aware we're 1-4, but we've played some decent teams."

Decent is about to become great, at least on the offensive side of things.

UNLV travels to Louisiana Tech on Saturday, which is 4-0, headed toward a top-25 ranking, averages 54.7 points and put up 52 at Illinois and 44 at Virginia. Then, a UNR team that averages 42 points visits Sam Boyd Stadium on Oct. 13.

I haven't even mentioned road games against Boise State and San Diego State.

This is the stretch Hauck knew was coming. It's by far the toughest of the season, and, with each opponent, the margin for error shrinks even more.

Can you say speck-of-dust small?

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on "Gridlock," ESPN 1100 and 98.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.