Davie hasn’t forgotten losing recruits to UNLV

New Mexico coach Bob Davie lost two recruits to UNLV on the eve of the 2012 signing day, and he remembers that night as if it occurred yesterday.

Linebacker Marc Philippi and guard Ron Scoggins had committed to the Lobos out of Bishop Gorman High School, but both reneged in order to play for their hometown school.

They also had ties to UNLV. Philippi’s dad, Mark, was the Rebels’ strength coach from 1993 to 2005. Ron Scoggins Sr. played for UNLV from 1983 to 1985.

Losing those players was difficult for Davie, who leads New Mexico against UNLV at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium. He had to quickly fill their spots.

“(We) had two 10 p.m. calls saying they had changed their mind and immediately turned around,” Davie said Tuesday at his news conference. “One of them, 12 o’clock at midnight I called Cranston Jones’ home in Dallas and said, ‘You awake?’ and he said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Well, wake up.’ I said, ‘Is your mom awake?’ He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Go in and wake her up. You got a scholarship here,’ and they called me back at 1:30 in the morning.

“And the second one was Chris Edling. So we ended up with Cranston Jones and Chris Edling, both after 1 a.m. ended up committing the night before the signing date because the two players from Las Vegas we recruited changed their mind at 10 p.m.”

Davie spoke about the general difficulty of recruiting to New Mexico, saying he has been asked if a passport was needed to fly there.

“That’s legitimately happened five to 10 times since we’ve been here,” said Davie, now in his third season. “Legitimately where you’re in that home and they say, ‘Do we need a passport?’ and I’m like, ‘Well, no I don’t think so.’

“That’s just the reality of that, and it’s in neighboring states. It’s not like we are going to Maine. We are going over to Texas, that rubs up to New Mexico, right? So it’s been a little bit of an eye-opener, but with that said, we’ve been able to recruit here. I mean it’s a full-on challenge, it really is, but we’ve been able to do that.”

THREE-STEP DROP

■ Regardless whether UNLV coach Bobby Hauck returns next year, it should be a rough season no matter who is on the sideline. The Rebels play the toughest schedule in school history, with trips to Northern Illinois, Michigan, Colorado State, Fresno State, UNR and Wyoming. Their home games are against UCLA, Brigham Young, Boise State, Hawaii, San Diego State and San Jose State. Good luck finding a lot of wins in that slate, but UNLV should at least draw some healthy crowds to Sam Boyd Stadium.

■ ROOT Sports will televise Saturday’s game. That network is available on DirecTV (683) and DISH (414/5414), but not Cox Cable or CenturyLink. For those who don’t receive ROOT, the game also will be streamed live through the Mountain West Network at unlvrebels.com.

■ The first 3,000 fans through the gates Saturday will receive a UNLV scarf, courtesy of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

FOR THE RECORD

■ UNLV lost its first fumble of the season Saturday at Utah State when Blake Decker was sacked late in the first quarter. The Rebels were the last team nationally to lose a fumble, and they now are tied for first in the country with five other teams with one lost fumble.

■ New Mexico allowed more than 35 points in eight games last season. The Lobos have given up that total just once through seven games this season.

■ Neither team can stop the run. The Rebels allow 263.8 yards per game, which 121st out of 125 schools nationally. New Mexico is No. 123, yielding a 284.3 average.

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter:@markanderson65.