Remember When UNLV Blocked Two Punts For Touchdowns?

LARAMIE -- It had only happened three times in the history of college football.

UNLV added a fourth last October inside a hail-covered War Memorial Stadium.

Twice a visiting gunner blew around the edge untouched and all but took the football directly off the right foot of Wyoming punter Bart Edmiston. Both times, the Rebels scooped up that block and cruised into the end zone in a 31-17 victory in Laramie.

"Our special teams were huge tonight and the conditions were tough," UNLV's first-year head coach Dan Mullen said postgame "You have to win with offense, defense and special teams, and our special teams certainly won us the game."

Jay Sawvel said the following Monday the operation was simply too slow. The direction of the spiraled snap, the Cowboys' head coach added, took Edmiston right into the teeth of the rush. It certainly didn't help matters that the "personal protectors" barley budged as Jaden Bradley and Kayden McGee breezed by for both rejections.

Those two breakdowns -- that's a big chunk of the game right there, you know?" a clearly dejected Sawvel said from behind the podium. "So, we have to get better with it, and we have to address it."

UNLV has yet to block a punt through eight games this fall, but that doesn't mean the third phase of the game hasn't been active.

In last Saturday night's 31-24 escape job against winless Northern Illinois, facing a 4th-and-4 at their own 31-yard line late in the third quarter, the Rebels called for the fake punt. It worked to perfection, too. The upback, safety Logan Christensen, took the direct snap and cruised through the Huskies for a 7-yard pickup.

UNLV also faked a punt in a home win over Cal.

Coming out of the halftime locker room and leading by a touchdown, Mullen called for the onside kick. A facemask penalty against Skylar Vann wiped out the play and UNLV ended up kicking the ball from its own 20.

Sawvel, his staff and players had the rare opportunity Saturday to watch the Rebels and Huskies live. One of the many benefits of having a bye week. No one has forgotten about those two game-changing blocks last fall. The aggressive calls on specials team on Halloween night are fresh, too.

"It's been a strength of ours throughout the course of the season, but obviously the one thing about special teams -- the one thing about really every phase of football -- every week's a new week," Sawvel said Monday during his weekly press conference. "So, you can sit there and say, OK, something's been a strength for you all year long, and then you have one bad game, and it throws it all away, type of thing."

He also said a major part of Sunday night's practice was focusing on special teams. It always is, he added.

JB Hall, Wyoming's first-year cornerbacks coach, also has duties with the kicking game. He's been made aware of the debacle against the Rebels last season.

"It's just about execution," Hall said. "I think, to this point of our season, special teams units have done a really good job attacking people, but also being very sound and fundamentally executing the game plan. So, I don't think it's anything different."

The Cowboys (5-3, 4-1) and Rebels (5-3, 3-1) will meet Saturday night inside Allegiant Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 8 p.m. and the game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.

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