As pressure mounts, and with big games ahead, is it time for a panic attack?

On its face, Mike Sanford limiting media access to his UNLV football team this week means as much as one raindrop in a monsoon. Absolutely nothing.

A few levels below the surface, it means a lot more.

There is a little panic going on here. A little circling of the wagons. Hey, it happens when you are a head coach in a fifth year, still searching for your first winning season, and you're coming off a forgettable loss in which some of your players afterward questioned the team's mindset.

Most coaches not named Pete Carroll, at some time or another (and many on a daily basis), restrict access to us bothersome types in possession of recording devices and meddling queries about injuries and position changes and other routine points. Like if there is one coach on staff capable of counting well enough to avoid delay-of-game penalties following timeouts when trying to attempt tying field goals in the closing seconds of a conference road game.

You know, small stuff like that.

It's even more common for coaches to initiate lockdown mode the week of a rivalry game, which UNLV has Saturday at UNR. Sanford hasn't beaten the Wolf Pack in four tries, so if I were him and a victory finally arrives on the red side of a Fremont Cannon, I wouldn't for the remainder of my coaching career talk to anyone.

The media. His staff. His players. His wife. His children.

Why mess with the sort of success few truly believe you can achieve?

At first glance, Sanford limiting questions and interviews this week to himself and players Ryan Wolfe and Starr Fuimaono -- terrific young men and players, but who have as much chance of saying anything controversial as the Rebels do holding UNR quarterback Colin Kaepernick to zero yards rushing -- seems more than suitable. UNR players aren't available this week, but they rarely, if ever, are before playing UNLV. UNR is consistent this way. Suddenly, UNLV isn't.

Fans couldn't care less about such limitations placed on the media and for the most part shouldn't, but the more reporters are restricted in their daily jobs, the less you learn about an upcoming game and many of its key participants and story lines.

Either way, those who attend practice daily for the Review-Journal and Sun, a group of which I am not a member, still will cover the team professionally this week.

"I know it's out of the ordinary, but I think it's important so our players are not distracted," Sanford said. "There is a circus atmosphere around this game in this state, and I feel it's in the best interest for our concentration to do this."

There it is with Sanford.

The predictable laughing point.

UNLV football is a lot of things, but it is unquestionably not popular enough for any game to create the frenzied atmosphere he suggests. This isn't Southern California-Notre Dame. I'm not even sure some years it is Bishop Gorman-Palo Verde.

The harsh truth is that most Rebels fans are thinking only of the number 17, which is how many days remain until basketball practice begins.

What type of circus atmosphere, exactly, would two beat writers and a few TV reporters, none of whom are allowed to watch practice, produce?

None. That's the point. Sanford changed things this week for a reason, just not one as simple as he claims, nor does his suggestion about midterm exams this week hold much strength in the matter, because I'm pretty sure those happen during any football season.

Mike Sanford is as accommodating with the media as any other football coach I have covered on a consistent basis. Even as his record continued to pile up losses, he rarely dodged questions and almost always made himself available. No matter what I have written about him in this space, Sanford has always treated me with respect. He is more than stand-up in that manner.

But you don't need a Masters degree to figure out what's going on here. He's worried and has good reason. The loss at Wyoming and how it transpired was beyond brutal for a coach in his fifth season.

Teams with bowl aspirations don't lose to a team that finished in last place last season, is picked to finish last again and started a true freshman quarterback under a first-year coach running a new offense. It was an awful loss for a UNLV team that has insisted things are different this season.

UNLV now faces a stretch of UNR and home to Brigham Young and Utah. Things could go south fast here. They have at some point during each of Sanford's four seasons.

A few starters -- without being prodded in the least by reporters -- said after the Wyoming game that some players didn't take the Cowboys seriously enough. Not a good thing.

So it is no coincidence that for the first time in Sanford's tenure (which includes, remember, four previous "circus" weeks for the UNR game), he is limiting access now.

He will tell you it has nothing to do with the Wyoming loss or what his players said afterward, or the fact he now faces the most critical three-game stretch of his tenure, one that could ultimately decide his fate as UNLV coach.

He will tell you there is not a shred of truth to any of that.

On its face, limiting access this week means nothing.

A few levels below, there is some panic.

Some circling of the wagons.

Believe who you wish.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He also can be heard weeknights from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. on "The Sports Scribes" on KDWN (720 AM) and www.kdwn.com.