Johnny Stanton steps in at QB to lead UNLV victory

Johnny Stanton was willing to do what he could to help his football team, even if that meant moving to linebacker, but he’s always been a quarterback in his mind.

And when he moved back to quarterback after starter Armani Rogers suffered a concussion, Stanton showed that is indeed the position for him.

Stanton, who was UNLV’s starting quarterback the first four games last season before a knee injury, played on defense the past two weeks. He stepped in Saturday and completed 17 of 29 passes for 155 yards in a 26-16 victory at Fresno State. His 7-yard touchdown run in the third quarter snapped the Bulldogs’ streak of 11 consecutive quarters without allowing a TD, the nation’s longest.

“It’s been quite the roller coaster this year,” Stanton said. “I feel right at home at quarterback, and that’s where I love to play, and that’s what I came here to play.”

UNLV (3-5, 2-3 Mountain West) broke a three-game losing streak and put life into a season very much in danger. The Rebels, who were 21½-point underdogs, also handed Fresno State (5-3, 4-1) its first conference loss, though the Bulldogs remain first in the West Division.

The Rebels play Hawaii at 3 p.m. Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium, and a victory gives them a realistic shot at making a bowl. UNLV is a 7½-point favorite over the Rainbow Warriors.

“I’m just happy for my guys, they’ve put in a lot of work,” UNLV coach Tony Sanchez said. “The season didn’t start off the way we wanted it to and we aren’t where we want to be, but I’ve got a great group of kids in that locker room. They’ve stayed the course through the adversity we’ve faced. We’ve had some good first halves this season, but we’ve been looking to put together a solid second half. The last 10 minutes of a game is where you win a game and our guys did that tonight.”

UNLV received two major special teams breaks in the second half — a muffed punt and a high snap on another one. The Rebels scored 10 points off those miscues to turn a 16-16 score into the final 10-point victory.

Their defense also turned in their best performance of the season, allowing 292 yards. Stanton’s play was a key to helping that defense, along with a running game that totaled 173 yards and helped extend drives.

The question is who takes over now at quarterback.

“(Rogers) should be cleared as far as progress has been,” Sanchez said Sunday in a text message. “From there we need to look at it. As of now both are in play.”

Stanton is back in the mix like he wanted.

“That is my natural position that I’ve been playing for 10 years,” he said. “The part that was hard was becoming ‘the man,’ but I felt like I fell into the role well. After playing half the season as the backup, it was a lot more pressure and responsibility, but that’s why I play football. I love the pressure.”

And Sanchez loved the way Stanton responded, first to losing the starting job to Rogers, then to what he saw from his quarterback on Saturday.

“Most guys that have had the career that Johnny Stanton has had would have run for the hills, but he didn’t,” Sanchez said. “He became a good teammate and worked really hard. When he had his opportunity (Saturday) to step up, he took it and led us to victory. I thought he played fantastic.”

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Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.