Mountain West Conference report, Oct. 3

DYKES HAD INTEREST IN UNLV

Sonny Dykes was interested in becoming UNLV's football coach when the position came open in late 2009, and he had a pretty good connection.

Dykes was the offensive coordinator at Arizona, where Jim Livengood was the athletic director before taking the same position at UNLV.

But UNLV had tried the hotshot assistant when it hired Mike Sanford from Utah, and the result was five losing seasons. Livengood wanted someone with head coaching experience, and so did many boosters, so he chose Bobby Hauck out of Montana.

"I knew Jim and have a lot of respect for Jim and the job that he's done," Dykes said. "We had some discussions. It just didn't go the right way. They hired a real good football coach. Bobby does a great job.

"He's going to get that program going. I don't have any doubt in my mind."

Dykes, now in his third season at Louisiana Tech, probably landed in a better spot. The Bulldogs are 4-0 entering Saturday's 4 p.m. PDT home game against UNLV (1-4).

They have a stronger history of winning than UNLV, and Dykes has taken advantage. He coached Louisiana Tech to the Western Athletic Conference championship last season, going 8-5 and losing 31-24 to Texas Christian in the Poinsettia Bowl.

Hauck, 5-25 in almost 2½ seasons, took over a program that hasn't posted a winning record since 2000.

"I really think (Hauck) does an excellent job coaching," Dykes said. "I think he's got a great coaching staff. I think the team improves week to week. That's really how you can judge coaching - are they getting better? I don't think there's any question UNLV gets better every single week. You can see it on tape."

TALK OF THE LEAGUE

Bob Davie said he gets so caught up in the details of coaching that sometimes it's not easy to see the bigger picture.

And it's the bigger picture - New Mexico's refusal to give up despite a 25-0 halftime deficit to Boise State - that most impresses the Lobos' first-year coach.

The Lobos outscored Boise State 29-7 in the second half before losing 32-29.

"From where this team was to where they are now, to be able to do that - in the big picture - is probably the most encouraging thing," Davie said.

New Mexico is 2-3 and still faces low expectations, but Davie probably has been able to get just about everything he can out of the Lobos. They won just one game each of the past three seasons.

The Lobos were 26-point underdogs to Boise State and could have folded at halftime.

But Davie, who instituted the triple option, changed quarterbacks. Freshman Cole Gautsche led an offensive attack that finished with 330 yards rushing. New Mexico threw just once in the second half, bringing starter B.R. Holbrook into the game for that incompletion.

Holbrook will retain the starting job because Davie said the team needs the passing element.

Whether the Lobos duplicate this kind of effort the rest of the season is uncertain, but they sent a message to the Mountain West Conference that times might be changing in Albuquerque.

But, Davie noted, roster numbers are limited, so change won't occur quickly.

"We are not all that far along in the development standpoint," he said. "I think we're doing some things better, but we also know there's a tremendous amount of urgency to try to do things better this week compared to last week."

AROUND THE MWC

Maybe future Big East Conference members Boise State and San Diego State aren't such big losses for the Mountain West after all. Boise State is 3-1, but its 22.8 scoring average surpasses only Hawaii and Colorado State in the league. San Diego State is 2-3 and has allowed 131 points in the past three games. ...

One San Diego State defender is playing well. Leon McFadden has intercepted passes in three consecutive games. ...

Fresno State has gained more than 600 yards in two of its past three games. ...

UNLV is one of five teams nationally that hasn't lost a fumble.

UNLV INJURY REPORT

POS., PLAYER, AREA, STATUS

DL ,Alvin Amilcar, Undisclosed, Out

OL, Patrick Carroll, Back, Out

DL, David Green, Undisclosed, Out

TE, Nick Gstrein, Foot, Out

DB, John Therrell, Arm, Out

DB, Mike Horsey, Leg, Doubtful

H, Taylor Barnhill, Leg, Questionable