We’re banged up, but we’ll keep working hard

Obviously, we are bitterly disappointed after going to New Mexico and coming home without a victory.

We are battling various health issues. On Saturday, we started a new quarterback who had never attempted a pass in college and had been playing as a tight end for the past six weeks. However, the guys rallied around Taylor Barnhill, and he did a really nice job throwing and running.

We rushed for almost 270 yards, which is usually enough to win. For us to have success, we need to find the difference in the margins -- meaning our margin for error is not significant. We have to do nearly everything right in all three phases. If we don't play well in any facet, we don't have a good chance of winning, as demonstrated by the 21-14 loss to the Lobos.

Obviously, there is too much inconsistency in our performance. We knew we would be up against it this year with such a young team, but everyone involved thinks we should have more wins. That includes Saturday's game, when we were moving the ball while tied with three minutes left before turning it over.

We move on to the next game, and we have to keep working hard and improving. Next up is Air Force and a chance to go to Colorado Springs, Colo., and compete hard on Saturday. Because of trying to save redshirt years, along with injury and illness and overall inexperience, we have some extreme limitations schematically. Each time we have tried to get deeper into our playbook -- meaning expand our offensive, defensive and special teams call sheets -- it has been unproductive.

Simply put, asking guys who haven't played much college football to master more play-calls does not work.

Air Force has been in the top 10 in the country in rushing for the past three decades. When you look at the numbers the Falcons put up each week over the years, they are hard to stop. Their system works. They know what they are doing, and they are good at it.

They've adjusted to everything people have thrown at them over the years. They know how to respond, so you're not going to give them anything that they haven't seen. You have to get off blocks and make plays.

Air Force is a senior-heavy team, with eight senior starters on both sides of the ball. Whichever quarterback will start for the Falcons -- Tim Jefferson or Connor Dietz -- is an experienced senior.

I've been to Air Force before but never for a football game, so I am looking forward to the special game-day atmosphere. Our program has great admiration for the Air Force players because of the uniforms they wear when they are not wearing their football uniforms. We also think they do a nice job on Saturdays in their football gear.

Because of our unusual schedule, this will be the second of four straight senior days we'll be a part of, including ours Nov. 26 at Sam Boyd Stadium. We play our final home game next week against San Diego State. Saturday's Mountain West game at Air Force starts at 3 p.m. PST and will be shown on The Mtn (334).

Go Rebels!

UNLV football coach Bobby Hauck writes a weekly column for Rebels Report.