Dan Mullen: Inconsistency has led to UNLV football’s 1-2 start

He says inconsistency in performance is the most frustrating part. That an impressive win at Hawaii then could be followed by such a blowout road loss against North Texas.

UNLV football coach Dan Mullen and his staff began asking themselves questions as to how things might improve.

What are they requesting players to do in order for them to perform at a high level?

What does the team really need?

What does this situation call for?

“It’s on the coaches to fill in the gaps of what’s missing,” Mullen said. “To identify what your team is and who they are and what they need more to create the success you want. I’m trying to really spend a lot of time to see what this team needs. If it’s me getting in their face, it’s me getting in their face. If they don’t like it, they don’t like it.”

Attitude isn’t a problem. UNLV — which is 1-2 and plays its third straight road game when visiting Akron (1-2) on Saturday — has a team full of accountable players.

They show up on time, work hard, offer little issues.

But it’s also true the team coming off a bye following a 44-6 trouncing by North Texas needs to improve in all areas.

Texas State, by the way, hung 49 on the Mean Green in a victory over the weekend.

“We’re different levels of leadership,” Mullen said. “We don’t need leadership for guys who do the right thing, and we have a lot of those. We have great kids. It’s about finding a little bit of an edge. A little bit of a mean and nasty edge. Hopefully, we’ll see that continue to grow and come out in guys.

“We come out with a great attitude and great intensity every game. This is starting the second quarter of the season. We had three games and a bye and then four games and a bye and then five straight games. We’ve got to find ways to get better and get a win and keep building so we’re where we want to be at the end of the year.”

Are they improving as coaches? Are they better teachers now than at the beginning of the season? Is the effort and technique better?

Those are more questions Mullen asked himself during the bye week.

“We gave the players the weekend off to get a little mental and physical refresher and then they came back and responded with a good practice,” Mullen said. “We just have to keep building. There are so many momentum swings during the course of a season or game, so many ups and downs. Our focus remains, ‘Are we getting better?’”

Bye week work

UNLV players likely would have preferred to play immediately following the North Texas loss, but the bye week did the Rebels some good in terms of resetting.

“It was a lot of looking at what we’re doing well and what we’re doing poorly and who needs to play,” Mullen said. “We have some injuries, so it’s about getting guys ready to play and creating depth. The biggest focus for us was what guys are doing well and what we are asking them to do that they don’t do well. Why are we forcing the issue? We spent a lot of time looking at that stuff.

“You’re pretty pissed when you lose. But I don’t know if playing a third straight game in a different time zone would have been good for us. So the bye came at a good time.”

Score points

After not reaching the end zone against North Texas, Mullen believes the team’s offense needs a jolt.

“I don’t know if anything has gone really well,” he said. “After the first two games, we had zero turnovers. And we had four the next one. We just have to find a little identity there.”

Boyd update

Starting center Austin Boyd (ankle) will miss his second straight game this week, but Mullen said the hope is the senior will return sooner than later.

“You’re talking about a veteran guy, your leader at center, our top offensive lineman,” Mullen said. “But it has been an opportunity for guys to step up and work hard. Hopefully, (Boyd) is a little ahead of schedule. I told him to drink a lot of milk so his bones are good and strong and we can get him back a little faster than originally thought.”