UNLV vs. Hawaii

When: 3 p.m. Saturday Where: Sam Boyd Stadium Tv/radio: Mountain West Network (online stream); KWWN (1100 AM, 100.9 FM)

Line: UNLV -7½ 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 its best performance, 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.”

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