LAS VEGAS — Cameron Jensen walked down the J.W. Marriott hotel corridor near an Irish pub that blared out loud dance music the night before Saturday's BYU game with UNLV.
Accompanied by two teammates, somebody approached the team captain and middle linebacker and asked if he and his mates would like to step in and dance with some BYU female fans. "We're not here to go dancing," Jensen said, wearing his most serious, crisis game face.
On Saturday, Jensen and Company got down to business with UNLV.
No, BYU's defense isn't out of the pressure cooker yet. And no, the Cougars aren't going to be mistaken for the Buddy Ryan's old Chicago Bear stoppers. And correct, UNLV isn't Notre Dame. But in Las Vegas Saturday, Cougar defenders shook a little vinegar at the Rebels and it stung.
In the 55-14 BYU win, the Cougars got downright serious, right down to the final key defensive play, when fifth-year redshirt senior defensive end Kyle Tew got a sack — preserving a team goal and producing a helmet sticker for everyone on defense of holding an opponent to 14 points.
"That was as gratifying to me as anything," head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "To see Kyle work so hard and contribute like that makes it all worth while as a coach."
Heading into the final two games of the season, the Cougars walked out of Sam Boyd Stadium hungry. UNLV managed just 2 net yards rushing. The Rebels threw 53 times at BYU's secondary but only one found the Cougar end zone.
All week long BYU defenders prepared for a hail of passes thrown their way. In practice, some got completed, but a ton of throws by prep team QBs were intercepted.
With opposing quarterbacks — backups and starters — posting career games on the Cougar secondary, they expected shells to come their way.
Before the trip to Las Vegas, BYU defenders had all but strapped on bomb-shelter helmets, knowing they were going to dodge shrapnel against UNLV, Wyoming and Utah in the final games of the season. Mendenhall pulled out all the stops, inventing plays and coverages, increasing his inventory. On Saturday, Mendenhall threw some at UNLV he'd never called before.
The result? BYU's defense ignited the offense.
In the first 31 minutes of Saturday's game, Justin Luettgerodt, Kayle Buchanan and Spencer White hauled in interceptions. All three led to immediate touchdowns by BYU's offense, which came out a little flat after scoring 62 points against Air Force.
"You give our offense those short fields and that many opportunities to score and we're going to score," quarterback John Beck said.
The 55 points Saturday and 62 against AFA the week before? "It is the turnovers, something we work for," Mendenhall said. The Cougars have six interceptions the past two games.
The first BYU pick-off of Rebel quarterback Jarrod Jackson was a drop-back coverage pick by Luettgerodt and it easily turned the game BYU's way in the second quarter. When Buchanan grabbed a pass out of the hands of UNLV's Donell Wheaton, Luettgerodt went nuts.
"To see Kayle grab that ball out of that guy's hands got me fired up out there — it got me going. It got him fired up. Confidence is a big thing out there playing corner. You're on an island. You're either going to make a play or not make a play. It takes some studs to play that. We (linebackers) can just hide out there," Luettengerodt said.
The 14 Rebel points Saturday were the second-lowest by the Rebel offense this year. UNLV had previous season highs of 34 and 32 points against Idaho and Utah. Justin Maddux had three sacks and White, Tew, Sosiua Sekona and Dustin Gabriel added one apiece.
"It was fun," said senior linebacker Paul Walkenhorst. "The secondary has been getting a lot of pressure from the outside, so we put in some more coverage that helped. They didn't have a real run threat, so that helped us drop back and make plays."
Up next is Wyoming, the league's top defense and a Cowboy offense that will surely try and rain on the Cougar defense like UNLV hoped to on Saturday.
"We're anxious to go to cold Wyoming and keep this rolling," Luettgerodt said.
And Luettgerodt, like Jensen, doesn't confuse rolling with dancing.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com