Rebels lucky to avoid 0-2 start with sloppy 13-12 victory in home opener

By Taylor Bern

Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014 | 12:20 a.m.

The most visibly excited players on the UNLV sideline appeared all night at Sam Boyd Stadium was in the fourth quarter with 5:45 remaining when Northern Colorado kicker Seth Czapenski shanked a 23-yard go-ahead field goal attempt. With almost everything going wrong, the Rebels had to cheer for something going right, even if it was just a kick.

The Rebels (1-1) barely avoided disaster Saturday night with a 13-12 victory that spawned more questions than last week’s 45-point drubbing at Arizona. Junior quarterback Blake Decker, making his second career start at UNLV, tossed three interceptions that led to 10 Bears points and was sacked in the end zone for the other two.

“It’s the single most important stat. Turnovers lose you games,” UNLV coach Bobby Hauck said. “We’re very, very fortunate to get that win.”

While UNLV’s defense bounced back nicely after giving up 787 yards against Arizona, the offense couldn’t get out of its own way. After scoring a touchdown on the opening drive, Decker went 9-of-16 for 67 yards the rest of the way, including that safety and three interceptions.

The first turnover was a bad throw towards an open receiver and the second was a little behind receiver Devante Davis, who tipped it into the waiting hands of Northern Colorado's Ryan Gackle. The third one, though, was a truly bizarre toss that nearly allowed the Bears to record a walk-off pick-six.

After Czapenski’s miss, the Rebels drove down the field and burned up much of the clock. On fourth down at Northern Colorado’s 7-yard line with 12 seconds left, the Rebels called a read option that Decker decided to keep. He rolled out to the right and instead of using up the final seconds by running around or tossing the ball far away he zipped it into a crowd, where Northern Colorado's Courtney Hall caught it and came within a couple of blocks of taking it back for a touchdown. And adding injury to insult, senior receiver Marcus Sullivan went down with an apparent shin injury on the play and had to be helped off the field.

“I’ve just got to throw that out of bounds,” Decker said. “That’s unacceptable.”

Plenty of fans in attendance would use that to describe the Rebels’ performance. Northern Colorado was picked to finish last in the Big Sky Conference after going 0-8 in league games last year. The Bears hadn’t won a road game since 2012, and yet they hung around long enough to get a few chances at it.

UNLV supporters started booing in the third quarter when Northern Colorado tied the game at 10. The Rebels’ running game was actually decent, with George Nahfahu and Keith Whitely combining to gain 172 yards on 34 carries, but they could never find the end zone because drives either stalled or ended with an interception.

“There was something dumb, some little mistake or some penalty that was setting us back,” Decker said.

UNLV defensive back Mike Horsey helped salvage the victory with an interception of his own late in the third quarter. That set up UNLV’s second field goal, this one from Jonathan Leiva at 35 yards. Earlier Nicolai Bornand, the long-distance option, drilled a 54-yarder that tied the school record.

“We had a blitz dialed up, so I knew the ball was coming out hot,” Horsey said. “… All together it was preparation, knowing where my help was and playing good defense.”

The Rebels played quite a bit of that, registering eight tackles for loss, including four sacks. Their biggest problem was penalties, something that played a factor in the Bears’ 97-yard touchdown drive.

“I guess credit to our guys for fighting their way through some fairly adverse circumstances,” Hauck said.

Circumstances they often put themselves into in the first place. The Rebels are happy they won but it should feel closer to relief than anything resembling celebration. This was the only game on the schedule guaranteed to have UNLV as the favorite, and as a four-touchdown favorite the Rebels were lucky to get the straight-up win.

Barring disaster there’s no quarterback change coming, the thing that catapulted last year’s 0-2 team to a 7-6 finish. The Rebels avoided another 0-2 start but even after witnessing last year there seems to be less confidence in a turnaround than there was back then. Of course, the Rebels would point out that a lot can change in a week and this week it's tough to figure out exactly where to start with that turnaround.

"Tiny mistakes," Decker said, "that turn into big results."

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.