Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

UNLV Football:

Rebels don’t muster much fight in 34-17 loss at San Diego State

Bobby Hauck-UNLV

ASSOCIATED PRESS

UNLV head coach Bobby Hauck during the first half of an NCAA football game against Arizona on Friday, Aug. 29, 2014, in Tucson, Ariz.

The Rebel Room

How Bad Will it Get for UNLV Football?

Las Vegas Sun sports writers Ray Brewer, Case Keefer and Taylor Bern get into some numbers behind UNLV's dreadful 1-3 start to the season and make predictions on what's still to come. Well, at least two of them do.

When UNLV coach Bobby Hauck said his team was a little snakebit, he had specific plays from the third quarter in mind.

There was the interception San Diego State made because UNLV’s George Naufahu let a ball bounce off him, the interception UNLV didn’t make that resulted in a first-down completion for SDSU and the 43-yard field goal attempt UNLV’s Jonathan Leiva clanged off the right upright.

San Diego State kicker Donald Hageman would later bank in a 31-yarder off the same post for the final points in the Aztecs’ 34-17 victory tonight at Qualcomm Stadium.

“That’s the story of the game a little bit,” Hauck said.

That’s one story. Another version sees the Rebels’ inability to make even the simple plays a sign of regression rather than bad luck, and perhaps the problem on the field goal wasn’t the piece of metal so much as the decision to kick on fourth and 5 at the Aztecs’ 26 in an 18-point game.

The strange kicking would become a theme for the Rebels (1-4) as the final minutes ticked off toward their third straight loss. In the final four minutes, trailing by 17, Hauck elected to punt and then used his timeouts on San Diego State’s ensuing drive in order to get the ball back. And when the Rebels got the ball back, they went for it on fourth down.

A lot of the numbers ended up about the same — UNLV had 26 first downs, SDSU 25; UNLV had 455 offensive yards, SDSU 466 — but not much was even while the game was playing out. From the first drive, when the Rebels settled for a short field goal on fourth and 2 at the 5-yard line, it was clearly an uphill battle for UNLV.

That’s what happens with a defense capable of giving up a 71-yard score at any moment. That’s how far SDSU sophomore running back Donnel Pumphrey went on the Aztecs’ first play after UNLV’s field goal. The Canyon Springs High grad would go on to finish with a career-high four touchdowns and 22 carries to go with a career-high-tying 167 yards.

Giving up big running plays isn’t new for the Rebels. And while injuries were certainly a factor, the defense had some help in the secondary it wasn’t expecting, at least if the Rebels read their own injury report.

Safety Mike Horsey, one of 14 players listed Tuesday as out, started. Senior receiver Marcus Sullivan, also listed as out, played nearly the entire game, and five of the six players marked doubtful saw the field. Whether purposeful or not, that injury report was full of misleading information, including about senior receiver Devante Davis.

“The only surprise was when I saw an injury list of 31 guys; all of them played but one, I think,” SDSU coach Rocky Long said.

Listed as questionable with a hand injury, Davis never suited up and appeared to have a cast on his right arm. Walking out of the stadium afterward, he had the arm propped up in a sling.

“Week to week is what I would term it,” Hauck said of Davis’ status. “I didn’t think he was going to play last week and he played, then we held him this week. We’ll see next week.”

Asked whether Davis had undergone surgery, Hauck responded: “That’s all I can say.”

Moving forward, this game film isn’t likely to produce much positivity for the Rebels to try to build on heading into next week’s game at San Jose State. Quarterback Blake Decker finished 18-of-31 with two interceptions, six sacks and 346 yards that were mostly compiled when the game was out of reach.

“You get out there and you feel like you’re hanging with these teams and we’re playing well, and then little mistakes that we make are shooting ourselves in the foot,” Decker said. “I know it sounds like a broken record because it’s week in and week out, but I feel like we’re hanging in tough.”

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

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy