Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Rebels Football:

No progress apparent in UNLV’s latest loss, 33-10 at San Jose State

UNLV football at San Jose State

Ben Margot / AP

San Jose State’s Joe Gray (6) celebrates after scoring against UNLV during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014, in San Jose, Calif.

UNLV football at San Jose State 10-4-14

UNLV quarterback Blake Decker, right, passes under pressure from San Jose State's Vince Buhagiar (36) during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014, in San Jose, Calif. Launch slideshow »

The first half of tonight’s game, which presented a chance to save or at least let some light into this wretched UNLV season, featured the road team at peak Rebel. For those who have suffered through enough UNLV performances this year to know their tendencies, it was like a band eschewing the hits for its deep cuts that everyone recognizes but no one wants to hear.

It started with UNLV’s opening offensive drive, a pristine 11-play, 60-yard touchdown effort. It’s the fifth time the Rebels have scored on their first drive, and it only serves to further infuriate fans when that same offense sputters immediately afterward.

Some of the other lowlights: Allowing a long third-down conversion that helped enable a scoring drive, giving up a score in the final minute of the first half for the fourth time this year and a special teams’ blunder, this one Nicolai Bornand fumbling a snapped punt inside UNLV’s 10-yard line.

The first 30 minutes were so lopsided that it didn’t really matter UNLV trailed by only nine at halftime. It was going to get worse, and it often looked like the Rebels weren’t even capable of doing anything about it.

“We’re trying to figure it out, just like everybody else,” said running back Keith Whitely after UNLV’s 33-10 loss at San Jose State.

Whitely was talking about the offense’s regular disappearing act, but it works as a summation of the entire season, too. The Rebels (1-5, 0-2) know their problems, yet six games into the season they don’t appear to be any closer to fixing them.

“The first week of October is over and we’ve got a lot of things that we need to do better if we’re going to have a chance to win some games,” said coach Bobby Hauck, who briefly stormed out of his postgame press conference before returning to finish the session and apologize to reporters.

The frustration has probably reached a boiling point for a lot of Rebels. Already mired in an ugly season, a trip to Spartan Stadium offered some hope. The Spartans (2-3, 1-1) were also on a three-game losing streak and their offense came in averaging fewer points than the Rebels.

None of that mattered.

At halftime, San Jose State had doubled up the Rebels in yards (262-131) and time of possession (20:18-9:42), making the game feel already out of reach. UNLV’s defense came into the game giving up the most yards and second-most points in the Mountain West, largely because they’re on the field so much. Over the second and third quarters the Rebels accumulated only three combined first downs.

“Defensively, they’re playing their butt off for us,” Whitely said. “Offensively, we’re only scoring, what, 17 or 10 points a game? You can’t win like that.”

No one can blame it on one quarterback, either. Blake Decker went 6-of-10 for 71 yards with 22 rushing yards and a touchdown in the first half and then didn’t play the rest of the way because of an arm injury. Fellow junior Nick Sherry came in and nearly got his first pass intercepted, finishing 5-of-18 for 45 yards with an interception.

The Rebels played again without top receiver Devante Davis (arm injury) and even Whitely, one of the few bright spots, couldn’t get out unscathed. He averaged 6.1 yards on 13 carries but left the game with a leg injury.

A victory tonight was always a stretch for the Rebels. But progress? Optimism? That seemed within reach. Instead, UNLV left with its fourth straight loss and nothing to build on.

What is there to learn from the same mistakes over and over again? The Rebels are losing these games by an average of 26.4 points per game, and the lone victory remains an error-filled, one-point escape at home against Northern Colorado.

Giving up isn’t really an option, though. There are still more games ahead than behind, and they’re coming whether the Rebels get ready or not.

In a down year for the Mountain West, UNLV is on the verge of an historically bad season. The only people capable of preventing that are the ones in the locker room, just trying to figure it out like everybody else.

“It’s easy to blame people but that’s not the route we’re taking,” Whitely said. “We’re trying to keep this together. We just have got to find something. It’s got to come from something bigger.”

Scoggins hospitalized before game

Prior to kickoff, sophomore offensive lineman Ron Scoggins was taken from Spartan Stadium to a nearby hospital for an undisclosed illness. The Bishop Gorman High grad is in good condition, according to UNLV sports information director Mark Wallington, and will stay overnight in San Jose before flying back to Las Vegas on Sunday.

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

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