Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Instant Analysis: UNLV may have found a quarterback in Fresno State victory

Dalton Sneed shows speed, smarts in Rebels’ 45-20 win

UNLV QB Dalton Sneed Touchdown

L.E. Baskow

UNLV QB Dalton Sneed (18) sheds a tackle in hiis end zone and eyes a long touchdown run versus Fresno State at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.

UNLV Football Dominates Fresno State

UNLV QB dalton Sneed (18) looks to avoid a tackle during a run as Fresno State's Tobenna Okeke (56) and Jeff Camilli (42) move in at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016. Launch slideshow »
The Rebel Room

The Need for Sneed

Johnny Stanton is injured so redshirt freshman Dalton Sneed will make his first career start at quarterback on Saturday against Fresno State. Las Vegas Sun sports editor Ray Brewer and reporters Case Keefer and Taylor Bern discuss their expectations for him and the rest of the season following a 1-3 nonconference record.

UNLV football coach Tony Sanchez hoped freshman quarterback Dalton Sneed would give his team a spark in his first career start. Sneed’s effect was more like a mass explosion.

Sneed detonated midway through the third quarter Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium, blowing up a portion of the Rebels’ record book in the process. The 19-year-old redshirt freshman from Scottsdale, Ariz., notched not only the longest rush in UNLV history, but the longest play from scrimmage, with a 91-yard touchdown run that ensured an eventual 45-20 victory over Fresno State.

Sneed covered way more ground than 91 yards on the scamper as he backpedaled to escape a sack that would have resulted in a safety and ran laterally before taking off through the defense like he was on rocket skates.

Sneed put up 270 yards of total offense that came with one pressing question: Why was he not playing all along? Johnny Stanton, whom Sneed replaced because of injury, can run, but not like that.

Sanchez wants to use Las Vegas glitz to sell his vision for the program. Now he’s got a player at the most important position who’s at least shown a glimmer that could match.

Wondering why Sneed wasn’t given an opportunity sooner is about the only second-guessing of the coaching staff that can come out of this night. Sanchez had his team more than ready to play, as the Rebels didn’t show any lingering effects of a three-game losing streak that turned embarrassing with last week’s defeat to Idaho.

UNLV was up 21-7 by halftime, and Fresno State never got the deficit down to single digits. The Rebels imposed their will on the Bulldogs, playing like and proving they were the better team.

That might not sound like much given the recent troubles of Fresno State (1-4), but it was just three years ago when UNLV was a 25-point underdog in the series. The idea of UNLV being in a better spot as a program seemed much further away than 2016 back then.

Fresno State loaded the box and dared UNLV to throw from the start of the game. Sanchez was undeterred; he wanted to run, so the Rebels ran.

They ran on 27 of their first 33 plays, including 13 of 14 on their first scoring drive. Freshman Fresno native Charles Williams took the lead, finishing with 153 rushing yards on 18 carries.

The ground assault lulled the Bulldogs to sleep, setting up a wide-open 61-yard touchdown pass from Sneed to fellow freshman Elijah Trosclair, his first career reception, right before halftime. Sneed seemed capable of throwing, averaging 8.1 yards per attempt on 8-for-16 passing, but the real test might not come until next week’s trip to San Diego State.

The Rebels didn’t need him to do anything in the passing game except not turn the ball over against the Bulldogs, and he succeeded. Sneed delivered Sanchez the largest of his three Mountain West Conference victories.

There’s a long way to go, of course. UNLV has now won its league opener in four of five seasons, and only one of the previous bunch ended positively.

But UNLV desperately needed some kind of sign that it was still positioned to move forward in conference play after the disappointment of last week. Sneed provided a rather bright one.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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