UNLV football falls to Fresno State, can still make bowl with 2 games to play

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022 | 12:11 a.m.

The UNLV football team is officially in must-win mode for the rest of the season after Friday’s 37-30 loss to Fresno State.

After dropping the back-and-forth affair at Allegiant Stadium — the fifth straight loss for the Scarlet and Gray — UNLV is now 4-6 on the year, with two contests remaining.

The magic number for bowl eligibility is six wins.

That makes for a very simple equation: Marcus Arroyo will have to guide his team to victory against Hawaii (Nov. 19) and UNR (Nov. 26) in order to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2013.

It’s not an enviable position, and UNLV almost avoided it by shocking Fresno State. The Scarlet and Gray used a strong running game to take a 16-14 lead into halftime, and when Aidan Robbins broke free on 4^th-and-inches early in the fourth quarter and sprinted for a 66-yard touchdown to tie the game, it looked like UNLV might be able to spring the upset.

Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener immediately tossed a 65-yard touchdown to Jalen Cropper, however, and UNLV found itself in another 4^th-and-inches situation moments later.

Arroyo called another handoff to Robbins, but instead of going for a long touchdown (or even a first down), this one got stopped in the backfield by a bushel of unblocked Fresno State defenders.

Fresno used the short field to tack on a field goal and make it 37-27 with three minutes to play, and that was that.

Robbins was UNLV’s best offensive weapon all night (26 carries, 144 yards, one TD) and Arroyo said only the benefit of hindsight could make him question his decision to give Robbins the ball again.

“Had the right call on there,” Arroyo said. “Shoot, I’d take it back and do something different, but the reality is we had a perfect call on. [Fresno State] made a good play.”

The good news for UNLV is that though the team hasn’t won a game since September, they have played reasonably well over the past two weeks since quarterback Doug Brumfield returned from injury. On Saturday they were edged at San Diego State, 17-14, and the Fresno State contest could have gone either way.

It stands to reason that if UNLV can maintain that level of performance against Hawaii and UNR — two of the worst teams in the conference — it should result two easy wins and a trip to an exotic bowl location.

Hawaii and UNR are a combined 4-15 on the year and 1-9 in conference play, and the only reason they’ve got a Mountain West win between them is because they faced each other a month ago (Hawaii came out on top). To say UNLV still controls its own destiny would be an understatement.

At UNLV’s post-game press conference, Robbins had already turned his attention to the task at hand.

“We’re all eyes on Hawaii now,” Robbins said.

Arroyo said the month-and-a-half of losing hasn’t dampened the players’ spirits and that he still expects them to punch a ticket to a bowl game.

“These guys are going to finish,” Arroyo said. “They like to fight. This is going to be a good finish.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.