Rebels Blown Away

The Rebels were extremely confident that their current skid would end at Sam Boyd on Saturday against Colorado State. Despite history working against them (Colorado State owns the all time series 10-4) and having never successfully defended their home turf things were promising. After all the Rams were 0-6 (they had lost 13 straight dating back to last year) and were coming off a blow out loss to BYU. The one thing that raised a red flag was the start of the Rebels second freshmen quarterback of the season, Omar Clayton.

The concerns became a nightmare as the Rebels were blown away yet again. Not just by fierce wind gusts that engulfed Sam Boyd Stadium throughout the night but by Colorado State’s unstoppable running game. Coupled with freshmen jitters that led to Clayton compiling five turnovers everything seemed to blow against UNLV in a 48-23 trouncing.

The Rebels first two possessions ended sourly as Clayton would fumble the ball away leading to two Colorado State touchdowns. He struggled mightily and at times looked dazed and confused before gaining some composure and settling down. He would end the night with 304 yards through the air and 135 on the ground. Clayton would become the Rebels first 300 yards passer junior Rocky Hinds’ performance in the season closer.

Wind gusts of more than 50 mph led the  grand majority of the 19,266 fans to leave early which in a sense was a good thing. Everything that could have blown in favor of the Rams did.  During a kickoff following a Colorado State touchdown the wind caught the ball in midair and after hanging in the air for a bit fell to the ground and was recovered by the Rams.

The Rebels despite advancing were unable to muster any form of consistency as the Ram defense would buckle down keeping punter Brian Pacheco busy. By halftime the same old story from years before reared its ugly head as the Rebels trailed 24-3.

The third quarter was highlighted by Clayton’s 56 yard strike to Frank Summers who rumbled his to the endzone. Following a field goal by Aguayo, the Rebels were able to muster another score on the Summer’s express inching within 10. Unfortunately that is a close as they would get as the Rams next possesion was capped off by CSU quarterback Caleb Hanie throwing a 34-yard strike to Damon Morton.

The slap in the face came as Clayton was intercepted at the Ram 1-yard line by Zac Bryson who ran it back 99 yards. Minutes later, running back Ryan Myers further added salt to the wound by scoring on a 22-yard scamper sealing the Rebels with another disgusting effort against the run. UNLV gave up 267 yards on the ground this time around

Since that amazing win against Utah the Rebels have lost four straight games giving up more than 450 yards in each contest. The run defense is just as horrid coughing up over a 170 yards to opponnents. The anemic offense has not helped as the Rebels have not scored more than 25 points in any of those contests. This also marks UNLV’s six straight loss in a homecoming game as the Rebels fell to 21-19 overall on homecoming games.

Possitives:

Beau Belle continues to shine on defense with yet another double digit tackle performance mustering 10. He is two tackles away from moving into fifth place in school history sitting at 278.

Sophomore Ryan Wolfe set a career high in receptions with 11, ranking fourth in school history.

The offense showed signs of life mustering 559 yards of total offense, ironically enough the most since a win over Colorado State back in 2002.

Casey Flair extended his consecutive catches streak to 31 games following his first receptioon early in the first quarter.
and finally

Despite his turnovers, Clayton became the first player in UNLV history to throw for more than 300 yards and rush for more than 100 yards in a game.

~ by abelmares08 on October 23, 2007.