Saturday, November 5, 2011

UNLV Loses To Boise State But Cover The Spread

From the Las Vegas Sun: UNLV will always have that first half.
The Rebels kept it interesting for a little more than 30 minutes of game time, but ultimately, the fifth-ranked team in the nation, predictably, was too much to hold down for an entire 60. Boise State came, saw and conquered UNLV on Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium, 48-21.
UNLV registered only the third sack this season of Boise State star senior quarterback Kellen Moore, but couldn't hand him his third career loss as a starter. Instead, Moore erupted quietly, completing 18 of 31 pass attempts for 224 yards and five touchdowns.
But in the second half, no one might have been more important for the Broncos than running back D.J. Harper. Fellow senior Doug Martin left with an injury after only six carries, but Harper stepped in and went for 109 yards off of 13 carries, including a dagger of a 36-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. Boise State finished with 185 yards on the ground after only totaling 19 in the first half.
On the UNLV side, Caleb Herring with an undisclosed injury that looked like a possible concussion in the second half, but had a memorable first half showing. He finished the night 12-of-17 for 114 yards and a TD, and also picked up 40 yards on the ground. Unfortunately, though, UNLV's run game couldn't sustain its momentum from recent weeks, and in the second half, the Rebels' young offensive line slowly got worn down by Boise State's fierce, veteran front. Surging freshman back Dionza Bradford had a big early score, but on the night had only 46 yards off of 16 totes. Bradley Randle, in a backup role with sophomore Tim Cornett suspended, had 91 yards off of nine carries, including a 55-yarder in the final minute. Also late in the game, senior receiver Phillip Payne caught his program-record 26th career touchdown pass off of a 13-yard toss from Sean Reilly. Payne had seven catches for 60 yards.
The Rebels, however, have that strong first half showing to hang their hats on as they now prepare for their most winnable game remaining on the schedule next Saturday at New Mexico. A 35-7 loss earlier in the day at home to San Diego State dropped the Lobos to 0-9 on the season and 0-4 in the Mountain West.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/nov/05/unlv-boisestate-blog-110511/
Boise State was favored by about 41 points before UNLV suspended 5 players, so for the Rebels to lose by 27 points to the number 5 team in the country really isn't that bad, considering.
I really had high hopes for the somewhat new football coach of the Rebels, Bobby Hauck. He has won national championships when he coached up in Montana, so he knows how to win.
But the Rebels have not improved that much under Hauck and that troubles me. He's lost some good recruits from the Las Vegas area to UNR and other surrounding colleges and the Rebels have lost some games they shouldn't have.
Hopefully, the Rebels finish the season strong and will start to see major improvement in the next season.

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