RENO

They fumbled the ball away twice. They completed just 3 of 10 passes for a pathetic 11 yards. They allowed the opposing quarterback to hit 21 of 31 attempts for 265 yards. They had a measly 16-yard punt.

They were stopped from scoring on one short drive by four -- FOUR! -- penalties inside the 20-yard line.

That the UNLV Rebels were still within a touchdown and a two-point conversion of UNR, and had possession of the ball, with under six minutes to play Saturday night at Mackay Stadium was amazing.

More staggering, though, was that these once-promising Rebels appeared to have dramatically and painfully regressed from their first game of the season, just 12 days earlier.

So much potential, so much hope after UNLV rallied from a 17-point first-quarter deficit at New Mexico on Sept. 5, before falling, 24-22.

Two games later, the Rebels are squarely back at square one, after dropping an ugly 22-14 decision to the Wolf Pack, their bitter in-state rivals.

Yes, we had a hint of the backslide last week, when UNLV struggled to beat Idaho 34-31 -- on a last-second field goal, mind you -- at Sam Boyd Stadium.

But this confirmed it.

The Rebels have gone back in time, to the first day of spring practice under new head coach Mike Sanford. Shake hands and introduce yourselves, guys. Time to start over.

To think, after that impressive battle back against New Mexico -- UNLV quarterback Shane Steichen intercepted late as the Rebels had one final chance at pulling out the improbable victory -- I wrote that the offense needed only a couple of turns of a screwdriver, not a few whacks of a hammer.

Umm, bring out the hammer.

Not to take anything away from the Wolf Pack's defensive scheme which had the Rebels' receivers blanketed for much of the night, but UNLV just couldn't make any in-game adjustments to free up its pass-catchers.

As a result, Steichen, who had thrown for 477 yards in the Rebels' 1-1 season start, was held to 58 yards on 7-for-25 passing. Forty-seven of those yards came inside the final four minutes as the junior rallied UNLV for a late score.

Steichen had just two completions and 1 yard passing in the first half.

If not for gaining 205 yards on the ground -- 70 of those on a first-quarter touchdown run by Steichen -- the Rebels' offense would have been nonexistent.

But it just wasn't a lack of physical proficiency on offense that cost UNLV. The Rebels simply played brain-dead at times.

Never was that more obvious than early in the second quarter when they took possession at the UNR 19-yard line, following a Wolf Pack fumble.

After moving the ball to the UNR 6, a false-start penalty pushed the Rebels back to the 11. Two plays later, a 10-yard run by Steichen to the 2 was called back when UNLV was flagged for clipping.

Two plays after that, Steichen appeared to have hit tight end Greg Estandia on a 17-yard TD pass, but the play was called back when the Rebels were guilty of an illegal shift. Then on the next play, a completion to halfback Tremayne Kirkland at the UNR 1 was brought back when UNLV was called for a hold.

To put an exclamation point to the problem-plagued possession, Steichen then was sacked for 15 yards on third-and-goal from the 27.

Seven plays, a minus-23 yards, three great plays wasted.

"We were inefficient in the red zone," Sanford said. "We had a lot of chances we didn't take advantage of. We were ineffective in the passing game. We didn't handle blitz situations well. We turned the ball over. We didn't do what we had to do, it's as simple as that. I don't know what else to say. ...

"I think the key thing is that we have to grow from it and move forward. You don't look at something as a step back, as a permanent step back. Yes, we did take a step back, but we've got to turn it into a positive and take a step forward."

After Saturday night, where else is there for the Rebels to go?

Joe Hawk's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 387-2912 or jhawk@reviewjournal.com.