Sturdy ground game flattens Hawaii, keys UNLV’s third win

It's skewed in a way. The total through nine games includes a 517-yard effort against awful Idaho State, which I am fairly certain the lunatic wearing a red hat and acting as lead cheerleader on UNLV's football sideline each week could run for over 100 against.

While wearing no pads and doing cartwheels between snaps.

I'm not sure what that guy has written on the paper he carries around, but it's my goal to find out before season's end.

But in now winning at least three games in a season for only the fourth time in 12 years, the Rebels have remained fairly consistent in an incredibly significant area: They have run the ball against most everyone.

UNLV on Saturday afternoon, which eventually turned into Saturday night following a game that lasted more than 210 minutes but seemed like 410, slid past its projected season win total by downing Hawaii 41-21 before an announced crowd of 20,006 at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Of 547 yards amassed by the Rebels, 289 came on the ground. When it was time to finally put the woeful Rainbow Warriors away for good, UNLV went 42 yards on eight plays for a score that pushed its lead to 20.

Of those eight plays, seven were runs.

When it came to winning time, UNLV took the toughness route.

"The coaches kept telling us, 'This is going to be a run game, this is going to be a run game,'" freshman Lexington Thomas said. "So we all ran hard and had a wonderful result."

Thomas rushed 17 times for a career-best 120 yards and a score; Keith Whitely gained a career-high 124 yards on 21 carries, and the junior scored UNLV's final touchdown following that eight-play drive. It was the first time he reached the 100-yard mark in college. Whitely ran so well that he managed to elude all postgame interview requests. Now that's fast.

It has been more common than not under first-year coach Tony Sanchez, UNLV offering offensive balance via the run. The Rebels have rushed for at least 164 yards in all but two games, held to 92 at Michigan and to 100 against Boise State last week. It's also true the Wolverines and Broncos offered the best, most physical defensive fronts UNLV has opposed.

The Rebels entered Saturday ranked 34th nationally in rushing with a 199.4 average, again a number helped significantly by the September outburst against a Bengals team the lunatic in the red hat could tear up.

But the Rebels also rushed for 181 yards against UCLA. It's definitely a strength, and was again in the team's third win against six losses.

"(Running the ball) was a big emphasis coming in," Sanchez said. "We had some great offensive productivity in a (55-27 loss against Boise State), but we were very one dimensional. We needed to create some balance this week and control the pace of the game. Our ability to run the football was a big key in us getting this victory.

"I'm excited for the guys. That elusive (third win) has been a benchmark. It's not the goal by any means, but we can now show on paper that we are improving. It's a big deal. We've shown everyone we can fight and will play for four quarters of football. We're getting better."

Results are what they are, but you can't watch the Rebels being led by Blake Decker at quarterback and not think they might have beaten either San Jose State or Fresno State had the senior not missed those losses (by six and three points) because of injury.

Or, well, both.

Decker passed for 258 yards Saturday, including scores of 75 and 85 yards, and still left some points on the field. He also understood better than anyone else how critical those rushing yards were to the process.

"Any time you run the ball like that, it opens up passing lanes and sucks everybody into the box," Decker said. "It opens up our whole offense and makes it easy for us."

Easy is a relative term based on opponent. Hawaii has lost seven straight, fired its coach last weekend and might have had more players get injured Saturday than there were official reviews of plays, which I stopped counting at 134.

If you think teams such as Texas Christian and Michigan State and Louisiana State had bad days, you missed the clown show that was the officiating crew for UNLV-Hawaii.

But unlike at Fresno State, the Rebels finished a team against which it had more skill. The latter probably won't be the case the next few weeks (at Colorado State and home to San Diego State), but running the ball has a way of narrowing those gaps in ability.

It's one thing UNLV has proven capable of doing.

— Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be a heard on "Seat and Ed" on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow him: @edgraney