Three takeaways from UNLV’s 50-37 loss at San Jose State on Saturday at CEFCU Stadium.
Football
The Spartans, who began the season 0-7, rolled up 506 total yards against a UNLV defense that grows worse by the week.
Thoughts of regaining its footing and possibly again creating a legitimate path to bowl eligibility were pretty much crushed Friday night when UNLV fell to Air Force 41-35 at Sam Boyd Stadium.
Losing starting quarterback Armani Rogers indefinitely this week to a toe injury is hardly a desired reality, but this is the sort of moment coach Tony Sanchez has prepared for through recruiting.
If you were to put pen to paper and describe the hopes and dreams of those at UNLV when it comes to building football at a Group of Five institution, it would likely resemble more of the Red Wolves than you might imagine from a place so far away and dissimilar.
UNLV amassed 414 yards rushing in drilling Texas-El Paso 52-24 on Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium.
In 1968, an offense that included nine freshmen, a sophomore and a senior quarterback with a bad ankle ran the snot out of a play called 20-trap-pass, and so was born a program.
That the Rebels dropped a 43-21 decision to the Trojans on Saturday isn’t nearly the most important chapter early in Tony Sanchez’s fourth year as UNLV coach.
Saturday marks just the second time UNLV football will meet Southern California, the first being a 1997 game in which Jon Denton and the Rebels had a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter before falling.
Cristian Garcia reached his current position through hard work and faith and defying odds, along the way stepping in to prevent a 19-year-old woman from a possible sexual assault.
Sanchez had a choice about how to assemble from scratch — there is no such thing thing as rebuilding a program with one winning season since 2001 — and wisely picked the correct but yet often painstakingly slow option.
In going 5-7 last season, UNLV still allowed averages of 31.8 points and 458.7 yards, still ranked ninth among 12 conference teams in total defense and still struggled forcing turnovers.
The reality of being a Group of Five football program in 2018 is that you can’t be 80 or 90 or even 99 percent in and stand even the minuscule chance you already have of being relevant.