LAS VEGAS >> It has been a long season for the University of Nevada-Las Vegas football team. The Rebels came into Saturday’s home game against Hawaii with a 2-7 record, 0-5 in Mountain West play.
There were a litany of reasons, but one that stood out was that UNLV had forced just six turnovers in nine games.
Which made the first quarter on Saturday so shocking. The Rebels intercepted Chevan Cordeiro twice and forced a fumble that they recovered as well. Add in a fourth-down stop on a Rainbow Warriors drive into the red zone in the second quarter and that’s basically four takeaways for the UNLV defense.
But …
When Hawaii got the ball for its final first-half possession with three minutes, 56 seconds to go, the Rainbow Warriors trailed by a score of just 7-0. Hawaii ended up going on a 10-play, 90-yard drive to tie the score. In the second half, the Rainbow Warriors got an interception return for a touchdown and another touchdown drive to come away with a 21-7 win in the team’s final trip to Sam Boyd Stadium.
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“It’s very frustrating,” UNLV linebacker Rayshad Jackson said. “It was a winnable game. We came in with a plan to beat this team and unfortunately we came out as the losers.”
Rebels quarterback Kenyon Oblad connected on a 31-yard touchdown pass to Darien Woods Jr. after the fumble recovery. But a missed field goal after a three-and-out after one interception was a key, according to UNLV coach Tony Sanchez.
“The hard thing is, three turnovers in the first half and you get seven points out of it,” Sanchez said. “One of the big things is after turnovers and after getting stops is getting big scores. Some of their turnovers, though, happened deep in their end, so we had a long field to drive.”
Said Oblad, “It’s pretty frustrating. The defense played amazing and we should have rewarded them with better play on the offense.”
Jericho Flowers had both interceptions; one likely prevented a Hawaii score and the second should have set up points for the Rebels. On the Warriors’ first possession, they marched down to the UNLV 27, but on a first-down play, the redshirt freshman Cordeiro, making his second start this season, found Flowers in the end zone instead of his own man.
After the Rebels went up 7-0, Hawaii’s next possession lasted just two plays when Flowers picked off Cordeiro and returned it to the Warriors 31. Three plays netted just 6 yards, and on the first play of the second quarter, Daniel Gutierrez pushed his 42-yard field-goal attempt wide left.
Flowers said it was gratifying to finally take the ball away from an opponent.
“If you go back to the beginning of the season, we didn’t force too many turnovers,” Flowers said. “That was a big thing we just keep talking about, talking about in our meeting room.”
The UNLV defense came up big again on a fourth-and-goal from the 3. Cole McDonald, who had come on in relief of Cordeiro, completed a pass to Fred Holly III, but Javin White got the stop to end the drive. The Rebels drove out to midfield before punting. Hawaii responded with the tying touchdown drive and turned the game.
