Ouch! Saturday night's game was absolutely horrible for the Rebels. 30-0 until with about 2 minutes left in the game when Caleb Herring tossed a 55 yard pass to Phillip Payne and then threw it to Payne again for a 12 yard touchdown. The Rebels played just the opposite of that during the whole game. Idaho came right out and beat up on us on the ground and in the air. The first drive for Idaho, who received the ball in the first half, went 13 plays in a little over 6 minutes for a rushing touchdown on 4th and goal. Sadly, we should have stopped them, but that was the story all night long, missed tackles leading to Vandal first downs.
I personally was embarrassed by the game and would not read after the jump unless you did not see the game, it will not be pretty...
The field position battle was being won by the Rebels, Idaho began at their own 8 yard line and we should have been able to get a stop at some point. But instead the Vandals went 92 yards in 12 plays for a 17 yard passing touchdown. 17-0 is now the score and I was ashamed to even be watching such a horrendous game by the Rebels.
The Rebels next drive actually went fairly well, driving from the UNLV 12 out to the Idaho 41 before having to punt the ball away again because we could not get into field goal range. The sad thing is that the punt return went out to the Idaho 44 and Nathan Enderle yet again had a short field. He took total advantage, going 54 yards on 1st down to the UNLV 2 and then letting Deonte' Jackson punt it in for a touchdown. Wow, this is just sad, it is 24-0 with a little over 6:00 left in the first half.
I think you know the script by now. UNLV's next drive is a three and out that went -13 yards. The Vandals should have scored on this drive, but because of an chop block penalty on the touchdown play from the UNLV 5, UNLV got another chance at stopping Idaho. They took advantage on 2nd and goal from the UNLV 20, picking off Enderle in the endzone to avoid going down by 5 scores. UNLV was just idiotic at this point, they got the ball back with 2:51 left and rushed the ball for 6 straight plays before the end of the half...
UNLV got the ball first in the second half and you had to wonder if Hauck was able to say something to the team in order to make them play competitively, that didn't happen. Instead we had a 15 yard personal foul off after a 4 yard rush by Channing Trotter, making it 1st and 21 from the UNLV 14. Clayton was then sacked and forced to fumble, giving the ball back to Idaho at the UNLV 8. The good news is that UNLV's defense actually showed up here, they got it down to 4th and goal from the 2 and Enderle threw an incomplete pass to give UNLV the ball back.
Of course we can't move the ball or punt, so our punter is punting from the endzone and only punts to the UNLV 30.. We actually get a three and out, but it doesn't matter, Idaho was already in field goal range so they now go up 27-0. We then traded drives in which we both got a couple first downs but had to punt. Traded three and outs, and then Caleb Herring came in. He looked really good before throwing a pick...
Idaho then took that and drove to the UNLV 10 before kicking a field goal to go up 30-0. I wasn't even paying attention to the game at this point, being down 5 scores with 3:10 left. Then of course Herring showed why he is so highly touted. A perfect 55 yard toss to Phillip Payne on 1st down put the Rebels at the Idaho 15. Herring was sacked, but that didn't stop him from throwing a 25 yard touchdown pass to Phillip Payne to avoid the 30-0 shutout. Idaho then just ran out the clock and Hauck wasn't stopping them.
You can't really take anything out of this other than Caleb Herring is more of a drop back passer then Omar Clayton or Mike Clausen (By the way, he moved to safety). He is more suited for Hauck's offense and that might allow for him to steal the starting job from Clayton, although personally I don't know if any QB can hold on to it...
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