UH at UNLV Wrap-Ups

Very late, but here are the links to the articles.

High rollers, by Stephen Tsai

"No excuses," UH defensive end Jake Heun said. "The scoreboard shows what happened. This was preseason stuff going into the (Western Athletic Conference) season. We're going to use this (loss) as a driving force."

Quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich, who called the offensive plays for the second consecutive game, lamented the ones that got away.

"We left too many points on the field in the first half," Rolovich said. "It really shouldn't have been that close at halftime (when UH led 20-14). We did a lot of good things."

Warriors run out of gas on the road, by Jason Kaneshiro

Protecting a five-point lead and 15 yards with less than a minute left, the Warriors took a calculated gamble in blitzing UNLV quarterback Omar Clayton.

Drop Clayton to the Sam Boyd Stadium turf -- as they had done a play earlier -- and the Warriors' odds of escaping town victorious shoot north.

But as he'd done numerous times earlier, Clayton got the throw off before the rush could reach him. And it was UNLV that came out the big winner when Phillip Payne pulled in the lob just inside the boundary with 36 seconds left to send the Rebels to a dramatic 34-33 victory.

"We blitzed and put them back (with a sack) and blitzed again and maybe we went to the well one too many times," UH head coach Greg McMackin said.

Payne turns to pleasure as Rebels click twice on key play, by Adam Hill in a special to the Advertiser.

Late heroics lift Rebels, in the Las Vegas Review Journal is basically the same Adam Hill article with additional news news and notes.

Payne leaps, lands with thrilling Rebels victory, by Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Review Journal

But so many plays went against UNLV, in some ways it was amazing the Rebels were in the game.

Hawaii quarterback Greg Alexander completed 31 of 48 passes for 477 yards and three touchdowns, and three Warriors receivers broke 100 yards. Plus, Clayton threw two interceptions, including one near Hawaii's goal line.

UNLV had another drive stall in the red zone, and kicker Kyle Watson missed a 24-yard field goal.

That same drive, however, opened the second half by taking almost nine minutes off the clock. It not only kept Hawaii's offense off the field, but gave the Rebels confidence they could move the ball.

And they did. Their next -- and final -- three drives ended with touchdowns.

Comin’ up clutch: UNLV prevails late to edge Hawaii, 34-33, by Ryan Greene of the Las Vegas Sun

Hawaii defense gives UNLV credit for pivotal drive, by Rob Meich of the Las Vegas Sun

“Definitely, the energy was back,” Heun said of the moments that followed his sack of Rebels quarterback Omar Clayton in the game’s final minute. “We just couldn’t get it on the next snap. It happens.

“We’ll break down film, look at this and use it as a learning experience. They’re a great team. It’ll help us a lot in WAC play. We’ll bust our (backsides) back in Honolulu. No way this happens again.”

Hawaii coach Greg McMackin might have made a tactical error early in the fourth quarter when the Warriors took a 26-21 lead on Alexander’s 23-yard touchdown strike to wide-open junior receiver Greg Salas.

Instead of attempting a 2-point conversion, junior kicker Scott Enos booted the extra point through the uprights as Warriors coaches tried to call a timeout.

McMackin wasn’t watching because he was busy giving instructions to his defensive players.

“We definitely had some problems,” McMackin said of his defense. “We had to adjust. We could have gone for two. Who knows? We might have missed it … That didn’t really have a difference in the game. It could have gone a bunch of different ways.”

That definitely needs to be ironed out.

UH's Enos kicking it up a notch, by Ferd Lewis has Coach Mack's response to aforementioned extra point situation.

McMackin said, "We could have gone for two (points), who knows, we might have missed it."

McMackin said, "that really didn't have any difference in the game because the game could have gone down a bunch of different ways. We went for two later on so we went right back ahead. (Some) might think that was a big mistake. But, as it turned out, we were in the ballgame. As it ended up, we lost by one.

"Coulda shoulda, we had two chances to (intercept UNLV) at the end of the game and nobody would have ever worried about it."

Well... I'm sure they'll still look into it. Something like that could wind up having a huge impact in a game. If Mack is handling the defense, then another coach should be responsible for whether the team goes for two or not. Just my opinion of course.

Defense does just enough in UNLV victory, by Case Keefer of the Las Vegas Sun

The UNLV defense made enough plays and emerged in key situations to halt Hawaii from leaving Sam Boyd Stadium with a victory.

“We didn’t have the best defensive game,” senior linebacker Jason Beauchamp said. “But we did what we needed to win.”

Instant analysis: What goes around, comes around, by Ron Kantowski of the Las Vegas Sun

Notebook: Victory sweet for UNLV’s Polynesian contingent

"That pride factor that Hawaii plays with every game is a huge advantage that they have, and I just wanted us to have that pride, too, and play with it," said senior long snapper Kamu Kapanui, one of five Rebels who call the Hawaiian islands home. "A lot of the other guys on our team fed off of it from the Polynesian guys. We finally finished. Coach was talking about finishing. It's something coach has talked about for years now, and it feels amazing."

Hawaii slots start strong, by Jason Kaneshiro

Salas entered the game as the nation's leader in receiving yards, and scored the Warriors' first touchdown of the night with a 54-yard reception in the first quarter. He also had a 23-yard scoring reception to ignite a fourth-quarter shootout.

Pilares established career highs in the first half with 12 receptions for 143 yards. His previous best came on the back end of last year's two-game road trip when he had 10 receptions for 90 yards at New Mexico State.

Salas remains the nation's leading receiver, while Greg Alexander leads the nation in total offense. Pilares is fourth in the nation with nine receptions per game. Speaking of which:

Alexander, Pilares in synch against Rebels, by Ferd Lewis. The article also has news and notes about the attendance, UNLV students from Hawaii rooting for UH, and some injury updates:

Wide receiver Jovonte Taylor left the game in the second quarter with an injury to his left ankle.

He said he expects to play in the Louisiana Tech game.

Defensive lineman Vaughn Meatoga also suffered an ankle injury and said he expects to be ready.

Head coach Greg McMackin said he also expects to have defensive ends Fetaiagogo "John" Fonoti and Paipai Falemalu back for Louisiana Tech also.

The stats are nice, however...

Warriors fail to cash in on early chances, by Ferd Lewis

"We're not here to break records; we're here to put points on the board," Rolovich said. "We did a lot of good things and we have a chance to be a very good offense but we need to convert our chances into points, not just yards."

The statistical numbers were particularly lopsided at halftime — 361 yards total offense for UH to UNLV's 196 and 341 UH passing yards to UNLV's 119.

But the story was that UH led just 20-14.

UNLV kept the ball away from UH's run-and-shoot

Alexander said all that waiting around might have hurt the offense's rhythm. But he also pointed back to early in the game.

"We missed a lot of red zone in the first half. We can't be good from 20 to 20. We've got to finish drives."

Field goals are great, but not as the reward for first and goal from the 3. That's like having a hamburger because they're out of ribeye. That's called settling.

"The game shouldn't have been close in the first place," Pilares said. "We've got to be a lot more hungry for (the end zone).

Short snaps: UH vs. UNLV, from the Star-Bulletin