Second half shortage burns Rebels, lose to Bulldogs

Despite holding a lead for the first time under new head coach Marcus Arroyo, UNLV is off to a 0-3 start to the 2020 season.

Fresno State was the latest team to get the upper hand on UNLV, beating the Rebels 40-27 Saturday, Nov. 7.

UNLV’s 0-3 start is the team’s first since 2015 despite putting up it’s highest scoring output in it’s last contest.

The Rebels will attempt to avoid a 0-4 start when they travel to San Jose to face the Spartans Saturday, Nov. 14.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Arroyo is a graduate of San Jose where he set multiple passing records as a quarterback during the late 90’s and early 2000s.

The Rebels will be looking for their first win in San Jose since 1993, prior to Arroyo’s college stint.

Coming into the game, UNLV had scored 12 total points in the first half of it’s first two games of the season.

Running back Charles Williams scored his first touchdown of the season giving UNLV the 7-6 lead in the first quarter.

Williams finished with 89 yards on 27 carries and that one touchdown.

With his performance, Williams moved into fifth place on the program’s career rushing list passing Kirk Jones.

UNLV took another lead right before halftime on a 43-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Max Gilliam to wide receiver Tyleek Collins, for the 17-13 advantage.

At that point, Gilliam had four touchdown passes and no interceptions on the season.

Moreover, he has led four of the six UNLV touchdown drives with at least 11 plays.

However right before halftime, the Rebels turned in their worst drive of the game, a three-and-out that gave the Bulldogs the ball back with a little over two minutes left in the half.

Less than 60 seconds later, Fresno State had regained the lead on a 33-yard touchdown reception.

After closing the first half with a punt, the Rebels opened the second half with a fumble, which was the first turnover of the game at that point.

Gilliam ended the night 15-of-31, passing for 160 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions and a fumble.

It marked his first game with multiple interceptions since October of 2018, sending him to 1-9 as a starter.

“In the second half we had three turnovers,” Arroyo said. “We didn’t execute how we needed in a second half of football and that’s going to put you in a position that’s going to be tough to overcome.”

He did find some success in the running game, racking up 139 yards on 16 carries including a 71-yard touchdown run.

One point of significance for the Rebel offense was their third-down conversions.

UNLV went 11-for-20 on third down while holding Fresno State to 4-for-12.

In addition, the Rebels were able to find success with their pass rush.

Coming into the game, UNLV had four sacks only to add six more against the Bulldogs.

Sophomore Jacoby Windmon led the way with two and half sacks becoming the first Rebel to record more than two sacks in a game since 2006.

Last season, the entire team had 12.5 sacks total.