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The saying goes, ‘If you have two quarterbacks, you have none.’
What happens if you have three though?
Regardless of the answer UNLV couldn’t find it’s footing offensively, losing it’s season opener against San Diego State, 34-6.
“The guys are obviously upset but we played a really, really good football team tonight,” head coach Marcus Arroyo said. “Hats off to coach [Brady] Hoke.”
Senior quarterback Max Gilliam got the start after no starter was named heading into the game and even warm ups.
The belief was Arroyo planned to play all three of his quarterbacks, sophomores Kenyon Oblad and Justin Rogers, in order to get a better idea of who to play long-term.
Good news is, all three played in the first half. Bad news is, not very much offense came from all three.
After the first 30 minutes of play, UNLV quarterbacks combined to go 5-for-11, but had yet to pass for positive yardage.
At the halftime mark, SDSU held the 101-0 advantage in the passing game.
UNLV’s next game is the team’s home opener at Allegiant Stadium against in-state rival, Nevada – Reno, on Halloween night.
The Rebels would find offensive success later in the game with Gilliam under center.
He finished with 105 yards on 13-of-21 passing and a touchdown but he was sacked four times.
“We calmed down in the second half and did things we were practicing. We’ll do better at that moving forward,” Arroyo said.
Sophomore wide receiver Steve Jenkins caught the lone Rebel touchdown on the night and posted a stat line of five receptions for 44 yards.
Freshman Kyle Williams reeled in three passes for 33 yards in his first collegiate game.
Senior running back Charles Williams rushed for 80 yards on carries after posting over 2,000 yards rushing last season.
Coming into this season, Williams ranks seventh all-time in career rushing for the Rebel football program.
Despite the late success, UNLV was already placed behind the eight ball heading into halftime down 27-0.
“[With not much time to prepare] we finally got to see some speed and live tackling and it took some time for us to adjust,” Arroyo said.
By the conclusion of the game, SDSU had only ran seven more plays than UNLV but had nearly 240 more yards than it’s opponent.
The Aztecs only held the ball for two and a half more minutes than the Rebels.
One major discrepancy between the two teams were third down conversions which saw SDSU convert six of it’s 15 attempts while UNLV went 1-for-15.