UNLV Wins Home Opener

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV (1-0) used a dominating early offensive performance to earn an opening-week win for only the third time in the last 13 seasons, 52-21, over Idaho State (0-1) in front of 19,579 fans at Allegiant Stadium Saturday afternoon.

In what was the earliest game in school history by two days, the Rebels celebrated kicking off their 55th year of football by scoring on all seven first-half drives to run up a 45-7 halftime lead and then resting nearly every one of their starting skill players for the remainder of the day. The explosion, which came on the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders' natural grass turf, included tying the school record for most points in a quarter with 35 in the second (tying the same number vs. Idaho State in 2015). It was the most second-quarter points ever scored by UNLV, besting the 31 scored vs. North Texas in 2000.

Sophomore quarterback Doug Brumfield turned in the second-most efficient passing game in school history, completing 21-of-25 attempts for 356 yards and four touchdowns – with all but one, five-yard completion coming in the first half. The 84-percent completion rate ranked just behind Caleb Herring's school-record 85.7-clip vs. Central Michigan in 2013 (minimum 20 attempts).

Brumfield's main target was newcomer Ricky White as the Michigan State transfer wide receiver was scintillating in his Rebel debut, catching all eight passes thrown his way for 182 yards and two touchdowns – all coming in the first two quarters before getting the second half off.

The Rebel defense turned in five quarterback sacks and won the turnover battle 1-0 thanks to Super Senior Austin Ajiake's first career interception, which he returned 47 yards to set up a UNLV score. New linebacker Fred Thompson led all tacklers with 10.
 

REBEL OF THE GAME:

Doug Brumfield, who was the 14th different starting QB for UNLV in the last 19 openers, turned in a career day as his 356 yards tied for the 21st-most in a game by a Rebel. That included a personal-best four scores and represented the most yards in a game for the program since Max Gilliam's 387 vs. San Jose State in 2018.

STAT OF THE GAME:

The 45 points scored in the first two quarters were the second-most in any half by a Rebel team (52 vs. ISU in 2015).

QUOTABLE:

"I really enjoyed the efficiency of the first half, the way we moved the ball around and the way we moved. Did a nice job on defense stopping the run game…I thought we did a good job of taking care of football. -- zero turnovers. I think that is a big deal, especially for week one."

-UNLV head coach Marcus Arroyo

REBEL NOTES:

-Because the Raiders hosted the Patriots the night before, Saturday's game was played on natural grass, marking the first time UNLV played a home game on the natural stuff since 2002, which was the final season Sam Boyd Stadium featured grass

-The Rebels won on grass for the first time since 2018 at San Diego State

-UNLV improved its record in the month of August to 4-6

-New starting running back Aidan Robbins, who transferred in from Louisville, scored three touchdowns in his Rebel debut (two rushing and one receiving) as he totaled 35 yards on 10 carries overall

-With his 39-yard boot, Daniel Gutierrez moved into fifth place on the school's career list with his 38th field goal, tying Jim Cook (1986-88)

-Gutierrez also improved to 29-of-30 all-time in field goal attempts from 39 yards or shorter

-UNLV improved to 25-30 all-time in season-openers and 20-10 when they happened at home

-UNLV improved to 7-2 all-time vs. the Bengals as the home team has won all nine meetings

-New punter Marshall Nichols, who transferred to UNLV from Mississippi State, had to wait until the second half to make his collegiate debut but ended up with a net average of 42.3 yards on three attempts

-Courtney Reese led all runners with 71 yards on just six carries. His day included a long of 47

-Coming in during the final minutes, Stetson transfer running back Jordan Younge-Humphrey ended up with 47 net yards on just four carries

-UNLV played four quarterbacks in the game – Brumfield, sophomore transfer Harrison Bailey, true sophomore Cameron Friel and walk-on Matthew Geeting, who enjoyed the victory formation kneel-down

-After the hosts were shut out in the third quarter, Friel found Zyell Griffin for a 14-yard score with just over two minutes remaining

NEXT FOR THE REBELS:

UNLV heads into a bye week before traveling to Cal for a Sept. 10 meeting in Berkeley, which will mark the first meeting between the programs.