CARSON, Calif. — Greg Bell had 19 carries for 111 yards and a touchdown, Chance Bell scored on runs of 5 and 19 yards, and San Diego State beat UNLV 34-6 in the season opener for both Mountain West Conference teams.
The game marked the first in charge for head coach Marcus Arroyo, who joined UNLV from Oregon where he was offensive coordinator.
San Diego State had 424 total yards, including 287 rushing. The Aztecs limited UNLV, which converted 1-of-15 third downs, and had 14 tackles for loss including five sacks.
Charles Williams had 20 carries for 80 yards for the Runnin’ Rebels. Max Gilliam was 13-of-21 passing for 105 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown pass to Steve Jenkins that made it 27-6 midway through the third quarter.
In total, UNLV used three quarterbacks in the game. Sophomore QB Kenyon Oblad and sophomore TCU transfer Justin Rogers also played in the first half before Gilliam returned. Both completed two of their four pass attempts, but only Oblad had positive yardage in total between the two (2 yards vs -1 yard).
“The guys are obviously upset but we played a really, really good football team tonight," Arroyo said after the game.
"(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. We calmed down in the second half and did things we were practicing. We’ll do better at that moving forward.”
UNLV hosts in-state rivals Nevada Wolf Pack next weekend at Allegiant Stadium, the first event that will have fans in the stands at the stadium. The Wolf Pack won their first contest of the year earlier in the day, a 37-34 OT thriller vs Wyoming.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report
