LAS VEGAS — Idaho State was a 24-point underdog going into its season-opening game against UNLV Saturday at Allegiant Stadium.
But the Bengals sure didn’t play like it, leading for much of the game before falling 38-31 to the Rebels.
“They played about as well as we thought they could play,” Idaho State head coach Cody Hawkins said. “We had a lot of correctible mistakes that we have to attack to get us to where we want to go this season. You don’t come out of the game and pat everybody on the back and have a party, but you also don’t totally hang your head either. I thought it was empowering for our team that I thought the two best players on the field today were wearing orange. The second the game is over, you look: What did we do well, what can we get better at, how are we going to get better and flush it and move on to the next one.”
The Bengals led 10-0 after the first quarter, led 17-10 at halftime and 31-24 early in the fourth quarter before UNLV scored the last 14 points and controlled the ball down the stretch, running out the clock and getting a win in Dan Mullen’s debut as the Rebels’ head coach.
The difference in the game was turnovers, something Hawkins said during fall camp would have to get better. ISU turned the ball over four times, leading to 17 UNLV points. Three of those came on interceptions from quarterback Jordan Cooke, who was playing in his first game in almost a calendar year, but Hawkins backed up his quarterback after the game.
“A lot of those interceptions are technique errors that we can improve upon,” Hawkins said. “They weren’t really Jordan’s fault.”
Two other areas stood out, marring what overall wasn’t a bad first-game effort by Idaho State. The Bengals were penalized 10 times, including unnecessary roughness and pass interference calls, and they couldn’t stop the run as UNLV rushed for 300 yards.
Rebels running back Jai’Den Thomas had 147 of those yards along with three touchdowns, and quarterback Anthony Colandrea added 93 on the ground.
“If” is always a very big word in sports, and Saturday, if ISU hadn’t turned the ball over as often as it did, the Bengals probably win the game. They outgained UNLV 555-532, threw for 395 yards, ran for 160 and had 30 first downs.
After an early field goal gave ISU the lead, Las Vegas drove right down the field, but when Mason Young hit the Rebels’ Alex Orgi at the 1-yard line, he fumbled into the end zone. Noa Calaycay recovered for the touchback, and the Bengals breathed a sigh of relief.
They then took advantage, taking the ball down the field and getting into scoring range. That’s when Hawkins called for a flea-flicker. Michael Shulikov, normally a receiver, fired a 15-yard pass to Cooke, who caught it at the 5, went in and suddenly the lead was 10-0.
The UNLV crowd seemed stunned while confidence seemed to be emanating all along the ISU sideline.
Early in the second quarter, Cooke threw his first interception. That seemed to wake UNLV up, and the Rebels converted as Thomas busted up the middle for 39 yards and their first score, cutting the Bengals’ lead to 10-7.
With 7:21 left in the quarter came UNLV’s first lead. Thomas again was the catalyst as he went around the right side, found daylight and streaked down the field for 70 yards and a score, making it 14-10.
“When you don’t do your job, that’s when you give up explosive plays. That’s what happened to us,” ISU linebacker Teilor Tuioti said. “There’s a lot of things to fix and there’s a lot to learn.”
That run could have crushed ISU’s spirit.
It didn’t.
Later in the quarter, a short punt gave the Bengals possession at midfield, and in the final minutes of the half, Dason Brooks found a hole and 27 yards later, he scored to give ISU the halftime lead. Brooks had a good afternoon, running for 132 yards.
UNLV got the ball to open the second half and had a nine-play touchdown drive as Thomas scored yet again from 3 yards out, but it was Colandrea who had the key play. Mullen said he was one of the fastest players on the team Saturday, and it showed on a scramble that netted 39 yards, setting up Thomas’ score.
The second Bengal turnover came later and it was very costly. With the ball at the 3-yard line, Hawkins brought in Jackson Sharman to quarterback. His pass was picked off by Laterrance Welch in the end zone, costing ISU at least three points. Sharman was trying to hit Shulikov. UNLV eventually got a field goal out of it and led 24-17.
But again, Idaho State wouldn’t fade away and hit UNLV with a lightning strike of its own.
Cooke wound up and took a deep shot to Ian Duarte, who caught it at the 30 and took it in, making the pass play 64 yards overall and suddenly it was a brand-new game at 24-all.
Then early in the fourth quarter, ISU retook the lead, as a drive, helped by a pair of pass interference calls on the Rebels, culminated with Brooks powering in from 2 yards out. It was 31-24 with still a lot of time remaining.
The back-and-forth action continued as this time on the ensuing UNLV drive, Colandrea hooked up on a 41-yard pass to Jaden Bradley, keying a series that ended with a touchdown pass to Daejon Reynolds and another tie at 31-all.
Turnover No. 3 came on the next ISU possession. Cooke tried to go up the middle on a short throw, but Marsel McDuffie was there instead for the interception, and UNLV was already in the red zone at the Bengal 20.
Orgi, the 6-3, 240-pound quarterback, went around the left side from 11 yards out, and UNLV had the lead for good.
Twice more, ISU had possessions trying to get the tying score, but both times key mistakes ended their chances. Cooke threw his third interception with 8:22 remaining. Then with 3:19 left, with Idaho State at the UNLV 33-yard line, Cooke was sacked for an 11-yard loss by McDuffie. The ISU quarterback was also called for intentional grounding on the play, which added a loss of down.
ISU simply couldn’t recover.
Cooke finished the afternoon 30-of-50 for 380 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Duarte led all receivers with 105 yards on six catches. For the game, nine different ISU players caught passes.
UNLV’s Colandrea threw for 195 yards to go along with his 93 rushing yards, and Bradley caught six balls for 131 yards.
The Bengals will next take on future Big Sky foe Southern Utah in Cedar City at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 30. Hawkins knows that one won’t be easy either.
“Southern Utah is a playoff football team, and they are going to give it to us both barrels,” he said. “To see those guys on the schedule next week, that’s not a lot of fun.”