In a game with all sorts of long-term implications, UNLV’s football team wasn’t good enough to open its season in Week 0 on Saturday night before 31,284 at Allegiant Stadium.
The Rebels lost to what proved to be a better Memphis side 27-21.
It’s a massive defeat for UNLV in the race for a College Football Playoff berth in the Group of 6 world.
The Rebels couldn’t protect quarterback Jackson Arnold enough late to stage a comeback.
Arnold, the Auburn transfer making his first start at UNLV, threw for 274 yards and ran for 70 more.
But it was about stops in the second half, and UNLV couldn’t get enough of them.
New Memphis coach Charles Huff must have some pretty good halftime speeches, because his team came out after intermission and scored two touchdowns over eight plays.
That made it 21-21 midway through the third quarter.
Memphis would lead 24-21 entering the fourth and extend its lead to 27-21 with 12:11 remaining.
UNLV drove the Memphis 18 with under 6:30 left, but chose to go for it on fourth-and-7 and Arnold was sacked.
He was sacked again on third down from his own 31 via the ensuing drive.
For a game that was thought to be a high-scoring affair to begin with — the total opened at 60 before being bet down to 56½ — certainly didn’t begin that way.
The teams played to a scoreless first quarter before UNLV found the scoreboard midway through the second.
That’s when Arnold hit wide receiver Tavian McNair with a 38-yard scoring pass down the right sidelines, completing a nine-play, 86-yard drive over 4:30.
But the Tigers would answer with their own scoring drive of seven plays that covered 75 yards in 2:50, the culmination a 16-yard pass from quarterback Marcus Stokes to tight end Tipton Hunter.
UNLV would grab back the lead when Arnold found the end zone from 6 yards out for a 14-7 advantage.
The Rebels had an opportunity to tack on more points before halftime after recovering a Memphis fumble at the Tigers’ 48.
But it wasn’t to be for UNLV, whose drive stalled at the 6, and the quarter ending with placekicker Ramon Villela missing from 32 yards out.
Contact Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.
