Sept. 2, 2006
Final Stats
Las Vegas, NV --- Idaho State played even with UNLV for three quarters, but it was the second quarter that proved their undoing, as the UNLV Rebels scored 27 unanswered points to take a 54-10 over ISU in the season opener for both teams.
UNLV took over the game in the second quarter, getting four rushing touchdowns on four straight drives. The Rebels took a 17-3 lead back-to-back touchdowns by David Peeples after the first ended up knotted at three. Both touchdowns were set up by long third down conversions, as Rocky Hinds found Ryan Wolfe twice to convert 3rd-and-7 and a 3rd-and 20.
The Rebels then picked up a 29-yard run by Erick Jackson, and then got the ball right back when punter Kip Facer, who was forced into kicking duties when Lou Groza candidate Sergio Aguayo went down with a knee injury, kicked off a short kick that no one fielded, and UNLV's Wiselet Rouzard recovered.
Hinds then converted a 4th-and-12, and one play later he ran it in from seven yards out, and the half ended 30-3. The Bengals couldn't muster anything in the quarter, getting outgained 179 yards to seven.
The Bengals trailed 3-0 after a 40-yard Aguayo field goal, but Dan Zeidman hammered home a 41-yard field goal well beyond the uprights to tie it at three apiece.
ISU got into the endzone in the fourth on a diving catch by Clyde Logan, but UNLV answered with a 71-yard slant catch-and-run by Wolfe, who wound up with six catches and 160 yards. Jeremy Geathers, son of former NFL'er Jumpy Geathers, picked up a Ken Cornist fumble and rumbled 67 yards to make it 44-10.
Matt Gutierrez played well in his Bengal debut, going 17-for-32 for 260 and a touchdown despite heavy pressure. Clyde Logan and Eddie Thompson both had six catches for 89 yards.
NOTES: Dan Zeidman handled all of the punting and placekicking ... Akilah Lacey did not have a catch until the fourth quarter, catching a 30-yarder down the left sideline ... ISU has lost six consecutive I-A games, and ISU has not won a game on field-turf ... ISU has lost 11 straight road openers.
