UNLV falls in opener after furious rally

Marcus Arroyo volition person to hold for his archetypal triumph arsenic UNLV’s shot coach.

The Rebels mounted a furious rally successful the 2nd fractional of their play opener Thursday against Eastern Washington of the Football Championship Subdivision astatine Allegiant Stadium, lone to autumn 35-33 successful treble overtime earlier an announced assemblage of 21,970.

Sophomore backmost Doug Brumfield relieved inferior starter Justin Rogers midway done the 3rd 4th and helped spark a lifeless discourtesy and flooded a 14-point shortage to unit overtime. But Eagles elder backmost Eric Barriere threw 2 touchdown passes successful the other sessions and the Rebels yet could not support pace, failing to person the game-tying 2-point conversion.

Running backmost Charles Williams opened his elder play with 27 carries for 172 yards and 2 scores, and Brumfield ran for a people and passed for 117 yards portion helping the discourtesy find the bushed it didn’t person nether Rogers.

Barriere, 1 of the champion players successful the FCS, passed for 374 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The backmost contention betwixt Rogers and Brumfield permeated grooming camp, and Arroyo did not publically sanction a starter arsenic helium professed assurance successful both. Rogers yet got the starting nod, and a revamped defence played its portion arsenic agelong arsenic it could against Barriere, a contender for the FCS Heisman Trophy equivalent — the Walter Payton Award.

The Rebels forced 2 field-goal attempts and misses, and freshman Cameron Oliver intercepted Barriere precocious successful the archetypal half. But Rogers and the discourtesy could not instrumentality vantage of the favorable tract position, and UNLV settled for a abbreviated tract extremity via elder kicker Daniel Gutierrez arsenic the 2nd 4th expired and a 6-3 halftime lead.

UNLV opened the 2nd fractional with a hold of crippled and a brace of mendacious starts, upending immoderate momentum it had hoped to physique with its people earlier the break.

Barriere threw a 31-yard touchdown walk to Efton Chism III, who slipped a brace of tackles with a nifty rotation determination earlier sprinting down the close sideline. The Eagles built a 20-6 pb midway done the 3rd 4th via a 10-play, 62-yard thrust against a tiring antiaircraft unit.

Brumfield relieved Rogers midway done the 3rd quarter, though, and promptly provided a spark by connecting with sophomore Kyle Williams for a 58-yard gain. Gutierrez converted 2 much tract goals, including a vocation agelong of 51 yards to assistance the Rebels enactment wrong 1 score.

The Eagles fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Williams sprinted for the game-tying score.

Both teams had opportunities to triumph successful regulation, but Brumfield threw a costly interception, and Eastern Washington kicker Seth Harrison missed the imaginable game-winning tract extremity arsenic clip expired.

Williams opened overtime with his 2nd touchdown run, and the Eagles responded with consecutive touchdown passes by Barriere to instrumentality a 35-27 lead. Brumfield sprinted for a 19-yard touchdown, but his 2-point effort fell incomplete — clinching UNLV’s archetypal nonaccomplishment of the season.

Junior antiaircraft backmost Phillip Hill added an interception for UNLV and inferior linebacker Jacoby Windmon had 10 tackles and a sack.

Kyle Williams paced Rebels receivers with six catches for 87 yards

Contact newsman Sam Gordon astatine sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon connected Twitter.