Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Losing Rogers, element of surprise
Three takeaways from the UNLV football team’s 52-28 loss to Utah State on Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium:
1. Armani Rogers was badly missed in the second half.
Even as Rogers has had his problems with accuracy, it became clearer than ever when he went out with a head injury in the second quarter how much he means to the team.
UNLV’s offense came to a near complete standstill when Rogers was replaced by Kurt Palandech. Because even though both are athletic, Rogers is capable of creating big plays with his feet far more consistently, which opens opportunities for running back Lexington Thomas.
With Rogers in the game, UNLV scored 28 points and gained 288 yards rushing, with Thomas accounting for 136.
Without Rogers, the Rebels were shut out, gained 87 yards rushing, and Thomas was held to 25, though he also struggled with a hurt ankle.
“When Armani’s not in there and Kurt’s in there, you look at the way they’re triggering on defense, and that mentality completely changed,” Rebels coach Tony Sanchez said. “Even though we didn’t throw for a bunch of yards in the first half, there was still that possibility. We overthrew some guys. We had some miscues. But (Utah State) played true the entire time, and thus we were able to run the ball the way we were. In the second half, they weren’t really worried about (UNLV’s passing game).”
2. Even when Rogers was in, the play-calling was questionable.
Utah State couldn’t stop UNLV on the ground in the first half, but the Rebels tried so hard to be balanced at times that they threw themselves out of opportunities to mount drives.
One example: UNLV scored touchdowns on three of its first four series, but on the fifth attempted to throw on four of six plays. The drive stalled, and the Rebels were forced to punt.
When Rogers went out, UNLV coaches continued to call pass plays. Palandech’s career completion percentage is less than 50 percent, yet he threw four times in his first series. All were incomplete.
Teams understandably don’t want to become one-dimensional and predictable, but going away from what had worked wasn’t the recipe for success, either.
3. The season isn’t over, but …
The Rebels still have five games to play, but it’s difficult to imagine them making a run at the postseason. They have to win four games to qualify, and based on the blown leads and failure to take advantage of opportunities, what gives anyone outside the program real hope the Rebels will get it done?
“These are all still real winnable games,” Sanchez said. “They are still losable, and we’ve proven that. But there’s not a huge margin between us and the teams we play, so we have to figure it out and maybe get creative and do some different things.”