FORT COLLINS, CO (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV football (2-7/0-5) fell behind immediately and could not get out of the hole during a 37-17 loss at Colorado State (4-5/3-2) Saturday afternoon.
 
In what was the Rebels' first visit to three-year-old Canvas Stadium, the game could not have started better for the home team, which brought the opening kickoff back 99 yards for a touchdown. Taking advantage of optimal field position, the Rams built a 24-0 lead at halftime before UNLV finally got on the board with a 37-yard field goal in the third quarter.
 
Redshirt freshman quarterback Kenyon Oblad threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes as part of his 280-yard effort but was sacked five times on the day. Oblad did tie Omar Clayton's (2008) school record for consecutive games throwing at least two touchdowns with five.
 
STAT OF THE GAME:
UNLV actually finished with more first downs than CSU (24-23) but was forced to go for it on fourth down four times because of CSU's big early lead.
 
REBEL OF THE GAME:
Senior linebacker Rayshad Jackson was all over the field, finishing with a game-high 14 total tackles, including two TFL.
 
QUOTABLE:
"Terrible way to start off the game -- kick return for a touchdown. You look at the first half, we had more yards passing and more yards rushing but we didn't cover kicks very well at all…Two drives before the end of the half, you need to put more than three points on the board. You have to do a better job of punching it in. We just didn't play well enough to win."
-UNLV Head Coach Tony Sanchez
 
REBEL NOTES:
-Kickoff temperature was 43 degrees and sunny in Fort Collins with snow only remaining on the edges of the stadium
-CSU marked the first kickoff return for a score by a Rebel opponent since Minnesota did it in 2013
-With his 83 net yards rushing, junior Charles Williams became the eighth Rebel in history to reach the 2,000 yard mark and passed Joe Haro into seventh place on the school's career rushing list with 2,064 yards
-Tight end Noah Bean suffered a big hit after a catch and was later transported to a local hospital for testing. He finished with three receptions for 37 yards along with rushing for a first down conversion on a four-yard gain
-CSU has now won seven straight over UNLV in Fort Collins
 
NEXT FOR THE REBELS:
UNLV will have its second and final bye of the season next week before returning to host Hawai'i on November 16 starting at 1 p.m.