LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV (0-3), forced to play a true freshman at quarterback because of an injury to starter Doug Brumfield, struggled to move the ball against a high-powered Iowa State defense and the Cyclones (2-1) downed the Rebels 48-3 in front of a big gathering at Allegiant Stadium Saturday night.
In fact, the crowd of 35,931 marked the seventh-largest ever to watch a UNLV football game in Las Vegas.
Playing a ranked opponent for the second consecutive week for the first time since 2010, UNLV started a different quarterback for the third time in as many weeks as Cameron Friel from Hawai'i made his collegiate debut. He became the first true freshman to start at QB for the Rebels since Omar Clayton on Oct. 20, 2007. Graduate transfer and Las Vegas native Tate Martell also logged time to mark four Rebel signal-callers seeing the field in the season's first three games. Friel finished 8-of-13 passing for 67 yards and one interception.
The Cyclones, who were the highest-ranked team to face the Rebels in Las Vegas since No. 13 UCLA in 2015, led by 31 points before UNLV staged its best drive of the night, going 66 yards in 14 plays over 7:18, capped by a 30-yard field goal by Daniel Gutierrez.
ISU's two big names were both impressive as quarterback Brock Purdy only missed on three of his 24 pass attempts for 288 yards and a trio of touchdowns while running back Breece Hall finished with 100 yards and two more scores for the visitors.
STAT OF THE GAME:
PK Daniel Gutierrez improved to 6-for-6 on field goals this season and 27-of-33 in his career, which raised his career percentage to 81.8 -- the highest in school history
QUOTABLE:
"Hats off to a good football team and what Coach (Matt) Campbell has done at that place the past few years. That's a good football team -- big, physical, does things right and what you need to do to win games. The growth in our program will come from challenges like this, back-to-back top-25 teams and seeing how we can stand up against them and continue to find some good football in there, particularly with a young group and with depth that's different than some of those teams."
-UNLV Head Coach Marcus Arroyo
REBEL NOTES:
-The teams tied in the turnover battle at one each. The Rebels earned their takeaway when safety Bryce Jackson forced a fumble that DL Kolo Uasike recovered
-UNLV trailed after the first quarter for the first time this season as Iowa State led 7-0
-Charles Williams rushed for 42 net yards on 19 carries, which gave him 3,189 yards in his career
-Safety Tyson Player, making his first career start, led the Rebels with 10 total tackles
-UNLV fell to 3-10 all-time vs. teams that were members of the Big 12 Conference at the time of the game
-ISU was scheduled to start this home-and-home series last year in Ames before the pandemic led to the cancellation of the nonconference schedule. The Rebels will instead head to play ISU on Sept. 14, 2030
-In a scheduling quirk, this marked the second time that UNLV played at Arizona State and then hosted Iowa State the very next week, also doing so in 2008 when they won both games
-The Cyclones improved to 5-1 all-time vs. the Rebels
NEXT FOR THE REBELS:
UNLV will travel to Fresno State for a special Friday Mountain West opener. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 pm PT and the game will be shown by CBS Sports Network.
