Rebels dominate in home finale over Hawai'i, 38-10

LAS VEGAS — They give out this humungous pineapple trophy to the annual winner of the Hawai’i-UNLV football game. Friday, the stakes were a bit higher than a trophy at Allegiant Stadium.In a Mountain West season that has seen San Diego State regain its footing, Boise State slip some and San Jose State drop precipitously, both the Rebels and the Rainbow Warriors found themselves in a position to remain in the hunt to play in the conference championship game on Dec. 5.It was essentially an elimination game at Allegiant. The loser was out while the winner still needs some help Saturday and next weekend when the regular season concludes.Friday, it was pretty much all Rebels, who not only kept that Pineapple trophy with a 38-10 win, but at 5-2 in conference play (9-2 overall), inched closer to that title game shot. UNLV travels to Nevada for its season finale next Saturday night. Dan Mullen’s team is still going to need some help in the form of losses by Boise State and New Mexico but hope springs eternal in late November.In case you’re wondering, the forecast calls for partly cloud skies and temperatures in the upper 40s at Mackay Stadium.“We wanted to come out and play our best,” said Mullen.For Mullen and offensive coordinator Corey Dennis, it was a masterclass in play-calling. They are mixing things up, using all the weapons at their disposal and with quarterback Anthony Colandrea moving the offense, it was a perfectly choreographed performance by the coaches and the players.“I think Corey did a great job,” Mullen said, refusing to take any of the credit. “You have to make adjustments during the game and one of the great things Anthony does is he finds ways to make the plays we call, work.”Colandrea said all credit goes to his teammates, particularly his offensive line.“I felt our receivers played at a high level but our offensive line played their asses off,” he said. “None of this happens without them.”A dominant second quarter allowed UNLV to take control after Hawaii had a 7-3 first-quarter lead. Colandrea, who was 21 for 26 passing for 253 yards and had touchdown strikes to Jaden Bradley of 8 yards, Taeshaun Lyons for 71 yards and DaeDae Reynolds for 2 yards. Keyvone Lee’s 14-yard run which saw him drag two UH defenders into the end zone with him, was part of what would be a balanced attack that would ultimately produce 217 yards on the ground as part of a total 470-yard evening.The Rainbow Warriors (4-3 MW, 7-4 overall) had a distinct Vegas flavor to them with seven players who played high school ball here, six who attended Bishop Gorman, led by quarterback Micah Alejado.Obviously, Timmy Chang knew what he was doing when he brought former Gorman assistant Chris Brown and Gaels quarterback coach Chad Kapanui, who also coached at Liberty High, to be on his UH staff.He probably could use a few more Gaels. Because the Rebels, who have a few Vegas kids that they kept home — 11 of them — have not lacked firepower all season.But the anticipated shootout never came to fruition. Hawai’i, which came into Friday’s contest averaging 407 yards in total offense, was unable to move the ball consistently as the offense was derailed by penalties and dropped passes.And credit UNLV’s much-maligned defense for showing up and making enough big plays. There was the interception from Jake Pope to snuff out a second-quarter threat. There was a huge sack of Alejado by Aamaris Browqn to get the Rebels the ball back after Lee fumbled in the third quarter. And the defense came up with a stop on 4th-and-1 early in the fourth quarter to snuff out any glimmering hope the Rainbow Warriors may have had of trying to stage a rally.All in all, this was perhaps UNLV’s best overall performance of the season. Yes, there were a couple of blips, such as the 70-yard TD that Jackson Harris scored in the first quarter when the defense forgot where he was and he was able to out-leg everyone to the end zone. But the gaffes were few and far between so as to not impact the final outcome.Hawai’i was limited to just 231 yards total offense and managed just 2.6 yards per carry running the ball.“Paul and his staff had a great game plan,” Mullen said of Guenther and the defense, which has come on the last three weeks. It was a dominant performance against one of the best offenses in the league.”

The one scare was when running back Jet Thomas went down in the final minute of the third quarter. He would eventually return to the field and Mullen said he is O.K.So it’s up to Reno next Saturday and a chance to play for a spot in the conference title game for the third consecutive year. And given everything that has gone on in this calendar year with Mullen taking over for Barry Odom, retooling the roster with 70 or so new faces and trying to implement a new system, to be in this position at this point is pretty amazing.“That’s why I came here, to learn from Coach Mullen,” Colandrea said of his growth as a college quarterback. The same can be said for his teammates who have learned from Mullen how to play winning football.