LAS VEGAS — UNLV spent the first half against Memphis moving the football through almost every part of its offense. Jackson Arnold was playing well enough to keep Alex Orji on the sideline, but he was not being asked to create everything himself.
Jai’Den Thomas ran it and caught it. DeAngelo Irvin Jr., Taeshaun Lyons, Taz Reddicks and Matt Byrnes were involved in the passing game. Tavian McNair turned his first college reception into a 38-yard touchdown, Jae Beasley II moved the chains through the air and Orji entered late in the second quarter to convert fourth-and-1.
The Rebels went into halftime with 277 yards on 42 offensive snaps and a 14-7 lead. Their skill-position players had combined for 27 official carries and receptions for 235 yards, while Memphis had not recorded a sack.
UNLV ran only five fewer plays after halftime, but the dropback total stayed the same. A Scarlet Standard review of the play-by-play found 25 dropbacks in each half. Before halftime, Arnold completed 17 of 21 passes for 203 yards behind protection that kept him clean. The second-half dropbacks became 16 official pass attempts, three scrambles and six sacks.
The designed run game moved the other direction. UNLV called 17 designed runs before halftime and 12 afterward, with three of the second-half calls going to Arnold. Thomas, Jaylon Glover and Kayden McGee combined for nine designed carries over the final two quarters, and skill-position touches fell from 27 to 17.
Thomas had been the largest part of the first-half distribution. He carried eight times for 30 yards and caught four passes for 51, giving him 81 yards on 12 touches. Reddicks gained 39 yards on two catches, McNair had his 38-yard touchdown, Irvin caught three passes for 30 yards, Lyons added 23 yards on two receptions and Byrnes had 19 on two.
UNLV’s bigger gains were spread around the same way. Eight of the Rebels’ 14 plays that gained at least 15 yards through the air or 10 yards on the ground came before halftime, with six different players accounting for them. Thomas had a 10-yard run, Arnold kept for 17 and later scrambled for 11, while Irvin gained 15 through the air. McNair scored from 38 yards, Beasley caught a 15-yard pass, Thomas converted fourth-and-3 with a 25-yard reception and Reddicks gained 33 after Denver Harris recovered a Memphis fumble.
Five of those gains came in the second quarter, when UNLV produced 184 yards on 25 plays. The Rebels scored touchdowns on consecutive possessions and reached the Memphis 15 again before Ramon Villela missed a 32-yard field goal on the final play of the half.
Arnold had given Dan Mullen little reason to interrupt him with the quarterback rotation UNLV had planned. Orji’s only snap came on fourth-and-1 from the Memphis 6, when he gained two yards and extended the final possession before halftime.
“That was the playing plan, but Jackson Arnold was playing really well,” Mullen said. “I thought he was getting the ball out of his hands, making some quick reads, was accurate, making good decisions out there on the field.”
The first possession after halftime looked much the same. Memphis tied the game on Marcus Stokes’ 48-yard touchdown pass to Stonka Burnside, and UNLV answered with an 85-yard drive that again moved through several parts of the offense.
Arnold threw incomplete to Thomas before escaping for 54 yards to the Memphis 31. Thomas followed with runs of nine and two yards, Arnold kept for a two-yard loss and then found McGee for a 22-yard touchdown. The Rebels were back in front 21-14 with 10:15 left in the third quarter.
Memphis erased the lead in 1 minute, 37 seconds. Stokes gained 15 yards on a keeper before Jaylin Carter broke a 36-yard touchdown run, and UNLV took over again at its own 25 with the score tied.
Glover immediately gave Corey Dennis another source of offense. He gained four yards up the middle and then broke 44 yards to the right, moving the Rebels to the Memphis 27 in two carries.
Memphis got its first sack on the next play.
Arnold lost six yards on first down, and Dennis went back to Glover on second-and-16. Memphis stopped him for no gain, leaving Arnold to throw on the next two snaps. His fourth-down completion to McGee gained 15 yards when UNLV needed 16.
Dennis had not simply abandoned Glover after the 44-yard run. He gave him the next designed carry once the sack changed the down and distance. The bigger problem was what began happening on the dropbacks themselves.
Memphis had not sacked Arnold once in the first half. The Tigers got him twice in the third quarter and four more times in the fourth while UNLV continued with the same 25-dropback workload it had used before halftime.
Thomas’ production also dropped sharply. He went from 12 touches for 81 yards in the first half to six touches for 17 after the break, gaining 14 yards on four carries and three yards on two receptions. His second-half numbers did not make a strong case for simply handing him the football repeatedly while Memphis was taking away the run.
Glover and McGee were getting more from their opportunities. Glover finished the second half with 49 yards on four carries, while McGee caught three passes for 48 yards and gained another 18 on his only rushing attempt. They combined for 115 yards on eight touches.
Glover’s 44-yard run accounted for most of his total, but he did not receive another normal carry after the third quarter. McGee’s second-half touches gained 22, 15, 11 and 18 yards, with his final one coming during UNLV’s best chance to regain the lead.
The Rebels took over at their own 25 with 12:11 remaining and trailing 27-21. Arnold opened the possession with an 11-yard completion to McGee. Thomas ran for two yards, caught a pass for a three-yard loss, later caught another for six and carried for one. Arnold converted third-and-3 with a four-yard keeper before Dennis put the ball in McGee’s hands on a run to the left.
McGee gained 18 yards and gave UNLV first-and-10 at the Memphis 21.
It was the only second-half designed carry credited to a UNLV receiver. The play-by-play does not chart pre-snap motion, so it cannot show how often the Rebels used jet action without handing off the football, but the only time a receiver actually carried after halftime produced one of UNLV’s best fourth-quarter gains.
The perimeter run game had not been a major source of first-half carries, either. UNLV had not needed it as much while Arnold was getting the ball out quickly to several receivers and tight ends before Memphis could affect him.
The Rebels’ first touchdown drive included consecutive gains of 14 and 15 yards to Irvin, a 13-yard third-down completion to Byrnes and McNair’s 38-yard touchdown. On the next touchdown possession, Thomas, Beasley and Darrien Jones all touched the football before Arnold finished it with a six-yard keeper.
Several of those players disappeared from the touch distribution after halftime. Lyons, Irvin, Byrnes and McNair combined for eight first-half touches and 110 yards. None recorded an official carry or reception in the second half.
Dennis did not completely stop calling their numbers. Irvin and Byrnes were targeted on incompletions, and Arnold took a deep shot to Lyons in the fourth quarter that drew defensive pass interference and moved UNLV 15 yards.
Those players were no longer finishing plays with the football while Memphis was beginning to disrupt Arnold. The first half had given him several quick answers around him.
Orji also remained on the sideline. UNLV had gone into the game expecting to use both quarterbacks, used Orji once before halftime and stayed completely with Arnold after Memphis started getting pressure.
There was little reason to replace Arnold outright. He had played too well, and nothing in the play-by-play establishes that using Orji would have solved the protection problems. Orji’s absence also left Arnold handling all of the quarterback work after UNLV had entered the game planning to use both.
UNLV still had a chance to take the lead after McGee’s 18-yard run reached the Memphis 21.
Dennis called a deep throw to Keyan Burnett on first down. Arnold put the ball near the goal line, and Burnett could not complete the catch. The play created the touchdown opportunity UNLV wanted.
The next three snaps stayed with Arnold. He kept up the middle for no gain on second-and-10, a third-down pass became a three-yard scramble and Memphis sacked him for eight yards on fourth-and-7.
UNLV had reached the Memphis 21 after involving Thomas and McGee throughout the possession. Neither touched the football again after reaching the red zone, and Glover did not receive a touch on the drive.
Arnold’s second-half rushing total also looked better than the down-to-down production. He gained 61 yards on six non-sack attempts, but 54 came on the scramble during UNLV’s opening possession of the third quarter. His other five runs combined for seven yards, including designed keepers of minus-2, four and zero.
Protection remained part of the problem. Dennis could not call around every lost individual matchup, and a sack immediately changed what was available on several possessions. Memphis’ first sack came after Glover had already put UNLV at the 27, and the Rebels found themselves in second-and-16 before Dennis could call another normal down.
The problem became much worse in the fourth quarter. UNLV gained 25 yards on 18 offensive snaps and averaged 1.4 yards per play, with four Memphis sacks costing the Rebels 35 yards.
Austin Boyd’s injury added another complication late, although Memphis had already recorded two sacks before UNLV lost its starting center. The protection issues were already affecting possessions before the offensive line had to change personnel.
The final possession should be separated from the earlier questions about Dennis’ second-half calls. UNLV got the ball at its own 25 with 59 seconds remaining, trailing by six, and had little choice but to throw.
Arnold went incomplete for Burnett on first down before Memphis sacked him on consecutive snaps. His 17-yard completion to Burnett on fourth-and-26 ended the game.
By then, the questions about UNLV’s second-half play calling had already come from the possessions when the Rebels still had time to use the rest of the offense.
