LAS VEGAS, NV-UNLV had a simple plan coming into its non-conference matchup against the Prairie View A&M Panthers. The Rebels wanted to put running back Dawonya Tucker on ice and force the Panthers to beat them with their passing game.
This is a strategy that worked for a while for UNLV in its season-opener against USC. But then the bottom collapse from underneath the Rebels when the Trojans put up 24 points in the final period of a lopsided win. This time the bottom fell out for the other team. Two misjudged punt snaps in the first quarter led to a couple of easy touchdowns for UNLV.
By the time the Prairie View A&M blinked, they were down 20-0 at the end of the first quarter. The steep deficit threw the safe game plan the Panthers may have had to just hand the ball off to Tucker right out the window. UNLV then unleashed their own offensive weapon in quarterback Armani Rogers, who might be the second coming of former Rebel and NFL great Randall Cunningham.
Unfortunately, for the Prairie View A&M faithful, the Rebels took advantage of the Panthers’ early miscues and the nimble feet of Rogers to pick up a 46-17 home victory. Rogers, who played his prep career at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, went to work against the Panthers on the ground, scoring four touchdowns and rushing for 122 yards on 17 carries.
“We didn’t play in all four phases,” said Prairie View A&M defensive end Quinton Bell, who attended Costa Mesa High School in Orange County, California. “We didn’t play defense. The offense…they’re going to clean up their stuff. Special teams is where they killed. We’ve got to get back into the lab and just really focus on that area of the game.”
With UNLV stacking the box to slow down the explosive Tucker every which way possible, Prairie View A&M was forced to rely on the right arm of quarterback Jalen Morton to step up and make plays down the field with his playmakers on the outside.
That didn’t happen, and as a result UNLV (2-1) jumped out to a 34-0 advantage by the time halftime rolled around. Morton was only able to connect on 11 of the 37 passes that he attempted against UNLV. Prairie View A&M (1-3) scored 17 second-half points to make the score respectable at the end, but the Rebels did their damage in the first half by limiting the amount of touches Tucker would have.
“They (UNLV) came out looking to stop the run,” said Tucker. “We were trying to air it out, but the ball in didn’t fall our way in this game.”
By effectively taking Tucker out of Prairie View A&M’s offensive strategy through the first two quarters, the Rebels was able to get their own offensive momentum going to offset whatever the Panthers planned. Tucker, coming off back-to-back games with over 200 yards rushing, was grounded to just 61 yards on 12 carries on the ground against the Rebels. Tucker came into the UNLV game leading all FCS players in rushing after three games with 542 yards.
“I feel like we played hard,” Tucker said. “We started off slow. We had some bad plays on special teams. The offense really…we really weren’t clicking. But at the end of the day, we came out in the second half and we played hard.”
The final score of the Prairie View A&M-UNLV college football game is an accurate indicator of how close the matchup between these two teams really was. Sure, the Rebels came off like world beaters with their big win at Sam Boyd Stadium in front of their home crowd. But the Panthers had every opportunity to make this contest a lot closer than what the final outcome suggests.
Besides UNLV stuffing the Panthers running game, Prairie View A&M pretty much gift-wrapped this victory for the Rebels. UNLV indirectly picked up 16 points off three turnovers from Prairie View A&M’s punt unit. On three separate occasions, Prairie View A&M long snapper hiked the ball over his punter’s head. The Rebels capitalized with two touchdowns and a safety.
Despite suffering their loss of the young season, Prairie View A&M could still very well be a team to be reckoned with in the SWAC. Before the Panthers see their own field for an actual home game, Prairie View A&M would have played their first six games of the season on the road. Prairie View A&M coach Eric Dooley doesn’t look at it as being advantageous either way.
“It’s not tough because it doesn’t matter where you go; the football field is going to be the same dimensions,” said Dooley. “It doesn’t matter. We’re still going to play football that hundred yards. It didn’t matter. I thought it brought us closer together because we have to do a lot of traveling together, being a team that we never faced or having been down this road together. It wasn’t a huge thing. Of course, you would enjoy to be at home to give your fans an opportunity to stay home and not have to travel so much. It’s not a huge deal for us.”
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com