REBELS’ EARLY SUCCESS SHORT-LIVED

The Rebels closed the first quarter of their opening night game with a 7-0 lead.

It didn’t last very long into the second quarter.

Robert Turbin scored on a 1-yard touchdown run on a pitch around the left side to even the score on the very first play of the second quarter.

It was a fourth-down play and Daryl Forte almost made a sensational stop by upending Turbin just before the goal line. The officials ruled that in the course of flipping over, the Aggie running back got the ball across the plane of the end zone.

After a rough opening drive on offense, UNLV was able to take the early lead on a touchdown pass from Omar Clayton to Ryan Wolfe after the Rebel defense forced a turnover.

OK, maybe forced is a little strong.

Marquis Butler appeared to lose the ball without much contact after catching a swing pass out of the backfield.

UNLV still had to jump on the rolling ball and Will Chandler was the one who did after several players had a chance at it. The Rebels took over at the Utah State 47-yard line and scored in just five plays.

Later in the quarter, Chandler got beat deep by (85) to set up the game-tying score.