Charles Williams’ 266 yards, 3 TDs carry UNLV past Hawaii
The first play from scrimmage Saturday didn’t go so well for UNLV in its bid for a second straight victory.
In fact, a lot of plays from scrimmage didn’t go so well, especially in the first half when the Rebels had the football.
But despite yielding a 79-yard touchdown pass 20 seconds after the opening kickoff, turning the ball over three times in the first half and settling for three points on two drives originating inside Hawaii’s 10-yard line, the Rebels still managed to win.
Charles Williams rushed for 266 yards and three touchdowns to support a staunch defensive effort that carried the UNLV to a 27-13 victory in front of a lively announced crowd of 19,623 at Allegiant Stadium nearly equally divided between Rebels and Rainbow Warriors fans.
“Obviously, playing tremendous on defense, pitching a shutout from the first play on minus the field goals,” UNLV coach Marcus Arroyo said about the biggest key to the win after the Rebels (2-8, 2-4 Mountain West) won back-to-back games for the first time since 2019, when he still was an assistant at Oregon.
“But the thing I’m most proud of is the resiliency of the group when things weren’t perfect. We’re turning the ball over, we’re playing ugly — we won ugly, and there’s a lot to (be gained) from that. You find out that you can win that way and finish a game when you believe in each other.”
Williams takes charge
After falling behind 7-0 when Hawaii quarterback Chevan Cordeiro found Nick Mardener running free in the UNLV secondary on the game’s first play, Arroyo also put a lot of faith in Williams.
After setting UNLV’s career rushing record in last week’s victory at New Mexico that snapped the Rebels’ 14-game losing streak, the hard-running senior carried 38 times and scored on runs of 5, 7 and 47 yards. The last score salted away the game with 1:49 to play against the Warriors (4-7, 1-5).
“Shout out to the line, they did their job today,” Williams said after breaking Ickey Woods’ 1987 school record of 37 carries in a game. “I had a lot of big holes, big creases, set up for me. I helped them out by making the right cuts and not dancing too much.”
Hawaii coach Todd Graham said he wasn’t surprised the Rebels turned to Williams after quarterback Cameron Friel turned the ball over three times on a fumble and two interceptions, but was more than impressed by how the bruising back responded.
“We haven’t had anybody run the football on us like that since UCLA,” Graham said in reference to the Warriors’ 44-10 loss to the Pac-12 team in the season opener.
But the Rebels’ defense was every bit as stout as Williams. After giving up 79 yards on the game’s first play, they allowed only 161 the rest of the way and made plays — such as a fourth-down stop at midfield on Hawaii’s Dedrick Parson that preserved a 20-13 lead — whenever one needed.
“That’s something we work on in practice on Wednesdays — short yardage, goal line, red zone, two-minute, four-minute drives,” UNLV inside linebacker Kyle Beaudry said. “It goes all the way back to (training) camp. It’s just practice.”
Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.
