LAS VEGAS – The University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warrior football team opened Mountain West play with a 44-20 loss to UNLV Saturday at Allegiant Stadium. The 'Bows dropped to 2-4 on the season and 0-1 in the Mountain West.
 
The Rebels (4-1, 1-0 MW), meanwhile, won their third straight game and regained possession of the Island Showdown Trophy. UNLV's win was it seventh in the last eight meetings between the teams in Las Vegas. The home team has now won 13 of the last 15 matchups in the series.
 
A lackluster first half doomed the Warriors who surrendered the first 10 points of the game and trailed by 17 at the break. UH had a much better showing in the second half, namely offensively, but were unable to catch up with the Rebels who had an answer for each UH score.
 
UNLV rushed for 307 yards, the most by a UH opponent this year. Defensively, the Rebels held UH to just 1-of-11 on third down conversions and registered six sacks.  
 
UH went 1-of-8 on third downs and surrendered five sacks in the first half alone. One of the Rebel sacks resulted in a UH fumble late in the second quarter. That momentum-swaying fumble set up a UNLV touchdown that made it a 20-3 game going into the locker room.
 
UH looked to rally in the second half and cut the deficit to 10 points on a pair of occasions. A 51-yard touchdown by Steven McBride off a dynamic flea-flicker cut the UH deficit in half just minutes into the third quarter. The Warriors got within 10 points on another long pass play in the fourth quarter when Brayden Schager connected with Alex Perry on a 38-yard play to make it a 30-20 game at the 12:47 mark.
 
But UNLV put the game out of reach midway through the fourth quarter when Jayden Maiava found Jacob De Jesus in the endzone for a 3-yard touchdown. That capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive that put the Rebels back up by 17 with 8:18 left.
 
McBride led UH with 205 all-purpose yards, including six catches for 180 yards. Schager finished 22-for-35 for 313 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.

Jalen Smith had 10 tackles, 1.5 tackles-for-loss and one pass breakup in his first career start at linebacker to lead the defense. Isaiah Tufaga also had a career-high 10 tackles.
 
The Warriors will have a bye next week before hosting San Diego State in a nationally televised game on Saturday, Oct. 14. Kickoff is 6:00 p.m. at Ching Complex.