No. 24 UNLV shakes off slow start, tops San Jose State

Jai’Den Thomas ran for 135 yards and a touchdown to lead No. 24 UNLV over host San Jose State 27-16 in a rain-soaked affair Friday night.

UNLV’s Hajj-Malik Williams completed 11 of his 20 passes and threw for 131 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Ricky White III led the Rebels (9-2, 5-1 Mountain West) with seven receptions for 98 yards, while Kaleo Ballungay’s lone catch went for a 5-yard touchdown.

Thomas rushed for a 25-yard touchdown run with 1:44 left in the third quarter to give UNLV a 20-16 lead and put the visitors up for good. Kylin James added insurance by running for a 7-yard touchdown with 8:29 left in the game.

San Jose State (6-5, 3-4) took a 16-10 lead into halftime after a first half in which the Rebels stumbled through the first two quarters. The Spartans scored all of their points in the second quarter, with 10 of them coming directly off UNLV turnovers.

A bad read by Williams led to an interception that Isiah Revis returned 33 yards to give San Jose State a 7-3 lead with 13:26 left in the second quarter. The Rebels gave up their lone offensive touchdown of the game shortly after that, a 33-yard completion from Walker Eget to Matthew Coleman that made it 14-10.

Things continued to snowball for the Rebels. On UNLV’s next possession, long snapper Ben Lisk sent the ball over punter Marshall Nichols’ head and out of the end zone for a safety that sent San Jose State into the locker room at halftime with a six-point lead.

As bad as UNLV played in the second quarter, San Jose State was just as bad or worse the rest of the way. Caden Chittenden got things rolling for UNLV in the second half, making a Mountain West freshman record 53-yard field goal to trim the deficit to 16-13.

The boost San Jose State got from its defense and special teams wasn’t enough to complement its offense. Eget completed just 4 of 22 passes for 81 yards, a far cry from the previous two weeks, when he threw for 395 yards at Oregon State and 446 yards against Boise State. Eget had one TD pass and no interceptions Friday.

San Jose State receiver Nick Nash was held to 9 yards on a single catch. Nash entered the game as the national leader in receptions (95) and receiving yards per game. battle (128.2).

UNLV outgained San Jose State 338-112 in net yardage and 207-31 on the ground.

–Field-level media