2017 UNLV Rebels football team

The 2017 UNLV Rebels football team represented the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Rebels were led by third-year head coach Tony Sanchez and played their home games at Sam Boyd Stadium. They were members of the West Division of the Mountain West Conference. They finished the season 5–7 and 4–4 in Mountain West play to finish in third place in the West Division. Following the season, head coach Tony Sanchez released Kent Baer (defensive coordinator/linebackers) and Andy LaRussa (special teams/safeties) from their contracts.[1]

2017 UNLV Rebels football
ConferenceMountain West Conference
DivisionWest Division
Record5–7 (4–4 MW)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorBarney Cotton (3rd season)
Offensive schemeMultiple
Defensive coordinatorKent Baer (3rd season)
Base defense4–3
Home stadiumSam Boyd Stadium
Seasons
← 2016
2018 →
2017 Mountain West Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
Mountain Division
No. 22 Boise State xy$   7 1     11 3  
Colorado State   5 3     7 6  
Wyoming   5 3     8 5  
Utah State   4 4     6 7  
Air Force   4 4     5 7  
New Mexico   1 7     3 9  
West Division
Fresno State xy   7 1     10 4  
San Diego State   6 2     10 3  
UNLV   4 4     5 7  
Nevada   3 5     3 9  
Hawaii   1 7     3 9  
San Jose State   1 7     2 11  
Championship: Boise State 17, Fresno State 14
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

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DateTimeOpponentSiteTVResultAttendance
September 26:00 p.m.Howard*StadiumL 40–4315,667
September 94:00 p.m.at Idaho*ESPN3W 44–1610,156
September 239:00 a.m.at No. 10 Ohio State*BTNL 21–54106,187
September 307:30 p.m.San Jose State
  • Sam Boyd Stadium
  • Whitney, NV
ESPNUW 41–1315,009
October 77:45 p.m.No. 19 San Diego State
  • Sam Boyd Stadium
  • Whitney, NV
ESPN2L 10–4119,770
October 1411:00 a.m.at Air ForceATTSNRML 30–3426,679
October 213:00 p.m.Utah State 
  • Sam Boyd Stadium
  • Whitney, NV
ATTSNRML 28–5218,157
October 287:00 p.m.at Fresno StateATTSNRMW 26–1627,922
November 43:00 p.m.Hawaii
Stadium/SPEC HIW 31–2316,278
November 107:30 p.m.BYU*
  • Sam Boyd Stadium
  • Whitney, NV
ESPN2L 21–3119,811
November 176:30 p.m.at New MexicoESPN2W 38–3514,744
November 2512:00 p.m.at NevadaATTSNRML 16–2317,359
  • *Non-conference game
  •  Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Pacific time
Schedule Source: 2017 UNLV Rebels Football Schedule

Game summaries

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Howard

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Howard at UNLV
1 234Total
Bison 7 14715 43
Rebels 6 13147 40
  • Date: September 2, 2017
  • Location: Sam Boyd Stadium
    Whitney, NV
  • Game start: 6:06 p.m. PDT
  • Elapsed time: 3 hours and 29 minutes
  • Game attendance: 15,667
  • Game weather: Temperature: 108 °F (42 °C) • Weather: Clear and Hot • Wind: ESE 5 MPH
  • Referee: Vidal Jones
  • TV announcers (Stadium): Tony Cordasco and Joe Arrigo

UNLV's season-opening loss to Howard represented the largest upset in college football history in terms of point spread.[2] Howard was a 45-point underdog to UNLV and pulled the upset on the back of quarterback Caylin Newton, brother of NFL quarterback Cam Newton, who had 330 total offensive yards in the game.[3]

At Idaho

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UNLV at Idaho
1 234Total
Rebels 7 32410 44
Vandals 0 376 16
  • Date: September 9, 2017
  • Location: Kibbie Dome
    Moscow, ID
  • Game start: 5:05 p.m. MDT
  • Elapsed time: 3 hours and 6 minutes
  • Game attendance: 10,156
  • Game weather: Temperature: 70 °F (21 °C) • Weather: Played Indoors • Wind: None
  • Referee: Jason Autrey
  • TV announcers (ESPN3): Peter Young and Darius Walker

At Ohio State

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UNLV at Ohio State
1 234Total
Rebels 0 777 21
No. 10 Buckeyes 16 28100 54

San Jose State

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San Jose State at UNLV
1 234Total
Spartans 3 1000 13
Rebels 14 2160 41
  • Date: September 30, 2017
  • Location: Sam Boyd Stadium
    Whitney, NV
  • Game start: 7:30 p.m. PDT
  • Elapsed time: 3 hours and 18 minutes
  • Game attendance: 15,009
  • Game weather: Temperature: 86 °F (30 °C) • Weather: Clear • Wind: SW 9 MPH
  • Referee: Kevin Hassell
  • TV announcers (ESPNU): Roy Philpott and Tom Ramsey

San Diego State

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San Diego State at UNLV
1 234Total
No. 19 Aztecs 3 17714 41
Rebels 3 700 10
  • Date: October 7, 2017
  • Location: Sam Boyd Stadium
    Whitney, NV
  • Game start: 7:50 p.m. PDT
  • Elapsed time: 3 hours and 10 minutes
  • Game attendance: 19,770
  • Game weather: Temperature: 79 °F (26 °C) • Weather: Calm and Clear Skies • Wind: E 2 MPH
  • Referee: Kevin Boitmann
  • TV announcers (ESPN2): Clay Matvick and Kirk Morrison

At Air Force

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UNLV at Air Force
1 234Total
Rebels 17 1030 30
Falcons 0 71314 34

Utah State

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Utah State at UNLV
1 234Total
Aggies 7 21717 52
Rebels 14 1400 28
  • Date: October 21, 2017
  • Location: Sam Boyd Stadium
    Whitney, NV
  • Game start: 3:08 p.m. PDT
  • Elapsed time: 3 hours and 10 minutes
  • Game attendance: 18,157
  • Game weather: Temperature: 75 °F (24 °C) • Weather: Breezy and Clear Skies • Wind: N 6 MPH
  • Referee: Michael VanderVelde
  • TV announcers (ATTSNRM): Drew Goodman, Sherdrick Bonner and Caleb Herring (sideline)

At Fresno State

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UNLV at Fresno State
1 234Total
Rebels 3 6710 26
Bulldogs 9 070 16
  • Date: October 28, 2017
  • Location: Bulldog Stadium
    Fresno, CA
  • Game start: 7:08 p.m. PDT
  • Elapsed time: 2 hours and 50 minutes
  • Game attendance: 27,922
  • Game weather: Temperature: 77 °F (25 °C) • Weather: Clear and Crisp • Wind: 2 MPH
  • Referee: Daniel Romeo
  • TV announcers (ATTSNRM): Drew Goodman, Sherdrick Bonner and Brad Thompson (sideline)

Hawaii

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Hawaii at UNLV
(Island Showdown)
1 234Total
Rainbow Warriors 0 6710 23
Rebels 7 0213 31
  • Date: November 4, 2017
  • Location: Sam Boyd Stadium
    Whitney, NV
  • Game start: 3:00 p.m. PDT
  • Elapsed time: 3 hours and 35 minutes
  • Game attendance: 16,278
  • Game weather: Temperature: 75 °F (24 °C) • Weather: Beautiful and Clear • Wind: S 16 MPH
  • Referee: Kevin Hassell
  • TV announcers (Stadium/SPEC HI): Robert Kekaula and Rich Miano
BYU at UNLV
1 234Total
Cougars 0 14143 31
Rebels 0 777 21
  • Date: November 10, 2017
  • Location: Sam Boyd Stadium
    Whitney, NV
  • Game start: 7:30 p.m. PST
  • Elapsed time: 3 hours and 18 minutes
  • Game attendance: 19,811
  • Game weather: Temperature: 67 °F (19 °C) • Weather: Breezy and Clear • Wind: SSW 8 MPH
  • Referee: Scott Campbell
  • TV announcers (ESPN2): Adam Amin, Dusty Dvoracek and Molly McGrath (sideline)

At New Mexico

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UNLV at New Mexico
1 234Total
Rebels 10 14311 38
Lobos 0 14714 35
  • Date: November 17, 2017
  • Location: Dreamstyle Stadium
    Albuquerque, NM
  • Game start: 7:35 p.m. MST
  • Elapsed time: 3 hours and 20 minutes
  • Game attendance: 14,744
  • Game weather: Temperature: 58 °F (14 °C) • Weather: Mostly Cloudy • Wind: W 17 MPH
  • Referee: Stephen Baron
  • TV announcers (ESPN2): Adam Amin, Dusty Dvoracek and Molly McGrath (sideline)

At Nevada

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UNLV at Nevada
(Battle for the Fremont Cannon / Governor's Series)
1 234Total
Rebels 0 1330 16
Wolf Pack 6 377 23
  • Date: November 25, 2017
  • Location: Mackay Stadium
    Reno, NV
  • Game start: 12:08 p.m. PST
  • Elapsed time: 2 hours and 56 minutes
  • Game attendance: 17,359
  • Game weather: Temperature: 62 °F (17 °C) • Weather: Partly Cloudy • Wind: SE 4 MPH
  • Referee: Michael VanderVelde
  • TV announcers (ATTSNRM): Drew Goodman, Sherdrick Bonner and Brad Thompson (sideline)

References

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  1. ^ Mark Anderson (December 9, 2017). "UNLV coach Tony Sanchez fires defensive coordinator, safeties coach". ReviewJournal.com.
  2. ^ Purdum, David (September 3, 2017). "Howard stuns UNLV for biggest point-spread upset in college football history". ESPN.com. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  3. ^ Thompson, Chris (September 3, 2017). "Cam Newton's Brother Led The Largest Point-Spread Upset In College Football History". Deadspin.com. Retrieved September 3, 2017.