Iowa State Dominates UNLV, 48-3, At Allegiant Stadium Saturday With Cyclones Fans Enjoying Lopsided Laugher
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
Allegiant Stadium is a nice modern football stadium with palatial whiz-bang amenities, a huge technological step over ol’ Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.
But the UNLV football team is still trying to find an identity — and a win.
Nationally-ranked Iowa State toyed with the Rebels Saturday in Las Vegas, where the cardinal and gold fans of Ames, Iowa re-settled into the comfy chairs at Allegiant Stadium and watched the Cyclones dominate UNLV, 48-3, with an announced attendance of 35,931.
UNLV promoted tickets starting at $33 and parking on the Strip across from the Luxor for 10 bucks in hopes the university can goose more UNLV football fans to Allegiant Stadium for the UNLV-Iowa State game Saturday evening.
UNLV, still looking for its first win under coach Marcus Arroyo, faced 14th-ranked Iowa State that was upset by 10 points by Iowa last week.
And it looked like many fans made the journey from Iowa to Las Vegas for this game. The Cyclones fans were loud from start to merciful finish for the Rebels, which were clearly out-talented and outmanned by a powerful Iowa State team.
Iowa State led 24-0 at the half and 38-3 after the third quarter. The Cyclones added a 54-yard field goal and a touchdown in the fourth quarter for the 48-3 final.
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Las Vegas is 0-3 after last season’s 0-6 pandemic year.
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Iowa State had lots of cardinal-and-gold fans in the 65,000-seat stadium. A rough guestimate would say 70 percent of 35,000 fans in the building were Iowa State fans.
And they were Kansas City Chiefs fans, too.
Would you like numbers? You have numbers. Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy played pitch and catch with his receivers, completing 21 of 24 passes for 287 yards and three TD passes. Meanwhile, Breece Hall ran 20 times for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
The UNLV quarterbacks were Cameron Friel and Tate Martell. They played for injured Doug Brumfield, who nearly pulled out a win in the season-opener against Eastern Washington.
UNLV mustered a mere 130 total yards. Iowa State moved the ball most of the game with 493 yards. Iowa State improved to 2-1 and starts conference play with a game against Baylor next week. Charles Williams, the “Chuck Wagon,” squeezed out 42 yards on 19 carries for UNLV.
