UNLV defeated the Sacramento State football team 38-3 in Las Vegas on Saturday night. With the loss, Sac State is 0-1. The Hornets travel to San Luis Obispo to take on Cal Poly Saturday.

With a stadium that holds 40,000 people, a quarterback like Omar Clayton and the comfort of being at home, the Rebels led 7-0 with 10:43 left in the first quarter after running back Channing Trotter took the rock in from the one-yard line.

Despite the rough start, Sac State recovered defensively.

They held the Rebels’ lead to 10-0 for more than two quarters. Safeties Deionte Gordon and Zach Schrader both played extremely well, and aided the defense with 13 tackles apiece.

“(Gordon and Schrader) are really good players. I expect them to do some great things this season,” said UNLV head coach Mike Sanford.

“I had to leave it all out there on the field for my team. I had to give it all until I had nothing left,” Gordon said.

The Hornets picked up some momentum going into the second half as a 44-yard field goal from Chris Diniz ended the second quarter, and gave the team some hope.

“Mainly (head coach Marshall Sperbeck) was just letting us know that it would be a dogfight until the end, and that we need to hang in there,” said running back Evander Wilkins.

On the offensive side, Sac State struggled to get anything going.

Quarterback Jason Smith finished the game 8-of-17 for 85 yards, but he could not ever seem to get a good grip on the game.

Running backs Terrance Dailey and Wilkins were forced to pick up the slack as they combined to rush for nearly 100 yards, and it was only in the first half.

“We played hard in the first half. We kind of slowed down in the second half. I was not pleased with that. I was very impressed with how Sacramento State played,” Sanford said.

Although Dailey and Wilkins had a good first half, there still appeared to be some obvious frustration within the Sac State offense.

The Hornets were disappointed with the loss after almost upsetting Division I Colorado State in the season opener last season. Colorado State and UNLV are both in the Mountain West Conference.

“I was disappointed with our offense. I think we were just working out a lot of kinks and could have done a lot better,” Wilkins said. “In practice we must try and be more consistent and move the ball around to get more plays within the offense. That way we will be better prepared for the rest of our games.”

By the end of the third quarter, the Hornets could not stop UNLV. Trotter tore up the field. He scored three of the Rebel’s touchdowns, while Clayton finished 13-of-17 for 213 yards. The final touchdown came with 1:06 left in the game by running back Mike Clausen. The Hornets’ season opener was not fun, but was a good learning experience for Sperbeck’s squad.

“Overall, last night (Saturday) everyone had to get their first game jitters out. We have a close bond that will carry us throughout the rest of the season. We are like a family, we have good chemistry and we can become tighter now that the jitters are gone,” Gordon said.

Sperbeck’s overall outlook about Saturday’s game was hopeful. He feels that, although losing is never easy, it leaves room to grow and learn from the mistakes made Saturday.

“I think we learned a lot about ourselves and what we can do. There were a lot of positives to take from the game. We hung in there and played hard all the way through. Our safeties, Deionte (Gordon) and Zach (Schrader) both had 13 tackles. Everyone played hard,” Sperbeck said.

With another game right around the corner, Sperbeck plans to keep all his strategies the same.

“It is not so much our strategies that need to change, it is our execution. We learned about what we can do and what we do well. We just need to continue to get better at what we are doing,” Sperbeck said.

“Our standout guys on defense had to be Deionte Gordon and Zach Schrader. The both had great games. Terrance Dailey was by far our most valuable player on offense,” he said.

Dailey carried the ball 19 times for 100 yards. Wide receiver Brandyn Reed caught one pass for 32 yards. Wilkins rushed the ball 12 times for 43 yards and he caught three passes for 23 yards.

Offensive Lineman Peter Lenz left Saturday’s game due to a recurring knee injury from training camp. Sperbeck does not feel the injury will cause him to miss any time.

“We obviously watched a lot of 2008 tapes of Sac State. They had a lot of personnel changes that we were not expecting. Sac State looks good. They should do well in the Big Sky Conference this season,” Sanford said.

With game one completed, the Hornets look to prepare for this week’s game at Cal Poly. Kickoff is set for 4:05 p.m. on Saturday at the Alex G. Spanos Stadium in San Luis Obispo.

There was a moment of good sportsmanship before the game as both teams shook hands before the game. This is a new rule the NCAA has put in place for the 2009 football season.

Overall, Sperbeck believes that for the most part, the offense and defense did a satisfactory job.

“The offense ran the ball well at times, but was inconsistent on third down. When considering the defense, we will continue to work to prevent the big plays and cause turnovers,” he said.

Britney Rossman can be reached at [email protected]