Hill: UNLV, Jackson Arnold turning season around after hitting ‘rock bottom’

UNLV quarterback Jackson Arnold didn’t think things could get much worse for the Rebels than last month’s 44-6 loss at the hands of North Texas.

Saturday may have topped it had UNLV allowed Cal to rally from 17 points down in the second half with a backup quarterback to beat the Rebels at Allegiant Stadium.

Arnold wasn’t about to let it happen.

“Difficult situations are what defines our character and what defines us as players,” he said after he accounted for five touchdowns in a 39-31 victory over the Golden Bears. “I loved that test today.”

It probably shouldn’t have been so difficult. The Rebels held a 24-7 lead at the break and had knocked Cal star quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele from the game with a head injury.

But the offense stagnated. The defense gave up big plays. Special teams were a mess, fumbling a kickoff return, allowing a surprise onside kick recovery and shanking a punt.

All of a sudden, UNLV trailed 25-24 with 11:38 remaining. The loss to North Texas was embarrassing. This one would have been unacceptable.

Arnold was preparing to take the offense back on the field when he heard several conversations going on between coaches and players on the sideline and on the headsets with the booth.

The offense, which had punted on four straight possessions that accounted for seven total yards to start the second half, needed to make something happen.

Wide receivers coach Del Alexander’s voice stood out.

“I remember him saying on the headset, ‘I love it hard. I love it like this,’” Arnold said. “That kind of fired me up a little bit. We got rolling after that and started executing and putting plays together.”

Arnold completed a pass for 11 yards and then ran for 42 more. Two plays later, Jai’Den Thomas put the Rebels ahead for good with a 2-yard scoring run. Arnold capped the next drive with his own 2-yard touchdown run to essentially seal the game.

It was his second of the day as he ran for 110 yards. He added three passing scores, marking the first time in his career he has accounted for five touchdowns.

More importantly, it marked a second consecutive win since the season reached its low point in Denton.

“North Texas was rock bottom and a real wake-up call for us,” he said. “Then for us to have a lead that big and fall behind today and headed the wrong direction again, but bounce back and battle the way we did showed a lot about our team and our character.”

Arnold wasn’t going to allow the season to sink any lower. That was his mindset after that ugly loss that eliminated all the preseason talk of a playoff appearance and could have left the team wondering what it was still playing for the rest of the way.

The quarterback saw it as a growth opportunity and has now shown it on the field in back-to-back victories over Akron and Cal since that loss.

“I take pride in the value I can add to the team,” he said. “I tried to reassess after that game what I could do better and how I could add value. Through that bye week, we practiced a little more intensely and I tried to become more vocal as a leader and step up in that role. So far, it’s been good. I’m just going to keep on trying to push this team in any way I can.”

It hasn’t been perfect. Arnold admits he was frustrated with a couple throws and a poorly executed two-minute drive last week against Akron. He was only 10-for-21 passing on Saturday despite the five total touchdowns.

But he appears to have helped right the ship with an eye on a conference title.

Next week’s home game against North Dakota State will go a long way in determining who plays in and hosts the championship game, and UNLV is going to need a big performance out of Arnold, who has thrown for three scores in consecutive games for the first time in his career.

Arnold and the Rebels may be figuring things out just in time to welcome the Bison to town.

The big plays the offense is generating is a good sign.

Coach Dan Mullen said he thought Arnold had done a good job of learning the system in the spring and summer and showed he could operate it efficiently over the first few weeks of the season. But the key to unlocking it is when a quarterback can take that next step and understand when to look to make something explosive happen.

Arnold started showing that on Saturday. He had two runs of at least 40 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown. He also completed touchdown passes of 70 and 36 yards.

“I think I’m a lot more comfortable than I was five weeks ago,” Arnold said. “I think it’s just an accumulation of everything we’ve worked so hard for this offseason and to see it finally come to fruition has been awesome.”

Even if it took hitting rock bottom to finally get rolling.