LOGAN — Football coaches always talk about offense, defense and special teams working in unison in putting together a solid game.
Utah State and UNLV pushed in the offensive and defensive categories, but the Rebels' special teams outdid Utah State in UNLV's 23-16 victory over the Aggies on Thursday night.
UNLV placekicker Serigo Aguayo was 3-for-3 in field-goal attempts with the long of 48, and he made both extra-point attempts.
Punter Brian Pacheco averaged 50.2 yards on six punts, but none was bigger than his last kick, when he pinned the Aggies back on their 2 late in the fourth quarter with the game tied at 16-16.
"That was huge," UNLV coach Mike Sanford said of the 48-yard punt. "You've got to win every phase and I think our defense played well, as did our special teams."
Utah State, on the other hand, faltered on special teams — especially late.
Just before halftime, Kevin Robinson had a nifty 49-yard return, and on the next play, freshman Peter Caldwell drilled a 38-yard field goal to give the Aggies a 10-3 lead.
The second half was a lot different, however.
Chris Ulinski missed an extra-point that would have given the Aggies a 17-16 lead late in the fourth quarter. To add insult to injury, he followed that with his worst kickoff of the day, and the Rebels returned it to their 46.
"As soon as Chris missed it I went to him and I said, 'You better forget it because we've got to get a good kick out of you.' It was probably his worst kick of the night," Utah State coach Brent Guy said. "That just shows you that young guys that haven't played a lot, how you have to train them to let go of the last play and play for the next play. That's probably the worst kick he's had in camp, maybe. He'd been kicking the ball real well."
Although the Rebels didn't score on that drive, Pacheco pinned the Aggies deep, and after a defensive stop, Frank Summers scored from 11 yards out for what proved to be the game-winning score.
"You've got to give UNLV credit," Guy said. "When they go got opportunities, they did take advantage of it and they did hit enough field goals to win the games in the end."
RULE CHANGE: With 166 kickoff return yards, Robinson is liking the new rule that has kickers kicking from the 30 instead of the 35.
"There's no touchbacks," Robinson said. "You just take the ball out and play ... It's good for our offense because it gives us better field position."
He had six returns for 166 yards with a long of 45 yards.
MAKING THE STOPS: Safety Antonio Taylor, who led the team in tackles last year, is picking up where he left off. He tallied a team-high 10 stops against the Rebels, while Paul Igboeli had eight.
E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com