UNLV loses heartbreaker in overtime

Steve Guiremand

Saturday, Oct. 28, 2000 | 5:31 a.m.

OXFORD, Miss. --- Another game, another morale victory for UNLV.

NOT!

John Robinson's Rebels overcame a 15-point fourth quarter deficit to send Saturday's game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium into overtime on the final play of regulation, a 17-yard run by tailback Jeremi Rudolph followed by a two-point conversion run by Kevin Brown.

But in the end, the Rebels did something they've been doing a lot this season ... coming up just short of a milestone victory.

Deuce McAllister's one-yard plunge off left tackle gave Ole Miss a wild, hard-fought 43-40 overtime victory over UNLV before a sun-baked Homecoming crowd of 40,338 Saturday afternoon here.

"I'd have paid to see that one," Robinson said afterward with a smile.

He'd have paid a whole lot more to see his team leave with a victory.

"There's no morale victories any more," linebacker Ryan Claridge said. "There's stepping stones. We know we can play with the big dogs of the SEC now."

Even on a day when they played poorly for a half, trailing 23-7 at intermission. And even on a day when star quarterback Jason Thomas played perhaps his worst game of the season, completing just 7-of-25 passes for 93 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

But UNLV broke the 300-yard rushing barrier for the third time in eight games this season, garnering 378 yards on the ground en route to 471 yards in total offense.

Still, that didn't look like it would be enough. UNLV still trailed, 37-29, with a little over five minutes to go when Ole Miss placekicker Les Binkley, who had made 19 of his previous 22 career field goals, trotted out to attempt a 38-yard field goal.

But UNLV safety Sam Brandon skied high to block Binkley's try and UNLV took over at the Ole Miss one yard line with just 5:02 remaining.

UNLV (4-4), converting three times on third down, then drove 99-yards in 14 plays to cut the Ole Miss lead to 37-35 on Rudolph's 17-yard run off left tackle as time expired.

Following an Ole Miss timeout, UNLV sent the game into overtime with a broken play.

"It was a quarterback zone-left," Thomas said. "Kevin Brown was supposed to go right and take the linebacker out of the box."

But Ole Miss had the play covered and Thomas improvised, going to his right instead and, after drawing the defense to him, pitching the ball to the wide-open Brown who trotted into the end zone untouched to send the game into overtime, 37-37.

UNLV lost the coin toss at the start of overtime and Ole Miss wisely elected to start on defense.

On third-and-five at the 20, Thomas scrambled for four yards to the Ole Miss 16.

It was fourth and a long yard. Robinson said he briefly considered going for the first down, but then sent in walk-on freshman Dillon Pieffer for his first college field goal. Pieffer connected on the 33-yarder to give UNLV its first lead of the game, 40-37.

"You need to give your defense a chance out there," Robinson said when asked if he thought about bypassing the field goal try and going for it on fourth down. "If you don't get (the first down), they go out and run three plays and kick the field goal."

Ole Miss pulled out all the stops on its overtime possession.

Facing a third-and-one at the UNLV 16, McAllister, who did not play in regulation because of a high left ankle sprain, trotted on to the field to cheers of "Duuuuuuece!"

McAllister then jumped high over the pile for two yards and a first down at the UNLV 14. He repeated the manuever on third-and-one at the UNLV five.

Two plays later, McAllister didn't need to dive, running in off left tackle from one-yard out for the game-winning touchdown.

"My ankle is still tender," McAllister said. "I told the coaches that they kept me out of regulation, but they weren't going to keep me out of overtime. I wanted to play regardless of how my ankle felt because I wanted to help the team get the win."

McAllister even had to have his injured left ankle re-taped before overtime so he could play.

"I had my shoes taped up, but I had cut the tape off my shoes late in the game," McAllister said. "Once we were in overtime, I had to get re-taped during that three-minute break between regulation and overtime. The trainer was telling me that they were not going to put me back in. I told the trainer that Coach (David Cutcliffe) was going to put me back in, and he's not keeping me out."

"Nobody can jump over the top on a short yardage play like Deuce can, and nobody can make big plays like he can," Cutcliffe said.

"(McAllister) looked like he was 12-feet tall," Robinson added.

And UNLV, which lost heartbreakers to Colorado State (20-19) and BYU (10-7) earlier this season on the road, got ready for another long flight home.

"There is no satisfaction in playing hard," Thomas said. "There's no quit in this team. We showed it at Iowa State. We showed it at BYU. We showed it at Colorado State. We showed it today. But you've got to find a way to win the big game. That's what all championship teams do. They find a way to win. We have to do that."

And quick. UNLV, which travels to Utah next Saturday, must win three of their final four games to meet their goal of playing in a bowl game this year.