Harridge’s second option too much for Rebels

Monday, Oct. 13, 2003 | 10:57 a.m.

As Meatloaf said, two out of three ain't bad, but then he never had to defend Air Force's triple-option offense.

UNLV did an adequate job of containing the fullback and the trailing back. But it was the second option, quarterback Chance Harridge, which beat them again on Saturday.

Harridge, the Falcons' gritty senior quarterback, rushed 12 times for 89 yards -- with 83 of those coming in the first quarter -- to spark Air Force to a solid 24-7 Mountain West Conference victory.

"I thought we played well enough on defense to beat this team," Rebels coach John Robinson said after UNLV held Air Force, one of the nation's most prolific rushing teams, to 261 yards and a 4.4-yard per-carry average, both below its season norms. "His yards were (basically) the difference in total yards.

"But this is a good football player. It's like I told him afterward, I wish he'd get his wings and go fly somewhere already. (It seems like) he's 37 years old and that he's been there for 12 years."

Harridge scored both of Air Force's offensive touchdowns, the first coming on a bruising 9-yard keeper in the first quarter and the second on a sneak in the fourth quarter, after UNLV had pulled to 17-7. But one of the biggest plays he made was with his passing arm, setting up his second touchdown with a 27-yard pass to Joel Schieffer over Jamaal Brimmer, the Rebels' best defender, on a fourth-and-3 situation.

Having worked hard on improving his passing touch during the off-season, Harridge completed 5 of 10 passes for 63 yards.

As usual, the precision with which he ran AFA's high-risk offense was crucial to the outcome. The Falcons put the ball on the ground just once and got that one back. Moreover, Air Force did not commit a turnover against a Rebels defense that came in ranked among the nation's best at producing them.

"They've been running that option for so long that they very rarely make mistakes," said Rebels linebacker Ryan Claridge. "We played hard and we played fast, but they still played well."

In addition to his running and passing, Harridge also delivered the pregame prep talk to his teammates, who were still smarting from last week's 28-25 loss to service academy rival Navy, the Falcons' only blemish in seven starts.

"I just asked everyone instead of sitting around in the locker room after the game and talking about the plays they should have made last week, I asked who was going to step up and make the plays to win the game," Harridge told the Denver Post.

"I didn't want to go through a whole week like we did and asking ourselves questions. I said, 'Let's make it happen."'

But in the end, Harridge's actions spoke louder than his words.