Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

REBELS FOOTBALL:

One win away: Rebels near bowl eligibility

After knocking off Wyoming, 22-14, UNLV faces San Diego State in regular season finale

UNLV football

Justin M. Bowen

UNLV running back Frank Summers rushes during Thursday night’s game against Wyoming at Sam Boyd Stadium.

One Win Away

After notching just two wins in each of the previous four seasons, the UNLV senior class is just one victory away from becoming bowl eligible after beating Wyoming 22-14 on Thursday's Senior Night.

UNLV vs. Wyoming

UNLV running back Frank Summers rushes during Thursday night's game against Wyoming at Sam Boyd Stadium. Launch slideshow »

UNLV Fan Photos

Launch slideshow »

Next game

  • Opponent: San Diego State
  • Date: Nov. 22, 5 p.m.
  • Where: San Diego

It may not have been the best time to ask, but UNLV senior receiver Casey Flair didn't know when he'd get another chance to offer up a small request to Wyoming linebacker Ward Dobbs.

Flair and Dobbs -- two of just eight Alaskans on FBS rosters -- met for a brief moment on the field following the Rebels' 22-14 Senior Night victory over the Cowboys Thursday night at Sam Boyd Stadium.

"After the game, I went and talked to him for a little bit, and just told him we need a little help from him," Flair said. "He wasn't too happy about it right then, but he said he'd do what he could."

The help Flair is speaking of would be a Wyoming victory over Colorado State next weekend up in Laramie. Should UNLV win its regular season finale next Saturday at San Diego State, that additional assistance might be needed to help the Rebels secure their first bowl bid since 2000.

After the way UNLV took care of business in its lone mid-week game of the season, there's reason to believe that help might be the final push the Rebels require to land a postseason berth.

What way is that, you may ask? There was no defense lagging behind in the closing moments. No offense needing to shuffle downfield for a last-gasp score. No special teams leaving the defense with short fields to defend against.

"Tonight was one of those games," Flair added. "Offensively we kept the ball for a little bit, we started driving and then we punted. And then the defense did a great job of keeping big plays down, keeping the ball in front of them, and that was big for them. We played as a team tonight."

And with that, the Rebels are coming full circle at just the right time. In a season that has come down to a three-game, can't-lose stretch, the Rebels are now two-thirds of the way home. This week's triumph, which moved UNLV to 5-6 with one game to go, resembled last week's 27-20 victory over New Mexico in many ways.

For starters, quarterback Mike Clausen took awhile at first to settle down and find his targets in place of the injured Omar Clayton.

Clausen was just 8-of-17 in the first half for 70 yards. He was 8-of-23 in the first half last weekend. But this time around, he went into the break with a lead, as UNLV relied on a trio of Kyle Watson field goals and some staunch defense to gain a 9-7 edge after two quarters.

Then the Cowboys came out firing in the second half, scoring their second touchdown on a hurry-up style seven-play drive. With Wyoming holding a 14-9 lead throughout the rest of the third quarter, it was toward the end of the quarter when Mike Sanford decided it was time to take a risk.

Facing a fourth-and-2 from the Wyoming 49-yard line, he opted for a fake punt try. After bobbling the snap a bit, third-string quarterback/starting punter Dack Ishii let go of a pass down the right sideline, which was turned into a 19-yard gain by Jerriman Robinson. That drive kept going, ultimately resulting in a 1-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter by Frank Summers.

"It wasn't so much that I needed to light a fire," UNLV coach Mike Sanford said of the call, similar in risk to the fourth-and-two play his team scored on against the Lobos a week ago. "It was more that I was trying to find a way to score."

Moments later, it was the defense that fed off the energy, both lighting a fire and finding a way to help the offense score. Wyoming quarterback Chris Stutzriem rifled a pass toward the right hashmark on third down deep in his own territory, and the ball was tipped up by a leaping Geoffery Howard. Running it down was linebacker Rusty Worthen, who set up the Rebels offense on the Wyoming 24-yard line with a short return.

Clausen, who followed his spotty first half with a steady 8-of-13 showing in the final 30 minutes, threw his lone touchdown pass of the game a few plays later, hitting Rodelin Anthony for a 19-yard score over the middle.

"It's always great to go out there with momentum," Clausen said of the spark provided by the defense. "They're kind of down, we're kind of upbeat, and we feed off of it. It showed the past two weeks. We feed off of game-changers."

And in another carbon-copied example from a week ago, UNLV's once-maligned defense closed things out with a true knockout blow. Two of them, in fact.

First, the Rebels benefitted from another tipped ball, this time off a deep Stutzriem pass with the ball in UNLV territory. He fired one deep for David Leonard down the seem, but Rebels safety Daryl Forte got a jump on it, floated back to knock the ball upward at the last second, and Quinton Pointer secured it in the end zone.

Then, after UNLV's clock-milking drive stalled and Ishii had to punt it away, safety Terrence Lee stormed down in coverage and ripped the ball from returner Brandon Stewart's grasp, giving way to Clausen, who only had to take a couple of knees in polishing things off.

"It feels good, instead of being the bad leg of the team," Forte said of the defense, which let fourth quarter leads against Air Force, Colorado State and BYU slip away during the team's five-game losing skid. "When people blame stuff on you, it doesn't feel good. It wasn't going for us sometimes, but we found a way to do it tonight."

In truth, the defense did it for almost the entire night. Despite Wyoming stringing a couple of decent drives together, their numbers ended up looking pretty average. Devin Moore, the Mountain West's leading rusher, was held below the 100-yard mark for the second straight week, finishing with 91 yards on 18 carries.

The Rebels were stellar with their third-down defense yet again. After holding New Mexico to a 3-of-14 showing on third downs, Wyoming was just 2-of-9.

And on offense, the Rebels were able to make it two straight outings without a turnover, with Clausen playing a major role in that accomplishment.

A duplicate of those performances a week from now, and on paper it appears as if bowl eligibility is a strong possibility for the Rebels. San Diego State enters its showdown this weekend with No. 8 Utah as the conference's only team without a league win at 0-6. The Aztecs' run defense ranks second-to-last in the NCAA, allowing 273.9 yards per game, while they're 107th in total offense.

"It's been a long time since we've had this much excitement in November," Flair said. "Not since I've been here."

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy