LIVE GAME BLOG: Rebels drop third straight as Air Force escapes Sam Boyd with 29-28 win

By Ryan Greene

Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008 | 10:12 p.m.

Final, Air Force wins, 29-28

UNLV's final drive came down to a fourth-and-10 at the Air Force 47-yard line, but an Omar Clayton throw over the middle for Jerriman Robinson into double coverage fell incomplete, and in return, the Rebels fell to 3-4 now facing a treacherous two-game stretch against BYU and TCU.

Air Force executed a 17-play, 91-yard drive over 7:03 which resulted in a field goal and left Clayton & Co. with 2:36 to make something happen. But like their last time out at Colorado State, there just wasn't enough left in the tank.

It's a big blow to the Rebels, who led early in the fourth quarter 28-20. They now find themselves probably needing four wins in their final five games to get to the postseason.

Clayton finished 19-of-30 for 251 yards and a pair of scores, while Phillip Payne had 124 yards on six grabs.

The Falcon offense, though, was what made the difference when it was all said and done. Freshman quarterback Tim Jefferson took every snap for the Falcons, rushing for 99 yards while completing six of seven pass attempts for 162 yards and two scores. Air Force fullback Todd Newell led all ballcarriers with 134 yards and a score on 22 carries.

UNLV now travels to Provo in dire need of something positive. Kickoff between the Rebels and Cougars will be at 11 a.m. next Saturday.

Stay tuned to www.lasvegassun.com/rebels for full postgame coverage, including numbers, photos, video and player reactions.

2:36, fourth quarter, Air Force leads 29-28

Another long, drawn-out, grinder of a drive by Air Force, and UNLV finds itself in a similar late game position - the fate of the contest riding on one possession. Against Colorado State, it came down to defense. Tonight, it's Omar Clayton and his crew.

Air Force quarterback Tim Jefferson was rocked out of bounds a yard-and-a-half shy of the goal line on third-and-goal moments earlier, and a Ryan Harrison chip shot gave the Falcons the lead to cap a 17-play, 91-yard drive that sucked 7:03 off the clock. Now Clayton has to lead the Rebel offense from its own 30-yard line (actually, the 20 following a holding call on the first play of the drive).

It could be interesting to see which way Sanford goes should UNLV get into field goal range in terms of who gets the nod between Ben Jaekle, who missed wide left on a 52-yarder earlier, and short-yardage specialist Kyle Watson.

But, of course, they have to get there first.

9:39, fourth quarter, UNLV leads 28-26

UNLV's offense got to roughly midfield before the drive stalled out, and the defense again trots out onto the field. They got some help from Dack Ishii, though, who boomed a kick and got a great bounce to place the Air Force offense at its own 8-yard line.

Yes, the Dack Attack is back, jack. (Sorry, just watched The Mighty Ducks last week. Couldn't help myself)

13:47, fourth quarter, UNLV leads 28-26

That Air Force passing theory continued to prove correct, as Tim Jefferson's third completions of the game fooled the Rebel defense and resulted in a 44-yard TD strike down the seam to Kyle Halderman.

The Falcons went for two, though, and a pitch to Halderman was stemmed short by Geoffery Howard, keeping UNLV up by two at 28-26.

All you math majors can now figure out how huge a touchdown would be for the Rebels on this possession (and an extra point, of course). That said, it's a good thing Omar Clayton has been as strong as he has tonight. So far, he is 16-of-23 for 214 yards and a pair of scores.

14:50, fourth quarter, UNLV leads 28-20

The Rebels have talked plenty over the past few weeks about needing to close out opponents and not get happy with leads. Here's the chance to prove it, as Frank Summers took a handoff up the middle on the first play of the final frame, busted it out to the left and streaked down the sideline for a 45-yard score. His long run on the season before that was 29 yards.

It was all set up by the Rebel defense, though. Lorenzo Bursey Jr. applied a huge hit on Asher Clark behind the line of scrimmage as Air Force went for it on fourth-and-two near midfield. The ball was jarred loose, rolled backwards and out of bounds about eight yards.

The Rebels now lead 28-20, and, just as it was at Colorado State in the fourth quarter, the onus is on the defense to stand pat right here.

Again, here's the chance to prove things have changed.

3:09, third quarter, UNLV leads 21-20

The Phillip Payne Red Zone Diversion tactic worked yet again, as a nine-yard touchdown pass from Omar Clayton to Casey Flair over the middle gave UNLV its first lead of the night over Air Force at 21-20 with 3:09 to play in the third.

But Payne was more than integral in helping set up the score. First, he applied a huge block in the flat on a screen pass to Ryan Wolfe which helped generate a 13-yard gain. Then, he had a 17-yard grab, moving the ball down to the 26-yard line.

And now UNLV has a chance to lead going into the fourth quarter for the first time since the Iowa State game four weeks ago.

Again, that all depends on the defense.

As for Payne, he now has five catches for 102 yards, giving the freshman wideout his first career 100-yard game to go with everything else he's accomplished so far this season. Meanwhile, Flair's TD catch tied him for second on the school's all-time list with 183. One more, and he passes Earvin Johnson. Five more, and he's on top of the heap by his lonesome over Damon Williams.

7:10, third quarter, Air Force leads 20-14

Every time Air Force has gone to the air tonight - or at least two of the three times - success has been an understated description. On the Falcon's first possession out of the half, it resulted in a 59-yard completion from Tim Jefferson to Travis Dekker - with the burly tight end hurdling UNLV's Geoffery Howard in the process, a la Knowshon Moreno.

Still, thanks to Wiselet Rouzard hurdling the pile near the goal line and stuffing an attempted run up the middle, UNLV held Air Force to a field goal. A false start against the Falcons before a fourth-and-goal try made sure of that.

It feels like a broken record to say it, but UNLV's offense has got to answer and get a lead. Then again, it's fair that that's said multiple times when the Rebel defense tackles the way it has been. A 20-yard completion from Omar Clayton to Ryan Wolfe got things off to a nice start.

10:54, third quarter, Air Force leads 17-14

Ben Jaekle missed a 43-yard field goal try which could have tied things at 17 apiece to cap UNLV's opening drive out of the half, and now the defense must again try to figure out the Air Force rushing attack while in the hole.

They'll have to do so without middle linebacker Ronnie Paulo, who is out for the rest of the game with a left ankle injury. The good news for the UNLV staff, already scratching to find depth on the defensive side of the ball, is that x-rays were negative.

Halftime, Air Force leads 17-14

While Air Force's offense does things its own way, so is UNLV. While the Falcons prefer to run the ball and drain clock, the Rebels appear to be into the whole quick strike thing. The Rebels shot right down the field with three completions to Phillip Payne, including a 29-yard TD grab by the frosh standout with :14 to play in the half. It pulled UNLV back to within three points, further masked another spotty defensive showing and put them in prime position to claim a lead in the second half, as the Rebel offense gets the ball first.

Payne, on the drive, finished with 67 yards. Omar Clayton was a near-spotless 9-of-10 in the first half for 115 yards and a score.

Though Clayton was overshadowed by Air Force's practically invinsible run game. That said, here are some numbers from the first half ...

-Frank Summers had just nine yards on five carries, while C.J. Cox totaled 30 yards and his first career touchdown on seven carries. Summers is beyond valuable to this offense, yes, but Cox looks a bit more suited to run up the gut out of the spread offense, as his quickness has been on full display. I'd expect them to split carries the rest of the night to keep Air Force's defense on its toes.

-Tim Jefferson's one completion for the Falcons went for a score. The rest of his damage came on the ground, as he carried the ball seven times for 59 yards. Fullback Todd Newell picked up 100 yards on 12 carries and Asher Clark had another 27 hashmarks of his own. In all, Air Force has 219 yards on the ground, which tops the average of 213.0 UNLV is allowing per game.

-Ronnie Paulo had eight tackles for the Rebels, second on the night so far to just Jason Beauchamp, who has nine. The big difference is, though, that Paulo left the game late in the first half and was helped to the locker room, where he's having his left ankle x-rayed.

The UNLV defense is needing all the help it can get tonight, as Air Force's offense is moving at will. That said, it's pretty important for the Rebels to make something happen on the opening drive of the second half.

There's really no reason to deviate from the pregame prediction of Air Force by 10, but UNLV is playing from behind and has been since go. That really hasn't been the case in any game this year other than at Arizona State, and we all know how that ended up.

1:36, second quarter, Air Force leads 17-7

Whatever momentum the UNLV offense had going after its last drive, Air Force did its best to make it as stale as possible. The Falcons drained 6:31 off the clock with 16 straight run plays before ultimately coming away with a 27-yard field goal by Ryan Harrison.

While the two-score lead is nice for Air Force, the other edge it has on UNLV is that by having such a successful run-first offense, the Falcons can keep the Rebel offense from establishing a rhythm. Or at least they can make it difficult.

Omar Clayton took the UNLV offense back onto the field and completed a 27-yard pass to Phillip Payne right off the bat, then consecutive passes to Ryan Wolfe and Payne. It's set the Rebels up inside the Falcon 30 with under a minute to go in the half.

At least the defense will now have awhile to catch its breathes. Based on the first half, things aren't going to get any easier for them as this one wears on.

8:14, second quarter, Air Force leads 14-7

One career hit a milestone on UNLV's ensuing drive, while another kicked into gear.

Casey Flair made an extended, toe-tapping grab on the sideline for a 15-yard gain on third-and-12 to extend the Rebels' attempt to answer Air Force's second score. From there, C.J. Cox did the brunt of the work, scoring his first career touchdown on a five-yard run up the left side, pumping at least some life into the home crowd on hand.

On the drive, Cox, who hadn't carried the ball more than twice in a game yet this season, had seven carries for 25 yards. Flair, on the other hand, broke Earvin Johnson's school record for consecutive games with a score, doing so for the 42nd straight time.

Again, as it always seems, the ball is in the UNLV defense's court now.

13:36, second quarter, Air Force leads 14-0

Of course, five seconds before it happened, I turned to a fellow scribe and said, referring to Air Force, 'This team averages 10.4 pass attempts per game and won't come close to that tonight, because there's no reason to.'

That was because the Falcons had ripped off 12 straight run plays and picked up a trio of first downs in the process ... including two on fourth-and-short conversions which were all but givens.

Then they went to the Air. Tim Jefferson's first completion of the game went for a 28-yard score down the seam to Josh Cousins, and the Rebels continued to give their fans very little faith on the defense buckling down for the majority of the night.

The Rebel offense, facing a 14-0 deficit, needs to get going now to even have a chance to make this at least a shootout.

A nice kick return off a lateral by Michael Johnson helped things out, as UNLV started up near midfield on the ensuing possession.

6:48, first quarter, Air Force leads 7-0

The defensive momentum certainly didn't carry for UNLV, as old demons are already creeping back up.

This time, it was the missed tackle bug. A five-play, 80-yard drive took just 1:22 for Air Force, finished by a 52-yard run by Todd Newell. He took a dive up the gut, and Ronnie Paulo had him wrapped around his left leg. No one came to help, though, as Newell hopped out from Paulo's grasp and shot down the pipe for an untouched score.

Uh oh ...

6:12, first quarter, game tied 0-0

Well, apparently it wasn't just a scare tactic by Mike Sanford to put the starting jobs in the secondary up for competition. Terrance Lee and Daryl Forte, who had started at the safety spots all season, were replaced by Beau Orth and Lorenzo Bursey Jr. Wiselet Rouzard played a roving spot between linebacker and safety, as Nate Carter was not on the field to start things off, either.

With the assistance of a couple costly flags, UNLV held Air Force scoreless on its first possession. A holding call on second-and-16 was the key, then Jason Beauchamp and Malo Taumua combined to add a little flair to the stand by forcing a four-yard loss in the backfield on third-and-24.

UNLV's opening possession was efficient, and thanks to a pass interference call deep on the Air Force defense against Casey Flair, UNLV threatened to score.

But then confusion set in.

Following a sack of Omar Clayton on third-and-seven, which pushed UNLV back to the Air Force 35, Mike Sanford called a timeout before the play clock ran out to apparently give Ben Jaekle more time to set up a 52-yard attempt. Then, he sent Dack Ishii out to punt ... only to take a delay of game call to have more field position to kick with. The punt went out of the end zone for a touchback, and all the timeout got the Rebels was an extra 20 yards of field position for the defense to work with.

Could be an interesting night ...

Pregame

Welcome to the fork in the road, folks.

That's what tonight's UNLV-Air Force showdown at Sam Boyd Stadium pretty much is. The Falcons come in at 4-2, having snuffed out San Diego State last week 35-10, getting back on track following a two-game skid. UNLV, on the other hand, is a bittersweet 3-3.

It wasn't all that long ago when this team was 3-1, remember? They were sort of the toast of the town for a few days when 3-1.

With BYU and TCU on the horizon, this season can go two potential ways as we begin the second half of the schedule tonight: It can get back on track, or it can enter a tailspin.

Is it a bit cryptic to claim that a tailspin is more than possible? No. Not when you consider that should UNLV fail to buckle down (again) against the run tonight, the Rebels would head into a two-game stretch with the Cougars and Horned Frogs on a three-game skid.

A win tonight? Well, then UNLV could absorb potential blows the next couple of weeks and play a little more care-free, as the final three games are all on the winnable side. And judging by the 70 points San Diego State allowed, that one is a step beyond winnable, it looks like.

Bottom line right now, though, is that it looks like seven wins will be the benchmark for getting into postseason play. Six wins still makes you 'bowl eligible', but who are we kidding? It won't mean squat in this league this season.

It's a pretty casual atmosphere tonight at Sam Boyd. Nothing near what it was like just three weeks ago when UNR rolled into town (and out of it, too). The nicest feature so far? A blimp flying by with a video screen on it. Unfortunately, it was so far away, it wasn't very readable. I think I saw Henderson Nissan offering 33% APR financing? Not sure, just an educated guess.

Anyways, on to tonight's three big predictions ...

1) The UNLV run defense will allow Air Force at least 200 yards on the ground. But don't be too discouraged by that number. Remember, the Falcons average just a hair under 300 per game. Allowing 200 wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Instead, the Rebels need to keep them to just being effective on the ground, while at the same time not allowing any big plays through the air. I'm still saying Air Force wins this one by 10 or so. Gotta play the numbers until UNLV proves that I should do otherwise.

2) Casey Flair may not break the UNLV career receptions record tonight (he needs eight to do so), but based on a recent trend, he's my pick to click tonight. The reason? He's on the cover of the game program. The last two coverboys (Phillip Payne vs. Iowa State and Omar Clayton vs. UNR) made out pretty well. Again, playing the odds.

3) No one will top San Diego State as the laughing stock of the league today. No, that 70-7 final is not an illusion. One thing looks to be for certain, and that's that UNLV has a nice opportunity to end this season on a positive note on Nov. 21 in San Diego no matter what happens in these next five games.

Talk to you around kick time.