UNLV’s late lead slips again, this time to Air Force

By Ryan Greene

Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008 | 2:17 a.m.

UNLV football coach Mike Sanford sat down at the podium for his postgame press conference Saturday night and tried to stay as upbeat as possible.

He responded to questions by describing a 29-28 setback to Air Force as a "team loss," said his team needs to continue to work to get better and has to get down to work in preparation for a trip to face BYU next Saturday.

The players followed suit, delivering some company lines about staying positive, though the frustration and disappointment over a third straight defeat was written all over several faces.

In the truth of truths, it's got to be getting harder and harder to put on the strong, silent face repeatedly.

The Rebels, now 3-4 overall and 0-3 in Mountain West play following an oh-so promising 3-1 start to the season, don't just have their backs up against a wall anymore -- they've practically being held against it -- as licking wounds will be even tougher the next two weeks against BYU in Provo, Utah, and TCU at home. Those two teams have 13 wins and two national Top 25 rankings between them.

"It hurts. I guess we're getting a taste of what Iowa State and Arizona State got," junior linebacker Jason Beauchamp said of another late-game letdown. "The thing is we just can't go in the tank for the rest of the season. We need everyone to bounce back, because we've got some serious competition with BYU and TCU."

What this team is truly made of will be revealed even further depending on how it comes out against what is sure to be a BYU team starving for success on the heels of its 32-7 blasting at the hands of TCU Thursday night in Fort Worth.

But before the Rebels can think about that, there's plenty to take in from the film Saturday night.

After another loss, it looks like even more defensive adjustments might need to come.

For the third straight week, the UNLV defense allowed more than 500 yards of total offense to an opponent. Again, the brunt of it came on the ground, though after making a handful of adjustments in terms of personnel in the secondary, the Rebels did come up with a few big stops.

However, they allowed themselves to get sucked in a little too deep by Air Force's play-calling, and gave up some big gainers through the air. In fact, it took Falcon freshman quarterback Tim Jefferson just six completions to rack up 162 yards and a pair of touchdowns with his arm.

The first of those came on a 28-yard scoring pass to Josh Cousins just over a minute into the second quarter. That made it 14-0, and gave the feeling that a blowout could be in the making.

But, as was the case against Colorado State in the second half two weeks ago when UNLV last took the field, the Rebels clawed back. A 28-yard touchdown strike from Omar Clayton to Phillip Payne pulled UNLV to within three just before the half, at 17-14. Then, Clayton's second touchdown pass of the game late in the third quarter -- a 9-yarder over the middle to Casey Flair -- gave the Rebels their first lead at 21-20. Four minutes later, Frank Summers ripped off a 45-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Then it happened. Again.

"Sometimes we just go out there, (get) three-and-outs, smash 'em up," said senior defensive tackle Jacob Hales. "And other times they're just running and passing all over us. We've just got to find a way to get consistent."

It was indeed the latter. First, Air Force rifled off a quick three-play, 55-yard drive after Reggie Rembert returned the ensuing kickoff to his own 45. The third snap was a Jefferson shot down the middle to Kyle Halderman, who flew by freshman safety Chris Jones for a 44-yard score. Halderman took an option pitch on the two-point attempt, but was cut down behind the line of scrimmage.

Air Force's crown jewel then came after UNLV's response of a drive stalled near midfield. The Falcons chewed up 7:03 on the game clock with 17 plays that covered 91 yards. A 19-yard chip shot by Ryan Harrison gave them the lead.

"Offensively, the positives were that we didn't turn the ball over and we're still perfect in the red zone," Sanford summarized. "The negative is that we've got to execute at critical times in the game. We've got to find a way on that last drive to take it down and score. I believed we were going to, and we didn't get it done. They made the plays and we didn't make the plays."

On a drive that began with 2:36 left to play and one timeout left, UNLV also shot itself in the foot a couple of times. Mario Jaberaeel was called for holding twice on the drive. The first one was overcome by an 11-yard Clayton run and then a 22-yard strike to Payne on third-and-nine.

The second one, however, was declined. It came on a play in which Clayton was flushed from the pocket on third-and-three at the Air Force 40, and instead of throwing the ball away, stepped out of bounds for a 7-yard loss. It made a 57-yard field goal attempt non-existent, and instead forced the Rebels to go for it on fourth-and-10. From there, Clayton threw an incomplete pass over the middle to Jerriman Robinson.

And that was that.

"Obviously I shouldn't have done it, so I think I shouldn't have done it," Clayton said in a bothered tone. "I'm not gonna say 'Oh, I wish I could go back,' because I can't. I've just got to make the right decision when those times come up.

"I ruined three plays in a row on the third drive of the second quarter, I ran out of bounds at the end. I didn't play well, no matter how many yards I threw for, no matter how many touchdowns I had. I didn't play well enough for us to get into field goal range. I didn't play well enough for us to score enough points, and that's the bottom line."

Clayton's final line was solid, as has been the case all season. He completed 19 of 30 pass attempts for 251 yards and a pair of touchdowns, giving him 16 touchdown tosses to just two interceptions on the season.

But the numbers didn't tell the whole story.

"I think we do have a young quarterback, and he makes a lot of good plays," Sanford said of his sophomore signal-caller. "We also have a situation where, unfortunately, we are in a laboratory of where he is learning out there on the field. He is constantly learning. Would Omar tell you that he could have played better on that last drive? Yes. I'm not going to say it, but I know Omar would."

And now the Rebels are back to where they were when they arrived at Sam Boyd Stadium late Friday afternoon -- a team looking to snap a losing skid, prove that a great start to the season wasn't a fluke, tighten up on defense and, well, believe that a bowl game is still a possibility.

Except now, that uphill climb is notably steeper.

"You go home Saturday and you've got Sunday and you go watch game films, and you're pretty much miserable, sick to your stomach for two days," Hales said. "You feel like someone just punched you right in the gut. Then you just put it behind you, get a day off from football, then you come back and you've got new goals, new things you want to do. You can't really look back on the things you didn't accomplish, or even the things you did accomplish. You've just got to look forward to what's next."