LAS VEGAS
Air Force tailback Jacobi Owens knew the return to his hometown Saturday would be special.
Not only did he have a chance to run in front of family and friends, he was hoping to lead the Falcons while topping the 1,000-yard plateau.
Two out of three isn’t bad.
Owens, who came into the game sitting at 853 yards rushing, ran for 135 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries to lead Air Force to a 48-21 victory over UNLV.
Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun said he knew Owens was 12 yards shy of reaching 1,000 yards, but that wasn’t part of the game plan against the Rebels, regardless of his star back playing in front of a personal fan base.
“Our priorities are for season, and if it’s supposed to be, it will happen,” Calhoun said. “We do have one heck of a group of young men; they love to play, they practice hard, and we’re America as America gets. Having guys that are, you pick it from the map: We’ve got a couple guys from Illinois that made a couple plays (Saturday); a few guys from Georgia made plays (Saturday); a young man from Las Vegas played pretty solid (Saturday); two kids from Oklahoma were pretty reasonable, the quarterback and the kicker; and from the state north of there, those two guys played well, too.
“We’re America. That’s what we are.”
Air Force (7-2, 3-2 Mountain West) scored on eight of its 13 drives, while two of them were kneel-down possessions to end the first half and the game. The Falcons’ high-powered rushing game led an offensive charge that saw them outgain UNLV 542-339 with 386 yards coming on the ground.
It was the second consecutive week the Rebels (2-8, 1-5 Mountain West) fell to a run-heavy offense after New Mexico rushed for 301 yards on 61 carries last week, and they went to the air just seven times. This time, it was Kale Pearson completing 5-of-6 for 115 yards and a touchdown, while he also ran for 67 yards on 15 carries and another score.
“He’s played really, really good ball,” Calhoun said of Pearson. “He’s made good improvement. He’s a heck of a competitor, a leader.”
The Falcons, who have improved their win total by five victories from last year after finishing 2-10, have won three in a row and six of the last seven. Air Force is 7-2 for just the second time since 1998 and for the first time since 2002.
UNLV scored on the game’s first possession, moving 75 yards in 13 plays in a little more than five minutes, capped by Blake Decker’s 11-yard touchdown scramble.
Air Force, meanwhile, used its highly potent triple-option attack to trudge through UNLV’s defense, methodically grinding out scores on all four of its first-half drives, other than kneeling out to end the first half. After a 39-yard field goal by Will Conant got the Falcons on the board, they forced the Rebels to punt, then drove 62 yards in nine plays for their first touchdown to take a 10-7 lead when D.J. Johnson rumbled in from 8 yards out with 49 seconds left in the first quarter.
After forcing another UNLV punt, the Falcons consumed 6 minutes, 35 seconds of clock and went 78 yards in 17 plays, culminating with Pearson’s 1-yard plunge to extend to 17-7. The Rebels failed to produce after a substantial drive that lasted 10 plays, and the Falcons wasted no time as Pearson found a wide open Jale Robinette over the middle for a catch-and-run that went 59 yards and gave Air Force a 24-7 lead.
UNLV cut the Falcons’ lead to 24-14 on its next drive with 2:14 left in the half, but Air Force wasn’t finished. After Jon Lee’s spectacular kick return put the Falcons near midfield, they moved quickly over six plays, driving 55 yards for their fourth touchdown of the half to move ahead 31-14.
“They gave us a couple of looks that we hadn’t seen that hurt us,” UNLV head coach Bobby Hauck said. “We are not playing good enough to win right now, and that’s on me. Our guys continue to play hard, they continue to be focused, and for whatever reason, I don’t think you could point to one thing, but just generally speaking, right now we’re not playing well enough to beat a team like Air Force.”
Air Force opened the second half with a quick scoring drive, moving 67 yards in just four plays spanning 1:12, to go ahead of the Rebels, 38-14. The Rebels appeared to have a bit of momentum on their side after driving into Falcons’ territory, but they stalled after Devonte Boyd’s outstanding circus catch was ruled out of the endzone on fourth down. UNLV got another chance when it recovered Air Force’s fumble at the Falcons’ 3-yard line, and two plays later Shaquille Murray-Lawrence plunged in from a yard out to draw the Rebels closer, 38-21.
The teams exchanged punts, while UNLV starting quarterback Blake Decker was knocked out of the game during the Rebels’ drive, and Air Force marched downfield to punch one in just before the end of the third quarter, as D.J. Johnson’s 2-yard plunge into the endzone gave the Falcons a 45-21 lead.
Freshman Jared Lebowitz replaced Decker and looked a bit out of sync in his first-ever appearance for the Rebels, completing just 1-of-3 pass attempts, as UNLV was forced to punt on a three-and-out series. The Falcons’ rushing assault on UNLV’s stop unit continued, as Owens’ 55-yard run sparked another scoring drive, this time a 33-yard field goal by Will Conant.
