Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
UNLV falls to Idaho in OT, 33-30
Sanchez: ‘Sick to my stomach’ after OT defeat
The more things change, the more they stay the same for UNLV’s football team.
While second-year coach Tony Sanchez has generated buzz and newfound optimism around the long-suffering program, the Rebels took a big step back on the field with an inexcusable 33-30 overtime loss to Idaho on Saturday night before an announced crowd of 17,229 at Sam Boyd Stadium.
It wasn’t a loss to a Football Championship Subdivision school, but it might as well have been. The Vandals are dropping to FCS in 2018 and had been outscored 115-20 in losses at Washington and Washington State after barely beating FCS side Montana State 20-17 in their opener.
“Bottom line, this is a team we’re supposed to beat,” Sanchez said after his team dropped to 1-3. “I’m beyond frustrated. I’m embarrassed. I’m pissed off. I’m sick to my stomach right now.
“This is about as angry as I’ve been since I’ve been sitting in this chair. We’ve got to get better. At some point we’ve got to find ourselves in this program.”
Matt Linehan threw a winning 11-yard touchdown pass to Callen Hightower on a crossing pattern to lift the Vandals (2-2), who took an early 10-0 lead off two Johnny Stanton interceptions and never trailed.
Linehan, who was 17-for-35 for 249 yards and a touchdown, also scrambled for 8 yards in overtime for a first down on third-and-3.
The Rebels, 15-point favorites, had the ball first in overtime, but settled for a 23-yard field goal by Evan Pantels after Stanton had run for 17 yards on the first play of the extra session.
UNLV tied the game at 27 on Lexington Thomas’ 55-yard run with 5:09 left. Thomas rushed for 160 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries for his third straight 100yard game.
Idaho went ahead 27-20 on Linehan’s 7-yard touchdown run with 6:14 left. Linehan, who took at least 10 shots deep downfield during the game, connected on a 33-yarder to Reuben Mwehla to start the 70-yard drive and set up his score with a 22yard throw into the end zone that resulted in a pass interference penalty on UNLV cornerback Jay’Onn Myles.
“We were atrocious covering the deep ball,” Sanchez said. “The way we played it, they continued to go to it over and over and over.”
The Rebels tied it 20-20 when it settled for Pantels’ 24-yard field goal with 8:29 left after an 85-yard, 13-play drive.
Stanton completed 14 of 26 passes for 175 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions and ran for 131 yards on 18 carries.
UNLV, which finished with 539 total yards (Idaho had 378), also settled for a 32-yard field goal after an 11-play, 63-yard drive that cut its deficit to 20-17.
After the teams exchanged field goals to start the second half, Idaho drove deep into UNLV territory when Linehan completed a 41-yard pass to Hightower to the Rebels 10. However, Aaron Duckworth fumbled on the next play and UNLV recovered at the 4. LaKeith Walls forced the fumble and Jason Fao recovered.
The Rebels cut their deficit to 1714 on Stanton’s 4-yard touchdown pass to fullback Marc Philippi with 59 seconds left in the first half.
Idaho went ahead 17-7 when Duckworth’s 4-yard run with 4:58 left in the second quarter capped a 75-yard drive.
UNLV cut its deficit to 10-7 on Thomas’ 3-yard touchdown run with 9:04 left in the second quarter.
Stanton got off to an awful start, throwing a pass directly into the hands of Idaho linebacker Kaden Elliss on the third play. Elliss had a clear path to the end zone but dropped the ball.
Elliss didn’t have to wait long for another chance. On the second play of UNLV’s second possession, he picked off a Stanton pass and returned it 31 yards for a score as the Vandals took a 7-0 lead.
Stanton also threw his second interception to Elliss and Idaho capitalized, taking a 10-0 lead on a 40yard field goal by Austin Rehkow.