Bowl dreams turn to nightmares

November 24, 2008 by Hepi Mita 

Rebels lose chance at bowl game with 42-21 loss to San Diego State

Rebels lose chance at bowl game with 42-21 loss to San Diego State. Photo by: Devin Loretz

The Rebels’ chance at bowl eligibility slipped through their fingers as a pass fell through the hands of Michael Johnson in UNLV’s 42-21 loss to San Diego State on Saturday.

“You can call it whatever you want to call it,” UNLV head coach Mike Sanford said.  ”They are a way better football team than their record. They have better players than their record. You can say whatever you want to say, but I’m not going to say I’m embarrassed. You have to give them credit. They won. They’re better than us.”

Going into the game, San Diego State was ranked 107th on offense and 111th on defense out of the 119 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, but that didn’t show on the field.

San Diego State quarterback Ryan Lindley tore the Rebels’ secondary to shreds, completing 35-of-50 passes for 387 yards and two touchdowns, while their defense held UNLV to just 33 yards rushing and forced three turnovers.

“It wasn’t too much what we did, but what they did,”  junior linebacker Ronnie Paulo said. “They wanted to win this game more than we wanted to go to a bowl game.”

The Rebels suffered a big setback early in the first quarter when running back Frank Summers left the game with a sprained knee. As Summers got up from a tackle, players emerging from the pile fell into him and forced his leg to twist awkwardly.

Summers’ injury also crippled the Rebels’ running game, as UNLV couldn’t break a run longer than eight yards against the team with the worst rushing defense in college football.

“It was like watching somebody and you couldn’t do anything about it,” Summers said. “It was hard for me.”

But that is not to say that SDSU’s strong defensive performance was due solely to UNLV’s bad offense.

The Aztecs defended everything well, conceding just four third down conversions out of 13 attempts and intercepting Rebels’ quarterback Mike Clausen twice.

It was a combination of bad offense and good defense that ultimately sealed UNLV’s fate.

Down 14-7 and facing 2nd-and-one on their 41-yard line, Clausen found running back Michael Johnson wide open in Aztec territory. Clausen threw a beautiful deep pass to Johnson, but Johnson couldn’t hold onto the ball as the pass slipped through his fingers and fell incomplete

“You’ve got seven points right there or you’re in the red zone. Either or,” Clausen said. “So you got to make that catch, but we had other opportunities, also. We didn’t step up and make the plays we had to tonight, so that’s how it went down.”

With the situation then becoming 3rd-and-one, the Rebels decided to run the ball up the middle with backup running back C.J. Cox. Things managed to go from bad to worse as Cox fumbled the ball into the hands of SDSU’s defensive tackle Siasi Fifta, who returned the ball all the way to the UNLV 30-yard line. It was the first fumble by a UNLV running back in 441 carries.

The Rebels’ potential game-tying drive was turned into punishment, as the Aztecs’ offense took advantage of the turnover with a three-play, 29-yard drive that put them ahead 21-7.

The lone bright spot for the Rebels was receiver Ryan Wolfe, who hauled in 11 catches for 144 yards and two touchdowns.

Wolfe broke 1,000 yards receiving for the season when he made a 24-yard touchdown reception that brought the Rebels within one possession of San Diego State (28-21) with just 9:48 remaining in the game. The touchdown would be the Rebels’ last score.

SDSU safety Corey Boudreaux ended any hopes of a late comeback when he turned Clausen’s first career turnover into an 87-yard interception return, as the Aztecs picked off the freshman on back-to-back drives in the fourth quarter.

“Tonight’s game, it didn’t go down to the last drive but we were there all the way to the fourth quarter,” senior wide receiver Casey Flair said. “It’s one of those things where the football team has got to find a way to pull out those games”

It seemed as if every time the Rebels could get something going on offense, the Aztecs’ offense would just come right back with an answer.

Lindley alternated between down field passes and short screens to keep the Rebels off balance. The Aztecs’ offense did not give up a single turnover and Lindley’s 35 completions were an Aztec single game record for a freshman quarterback

“Their offensive coordinator did a great job of really understanding and finding the weaknesses,” Paulo said. “In every defense you have to give something to get something.”

“We tried to change some things but I guess it was just too late.”