LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – After leading for most of the game, the UNLV (0-6/0-2) football team saw Utah State (4-2/2-1) run in a game-winning 11-yard touchdown with under a minute remaining to drop another heartbreaker in front of 21,322 inside Allegiant Stadium Saturday evening.

The Rebels have now lost four games this fall decided by a touchdown or less.

UNLV took a 24-21 lead on Charles Williams' five-yard touchdown run, his third of the game, with 8:18 left in the third quarter. The three-point advantage looked like it would hold up after Tavis Malakius blocked the Aggies' 41-yard field-goal attempt with just under five minutes remaining. However, after USU forced a quick three-and-out, the Aggies traveled 60 yards in nine plays to take the lead.

The Rebels had one more chance but a reception for a first down at midfield was instead ruled an interception, ending the host's threat with 10 seconds remaining.

REBEL OF THE GAME:

It was the Chuck Wagon Show at Allegiant as Super Senior running back Charles Williams turned in a career night – finishing with 221 yards on 27 carries and three touchdowns, including a 75-yard scoring scamper. Williams became the first Rebel to go over the 200-yard mark on the ground since Tim Cornett went for 220 at Air Force on Nov. 21, 2013. Williams' efforts pushed him past Lexington Thomas into second place on the UNLV career rushing list with 3,565 yards.

STAT OF THE GAME:

With his 26-yard field goal, which opened the day's scoring, PK Daniel Gutierrez improved to 9-for-9 on three-pointers this season and 30-of-36 in his career, which raised his career percentage to 83.3 -- the highest in school history

QUOTABLE:

"It doesn't amount to one call or one play, we've got to do a better job collectively to put ourselves in position to close that one out. We had the lead the entire game and did a lot of good stuff, but we've got to get healthy again and we've got another one Thursday night. Quick turnaround, but we've got to go forward."

-UNLV Head Coach Marcus Arroyo

REBEL NOTES:

-Charles Williams' three touchdowns gave him 25 in his career, moving him up two spots into a tie for fourth at the school with Mack Gilchrist (1968-71)

-The 221 net yards on the ground tied for the ninth-most in UNLV single-game history

-The game featured a wild first quarter that included one sequence of scores coming on three consecutive plays from scrimmage – a UNLV field goal followed by a USU 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown followed by a 75-yard rushing touchdown by the Rebels

-Utah State, which visited Las Vegas for the first time since 2017, improved to 5-0 vs. UNLV since joining the Mountain West

-UNLV finished 3-for-3 in the red zone Saturday, improving its season numbers to 17-of-18

-Including the block, USU missed on three field-goal attempts, marking the second time this fall that a UNLV opponent missed three (EWU in Game One)

-True freshman quarterback Cameron Friel started for the third time this season but was knocked out of the game late with an injury and was spelled by Justin Rogers for the second straight outing

-Freshman Cameron Oliver hauled in his second interception of the season and returned it 45 yards

-UNLV now has five interceptions through six games after picking off only two total passes in the six games that made up the 2020 season

-LB Austin Ajiake had a game-high 18 total tackles while Jacoby Windmon had 16, including four TFL

-UNLV blocked a field goal for the first time since vs. Hawaii in 2019

-This marked the third time this season that UNLV led at halftime (17-14) but the first time the team held a lead after the third quarter this fall (24-21)

-UNLV has trailed after the first quarter in just one game this season – 7-0 vs. Iowa State

NEXT FOR THE REBELS:

UNLV will right back at Allegiant Stadium on Thursday when it hosts San Jose State starting at 8 pm PT.