COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV football (2-10/2-6) closed its season with a 48-14 loss at surging Air Force (9-3/6-2) on a surprisingly sunny November Friday afternoon before 18,226 fans at Falcon Stadium.
With starting quarterback Cameron Friel and top receiver Kyle Williams sidelined because of injury, the Rebel offense sputtered. Justin Rogers completed just 8-of-18 pass attempts for 127 yards and was sacked five times.
Trailing 38-0 in the third quarter, Rogers found Zyell Griffin for a 55-yard completion down to the one-yard-line. One play later, Charles Williams ran the ball in to get his team on the board. UNLV's second touchdown also came via Williams as he sprinted 72 yards to the three-yard line and then punched it in one play later for his career-high 15th rushing touchdown of the season and 34th of his career.
The Falcons did not attempt a pass on the day while 13 Falcon ball-carriers combined to rush 69 times for 511 yards, marking the fourth-most ever allowed by a Rebel defense.
UNLV junior LB Jacoby Windmon finished with 16 total tackles, bringing his team-leading season total to 118 – the most by a Rebel since 2012 when John Lotulelei had 120.
STAT OF THE GAME:
UNLV's all-time leading rushing king, Charles Williams played his 55th game (37th start) for the Rebels and finished with 137 yards on 16 carries. That brought his final career rushing total to 4,201, which is the fourth-most in Mountain West history. His 1,261 yards in 2021 were a career high and his final game marked his 15th career 100-yard rushing effort.
REBEL NOTES:
-UNLV lost a fumble on the opening kickoff and lost the turnover battle 2-0 on the day
-Playing in his final game as a Rebel, Super Senior tight end Gio Fauolo caught two passes for 21 yards
-With temperatures in the low 60s at the Academy, game conditions were more than 80 degrees higher than the last time UNLV played at Air Force in the month of November. In 2013, the wind chill was recorded at 20-degrees below zero in a night game played in ice, snow and wind
-Air Force has now won four straight in the series, which dates back to 1981
-This marked the third Friday meeting between the Rebels and Falcons
-Because of divisional scheduling in the MW, this marked just the second trip to the Academy for the Rebels in the last eight years
-This was the school-record sixth non-Saturday game of the season for UNLV
NEXT FOR THE REBELS:
UNLV's 2021 season is complete.
