The Nevada Wolf Pack football team (3-9, 0-6) hosted their final home game of the season in Mackay Stadium on Saturday night, taking on the Air Force Falcons (4-7, 2-5), losing to the Falcons by a final score of 22-19.
Nevada entered the matchup on a four-game losing streak and had lost its last two matchups against the Falcons, giving up an average of 520 yards per game. Much like their previous outing against Boise State, this game was one filled with missed opportunities for the Wolf Pack.
On Nevada’s opening drive, quarterback Brendon Lewis connected with wide receiver Cortez Braham Jr. on a perfect deep pass for a 34-yard touchdown, but Braham was called for an ineligible man downfield penalty, overturning the touchdown. The two connected again two plays later, but Braham was unable to stay in bounds, resulting in an incomplete pass and Nevada punt.
After trading three-and-outs, Air Force drove down the field, with a Nevada roughing the passer penalty on an incomplete pass aiding the Falcons’ pursuit of the end zone, which they would eventually get on an 11-yard touchdown run by running back Dylan Carson.
Nevada got the ball back down 7-0, calling three rushes up the middle for another three-and-out. Air Force’s ensuing drive went down to the Nevada 30-yard line, where kicker Matthew Dapore missed a 47-yard field goal, keeping the score 7-0.
Nevada’s ensuing drive included a clutch 4th and one conversion on a read option by Lewis that breathed life into the Mackay Stadium crowd. Nevada drove down to 1st and goal on Air Force’s 6-yard line, but a negative play by running back Savion Red and an incomplete pass into the end zone by Lewis pushed Nevada back a few yards to the 9-yard line.
Then, on 3rd and goal, Air Force cornerback Lincoln Tuioti-Mariner tipped a desperation Lewis heave to linebacker Chances Carter-Hill in the end zone for an interception. The officials reviewed the play however, and ruled that Tuioti-Mariner had stepped out of bounds before touching the ball, resulting in an incomplete pass. Gifted a second chance, sophomore kicker Kian Afrookhteh drilled a 27-yard field goal to cut the Nevada deficit to 7-3.
Nevada forced a punt, then began to drive down the field once more, thanks to Lewis gashing the Falcons’ defense with deep strike after deep strike. On 3rd and goal from the Falcons’ 5-yard line, Lewis, perhaps remembering the near-pick on the previous drive, simply ran out of bounds for a 3-yard loss and another field goal attempt, which was good from 26 yards, cutting the deficit to 7-6.
Air Force got the last drive of the half, but fumbled it away to Nevada after not taking a timeout with 24 seconds left, despite having three of them. Unfortunately for Nevada, the Falcons were bailed out when Kitan Crawford was called for defensive holding, negating the turnover.
Despite this, Air Force still refused to throw the ball downfield, and ended up merely running the clock all the way to 0:00, ending the half in Nevada territory, with the score still 7-6.
Air Force received the ball to start the second half, with Nevada forcing another Falcons punt for a touchback. After a disastrous snap on Nevada’s first play that miraculously resulted in an incomplete pass instead of a safety, Nevada proceeded to drive down to Air Force’s 23-yard line. Lewis lofted a pass to Jaden Smith in the end zone, where Smith went over the top of the defender on the jump ball for Nevada’s first touchdown. Air Force’s pass rush prevented Lewis from getting the two-point conversion pass off, keeping the score at 12-7 in favor of Nevada.
Air Force drove down the field on its next drive to the Nevada 45-yard line, where the Falcons tried to catch Nevada off guard by attempting just their second pass of the game. This resulted in a Quentin Hayes pass flying directly to Crawford, who intercepted the ball and returned it to the Nevada 40-yard line, though an illegal blindside block was called on Nevada linebacker Tongiaki Mateialona, pushing the ball back to the Nevada 16.
Nevada proceeded to waste the opportunity with a quick punt. Air Force’s next drive once again consisted of only run plays, doing so to great effect this time. This culminated in a 9-yard touchdown run by Air Force running back Owen Allen. Air Force went for two, which Allen converted to give the Falcons a 15-12 lead with 8:29 left in the fourth quarter.
Nevada drove down to the Air Force 47-yard line, where Lewis tried to force a pass over the middle into triple coverage, which was easily picked off by Osaro Aihle, Air Force linebacker, and returned to Nevada’s 25-yard line.
Nevada’s defense needed to make a stop to keep the Wolf Pack’s hopes alive, but Air Force’s run-heavy offense drained the clock and forced Nevada to burn all their timeouts, scoring a touchdown with 1:11 left in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach for Nevada.
Nevada’s offense quickly drove down the field on the ensuing drive, where Lewis threw up another jump ball in the front corner of the end zone, this time to Braham for a touchdown with 0:04 left in the game.
The ensuing onside kick was recovered by the Falcons, officially keeping the Wolf Pack winless in conference home games this season and giving Nevada its fifth straight loss and sixth loss of the season decided by one score.
Air Force won the game with a ghastly stat line of zero total completions and an interception. Air Force ran the ball 66 times for 319 yards on the night, while both Allen and Carson finished with over 100 yards rushing.
Nevada’s defense performed much better than in past matchups against the Falcons, but its offense repeatedly failed on third down (4/12), while the Falcons thrived on the crucial down (11/15). Nevada largely struggled on the ground once again, with 25 carries for just 94 combined yards, over a third of which came from two plays. Lewis finished the night 22/35 for 268 yards, with two touchdown passes and one interception.
The Wolf Pack (3-8, 0-5) will travel to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, NV, on Saturday, November 30, for their final game of the 2024 season against the No. 24 ranked UNLV Rebels (9-2, 5-2), at 5:00 p.m.
Chase Dulude can be reached via email at dominicgutierrez@unr.edu or via X @ChaseDulude
