Live blog: BYU tops UNLV, 31-21

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Published Friday, Nov. 10, 2017 | 4 p.m.

Updated Friday, Nov. 10, 2017 | 10:50 p.m.

UNLV's defense faltered in the second half, allowing BYU to rush for 214 yards after the break, and the Rebels dropped a 31-21 decision at Sam Boyd Stadium.

BYU running back Squally Canada finished with 213 yards on 25 carries, plus a touchdown.

UNLV pulled within 28-21 midway through the fourth quarter, but BYU answered with a field goal drive to push the lead back to 10. UNLV went 3-and-out on its next possession, and the Rebels' final drive ended with a desperation pass being intercepted to seal it.

Johnny Stanton finished with prolific numbers, as he passed for 325 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn't enough. UNLV drops to 4-6 on the season, and the Rebels will have to win their final two games (at New Mexico, at UNR) in order to qualify for a bowl game.

Stanton goes deep, pulls UNLV within 28-21

Johnny Stanton just drove UNLV 93 yards for a touchdown to cut the BYU lead to 28-21 with 10:38 to play in the fourth quarter.

Backed up inside the 10-yard line and facing 3rd-and-long, Stanton scrambled and hit Drew Tejchman down the sideline for a 50 yard gain. Then, on a 4th-and-11 play, Stanton again went down the sideline to Brandon Presley for 27 yards. On the next play, Stanton fired a slant to Devonte Boyd for a 13-yard touchdown.

Stanton is now 19-of-29 passing for 321 yards and two touchdowns.

Rebels trail 28-14 heading into fourth quarter

UNLV will be facing one of the biggest plays of its season when the fourth quarter begins.

The Rebels trail BYU, 28-14, and they'll be facing a 4th-and-3 from the BYU 44-yard line to open the fourth quarter. Tony Sanchez will obviously go for it, and if the Rebels want to give themselves a chance to win this game, they'll probably have to convert.

Rebels trim BYU lead to 21-14

Johnny Stanton hit Brandon Presley for an 18-yard touchdown, and we've got a game again, as UNLV has trimmed the BYU lead to 21-14 with 4:23 to play in the third quarter.

BYU was threatening to extend its advantage, but a missed 44-yard field goal gave UNLV some momentum. On the next play, Stanton hit Darren Woods across the middle for 35 yards.

Seven plays later, Stanton found Presley, who made a contested catch in the middle of the end zone. Stanton is now 13-of-18 for 196 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

The Rebels' touchdown drive covered 73 yards in eight plays, with Lexington Thomas

BYU leads UNLV 21-7 at half

BYU scored a late touchdown—aided by an untimely UNLV timeout—and the Cougars have a 14-7 lead at the half.

The UNLV defense appeared to get a stop on 3rd-and-4 inside the red zone with 30 seconds to play in the second quarter, but the Rebels' sideline had signaled for timeout before the snap. Given a second chance, BYU quarterback Joe Critchlow hit receiver Aleva Hifo in the back corner of the end zone for the score.

The communication breakdown hurt even more because BYU will receive the kick to open the second half.

Lexington Thomas TD draws UNLV even with BYU

Lexington Thomas just had himself a drive.

After BYU scored to take a 7-0 lead, Thomas racked up 51 rushing yards, 16 receiving yards, and a hard-fought 1-yard rushing touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 with 4:25 left in the half.

Thomas, a junior running back, touched the ball on eight straight plays. The final three were carries from the 1-yard line, and he finally broke the plane on the third try. He's now got 56 rushing yards on 11 carries for the game, and more importantly, he just injected some life into the Rebels' sideline after a slow start.

BYU takes 7-0 lead over UNLV

UNLV committed the game's first miscue, and BYU has turned it into a 7-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

Johnny Stanton threw an ill-advised pass into the end zone and was intercepted, and BYU capitalized immediately. Quarterback Joe Critchlow led the Cougars 80 yards in seven plays, capped off by a Brayden El-Bakri 1-yard touchdown run, to open the scoring with 9:06 left in the half.

It was Stanton's first interception since taking over as the starting quarterback two weeks ago, and now the question is how long the UNLV coaches will stick with him tonight before giving Armani Rogers a shot. Head coach Tony Sanchez said he expected Rogers to get into this game at some point, and with the offense being shut out for 21 minutes, his time might be coming soon.

UNLV, BYU scoreless through first quarter

After one quarter of play, UNLV and BYU are surprisingly locked in a defensive battle, tied 0-0.

UNLV possessed the ball for nearly 11 minutes in the first quarter, but their first drive stalled after a third-down sack. Evan Pantels then missed a 48-yard field goal.

BYU has struggled offensively with third-string quarterback Joe Critchlow at the helm. The Cougars have picked up just one first down.

Johnny Stanton is 7-of-10 so far, with 100 yards passing. The senior QB picked up a 4th-and-2 with his legs on the final play of the quarter, giving UNLV a first down at the BYU 32.

Three keys for UNLV football against BYU

UNLV heads into today's home game against long-time rival BYU as a somewhat surprising 3.5-point favorite, and a win would boost the Rebels’ bowl hopes significantly.

Can UNLV get the victory, get back to .500 and get even closer to the postseason? Here’s what the Rebels will have to do in order to make it happen:

Red zone efficiency

UNLV hasn’t produced a ton of big plays with Johnny Stanton at quarterback the last two weeks, but the Rebels have moved the ball consistently, and that’s made a huge difference.

Still, Stanton isn’t satisfied. The senior signal-caller has been preaching red-zone execution, and the Rebels improved markedly in that area from his first start to his second start. Two weeks ago, UNLV kicked a handful of short field goals and left points on the field against Fresno State. But in last week’s win over Hawaii, Stanton moved the offense inside Hawaii’s 20 on four separate occasions, and the Rebels cashed in.

On those four possessions, UNLV scored three touchdowns and kicked one field goal, a ratio that would make any offense happy. Stanton wants to repeat that kind of efficiency today against BYU, but the Cougars have been surprisingly good at defending their goal line this season.

Overall, the BYU defense has been disappointing, allowing 26.4 points per game, but in the red zone they’ve allowed touchdowns on just 22 of 44 possessions. This game could be decided when the field shrinks inside the 20s.

Secondary playmakers

With BYU shuffling multiple backup-caliber quarterbacks on a drive-by-drive basis and UNLV’s defensive backs surging, this may be the first time this season where the UNLV secondary will head into a game expected to have an advantage over an opponent’s passing game.

The Rebels’ defensive backs played aggressively against Hawaii, and while they didn’t generate any turnovers, they did hold UH to 51 percent passing. BYU’s collection of quarterbacks have managed to complete just 54.7 percent on the season, and regular starter Tanner Mangum is out for the rest of the season. BYU’s passers have also combined to throw a whopping 15 interceptions on the year.

That should bode well for Jericho Flowers, Chauncey Scissum and the rest of the UNLV secondary. Look for them to win this matchup convincingly.

Offensive line

The run blocking of the offensive line has been UNLV’s greatest strength this season, but injuries have slowly been chipping away at that unit. The Rebels are down to their third-string center, and now starting left guard Jaron Caldwell is out for the season due to a foot injury.

It’s a lot to overcome, but the good news is that the Rebels have some experienced depth players who are ready to step in. Fill-in center J’Ondray Sanders was a starter at right tackle last season, and guard Michael Chevalier has extensive starting experience as well. And they still have senior left tackle Kyle Saxelid anchoring the unit.

Saxelid thinks the reworked offensive line is still good enough to be a difference-maker.

“The best thing about it is that we have depth and we have guys that are ready to play, and you don’t really need to talk these guys up to be able to get in there,” Saxelid said. “It works because we have these guys who get in the games and have experience and they know what they need to do when they get in there.”