BOISE, Idaho – UNLV had cut a 21-point deficit to seven when two defenders followed the same receiver, leaving Chase Penry open on a third down the Rebels needed to win. His 46-yard catch set up the touchdown that stopped UNLV’s comeback in Boise State’s 38-21 Mountain West championship victory Friday.
Boise State converted 10 of 16 third downs to UNLV’s four of 14 and won the title matchup for a third straight year. The Rebels fell to 10-3 in Dan Mullen’s first season.
“That was a miscommunication,” Mullen said. “We had the blown coverage right there in our man coverage. We double-teamed one guy and nobody covered the other. When you’re playing a top-level team and you make those mistakes, they capitalize.”
The breakdown came on third-and-3 at the UNLV 47 early in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Maddux Madsen found Penry crossing into the uncovered space, taking Boise State to the 1-yard line. Running back Sire Gaines scored two plays later with 13:21 remaining for a 35-21 lead.
Madsen did not need a deep throw to produce it. The game book records Penry receiving the ball at the UNLV 42. The catch became a 46-yard gain because the coverage had left him room to keep going. Mullen identified the missed assignment himself; this was a preventable mistake at the point when UNLV had made the score manageable.
The Broncos converted third-and-1 on that possession, with Dylan Riley gaining three yards before the end of the third quarter. Their running game kept the drive moving long enough for Madsen to find the uncovered receiver. Penry supplied the decisive gain, but UNLV had another opportunity to end the possession before the coverage broke down.
UNLV’s comeback depended on work beyond Anthony Colandrea. Keyvone Lee moved the offense away from its own goal line, JoJo Earle caught passes and took a direct snap into the end zone, and Nick Elksnis converted fourth-and-6. Those players helped reduce the deficit after Boise State scored 28 before halftime. Penry’s fourth-quarter catch then restored a margin the Rebels never reduced.
“Losing sucks. It absolutely sucks,” Mullen said, while also crediting a group built largely from new players since January.
Linebacker Marsel McDuffie had been part of UNLV’s rise from 2-10 to three straight championship appearances.
“Third straight year against the same team. You do everything you can to win,” he said.
“We figured out what they were doing on defense and started to execute those drives in the second half,” Colandrea said. “Later in the fourth quarter, we just couldn’t put it together, and that starts with me too.”
“We made a lot of mistakes, both sides of the ball,” Mullen said.
The first came on UNLV’s opening possession, when receiver Jaden Bradley caught a third-down pass and fumbled near Boise State territory. The Broncos took over at their 41 and eventually punted, but the Rebels lost their first chance to establish the offense. Boise State defensive back Ty Benefield recovered the ball and later finished with seven tackles, including one for loss, earning the game’s defensive MVP award.
The early trouble was not all the defense’s. A turnover left UNLV’s opening possession empty. The Rebels were asking for stops while passing up opportunities to make Boise State play from behind. When Madsen found a completion on third-and-17, a possession that might have ended in a punt instead became the opening touchdown.
After UNLV punted, Lucas Conti sacked Madsen. Madsen found Penry for 46 yards to the UNLV 12. Gaines gained two yards, and Madsen ran in from the 10. Kicker Ramon Villela then missed a 50-yard field goal before Madsen’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Riley made it 14-0. A 12-play, 67-yard drive ended with Madsen’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Bates, leaving UNLV down 21-0 with 8:42 before halftime.
The drive to 21-0 did not require Boise State to keep escaping long yardage. Gaines converted third-and-1 with a four-yard run, and Madsen later kept the ball for gains of four and three yards on two more third-and-1 plays. UNLV needed one of those carries stopped before the marker. Instead, the Broncos kept the same possession alive until Bates reached the end zone. Boise State could extend drives through the middle as well as exploit uncovered space with a pass.
Madsen was playing for the first time since suffering an injury against Fresno State on Nov. 1. He finished as the offensive MVP. UNLV could not make his return uncomfortable enough to keep him from extending possessions, and Boise State had several receivers available when the Rebels failed to finish a coverage. Bates added a 44-yard catch during the first quarter, while Penry and Malik Sherrod supplied the other long gains.
Quarterback Anthony Colandrea answered by leading a 95-yard drive and scoring on a 5-yard run. Lee was central to getting there. He ran for 21 yards from the UNLV 14, then added a 19-yard gain from the Boise State 30 and another six yards to reach the 5. Those carries moved the offense out of a difficult starting position and then into range for Colandrea to finish.
Earle contributed a 22-yard reception on the same possession, and Taeshaun Lyons added a 13-yard catch. The touchdown belonged to Colandrea in the scoring summary. The recovery depended on several players making the next gain available, with Lee finding yards that did not require the quarterback to carry the entire drive.
Boise State needed only three plays to restore the margin. Gaines gained 35 yards, and Madsen hit Sherrod for a 39-yard touchdown. The 79-yard response took 1:12. UNLV had put together its longest scoring drive of the night and immediately had to begin again, trailing 28-7.
Colandrea kept the Rebels in reach with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Troy Omeire before halftime, cutting it to 28-14. His legs helped produce that answer: runs of 20 and 19 yards took UNLV across midfield, and Jai’Den Thomas added a 15-yard carry before Omeire’s touchdown. The offense covered 75 yards in six plays and 1:01, leaving the second half with something to pursue.
The Rebels finally held Boise State scoreless in the third quarter, although their first opportunity to capitalize disappeared. Gaines was stopped for no gain on third-and-2 at the UNLV 40, and Madsen’s fourth-down pass was incomplete. UNLV took over there and still punted after a false start, a six-yard rushing loss and a sack pushed it backward.
The stop at the UNLV 40 began a scoreless exchange in which field position still moved. UNLV went backward and punted, but Brown‘s kick put Boise State at its 12. The next defensive stop gave the Rebels another possession at their own 22, followed by the touchdown that finally made the deficit seven.
Punter Cam Brown helped the defense get that next opportunity on favorable ground. His 51-yard punt went out of bounds at the Boise State 12 after UNLV’s offense had retreated from midfield. There was no return to erase the distance. Brown could not recover the lost scoring chance, but he made the Broncos begin deep in their own territory rather than hand them another short field.
Chief Borders helped provide it. The game book credited him with pressure on Madsen’s second-down completion to Penry and again on the third-down incompletion that forced a punt. Boise State had moved away from its 12-yard line, but the drive ended without points. The Rebels received the ball at their 22 with 5:54 left in the quarter.
Their nine-play, 78-yard response ended when Earle took a direct snap seven yards for a touchdown with 2:59 left, making it 28-21. Thomas opened the possession with a 23-yard run, Earle added a 23-yard catch and tight end Nick Elksnis kept it alive with a 20-yard reception on fourth-and-6. UNLV had needed a fourth-down conversion of its own to make the comeback possible.
Then Penry got free. Boise State’s answer consumed 4:31 and restored a two-touchdown lead, leaving UNLV to find more than another good drive. It needed the offense to score and the defense to get the ball back before the clock made both jobs impossible.
The offense went three-and-out on its next possession, failing to convert second-and-2 after Colandrea’s eight-yard run. The defense answered with another three-and-out. UNLV still had the ball at its 38 with 11:41 remaining, enough time to make Boise State protect the lead rather than simply count down the minutes.
Omeire caught a 17-yard pass on third-and-5, and Thomas followed with a 10-yard reception to the Boise State 30. Three plays erased that progress. Boen Phelps stopped Kayden McGee for a three-yard loss, Marco Notarainni sacked Colandrea for a loss of 12 and Michael Madrie tackled Thomas two yards behind the line. A false start before fourth down left UNLV punting from its own 48.
Boise State’s front took UNLV from first-and-10 at the 30 to fourth-and-32, with three defenders recording losses. The sequence cost 4:23 and pushed the Rebels beyond a field-goal attempt. Phelps, Notarainni and Madrie each finished a play before UNLV could reach a scoring chance. The penalty took another five yards.
The Broncos used eight plays to move 47 yards and consume 4:05, finishing with Colton Boomer’s 50-yard field goal. At 38-21 with 3:13 left, the Rebels were out of time to repair another mistake. Their final drive ended on downs.
Lee finished with 58 yards on seven carries, the most among UNLV’s backs. Thomas had 41 on ten attempts, with his 23-yarder opening the third-quarter touchdown drive. Earle added 45 receiving yards and 19 rushing. The Rebels had contributions beyond the quarterback, but their longest completion was 23 yards. Boise State’s larger passing gains let it cover ground that UNLV usually had to earn in several plays.
Colandrea completed 18 of 38 for 225 yards and a touchdown and ran for 66 yards and another score. He accounted for 291 yards, but the Rebels scored nothing after Earle’s touchdown.
Boise State finished with 460 total yards to UNLV’s 409. The Rebels outrushed the Broncos 184-171, but Boise State produced completions of 46, 44 and 39 yards. Madsen went 17-for-31 for 289 yards and three passing touchdowns, with the opening rushing score. The Broncos did not throw an interception or lose a fumble. They committed three penalties for 20 yards, compared with UNLV’s nine for 70.
UNLV outrushed Boise State and finished with a competitive yardage total. Neither number captured the damage of a blown coverage or the losses on the drive that followed. The Broncos turned third downs into touchdowns; the Rebels’ next response ended in a punt.
