Tony Sanchez says UNLV’s devastating loss ‘hard to shake off’

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — The right things were said after UNLV’s 34-30 loss to Air Force about needing to get back to work, but coach Tony Sanchez knows he has a potentially fragile football team given it blew a 27-point lead Saturday at Falcon Stadium.

“You worry about the next 48 hours,” Sanchez said. “It’s hard to shake off. I don’t think anybody outside the locker room truly understands what you go through when you lose football games. It’s gut-wrenching. It just tears your heart and soul out.”

The Rebels play Utah State at 3 p.m. Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium.

“Just get back to it (Sunday) when we practice,” Rebels quarterback Armani Rogers said. “That’s where it’s going to start. We have to stay focused, and everybody has to keep their head up and finish out the season with the mindset that we’re going to win.”

UNLV defensive tackle Mike Hughes Jr. echoed Rogers’ thoughts.

“Come in the next day and fix everything,” Hughes said. “Everything we see I promise you is fixable. We just have to come in and grind it out.”

Comeback kids

Air Force almost pulled off a big comeback a week earlier at Navy. The Falcons trailed by 21 points three times, but rallied to take the lead with 1:53 left before losing 48-45.

This time they completed the comeback.

“We do have a group and they love to play football, and they love to practice and they love to work,” Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. “They love to play on game day. We haven’t fully grasped how to play well, but really that was our saving grace today.”

Sanchez said the Falcons’ rally shouldn’t have been a surprise.

“All they had to do was go back and remind their kids of what happened a week ago,” he said. “When you play an academy team, you think about what these guys are going to do for the rest of their lives, being down 27-7 is not a big deal for them.”

Saxelid on the sideline

UNLV offensive left tackle Kyle Saxelid went down on the final play of the first half, grabbing his right leg.

With Saxelid out, the Rebels shifted Nathan Jacobson from right tackle to left and put Donovan Outlaw in on the right side for the first three drives of the second half. It resulted in just 29 yards and one first down. The Rebels picked up 304 yards and 12 first downs in the first half.

Saxelid returned after those three initial series, but the Rebels didn’t get their offense back on track.

Odds and ends

UNLV running back Lexington Thomas rushed for a 55-yard touchdown in the first quarter, his fifth this season from at least that distance. … Junior defensive end Roger Mann received his first career start. … Freshman tight end Giovanni Fauolo had his first career catch, a 13-yard reception late in the first quarter.

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Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.