Clark runs for 160 yards and 3 TDs, Air Force plows UNLV 45-17

Clark’s 3 TDs lead Air Force past UNLV 45-17

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — Asher Clark ran for career highs of three touchdowns and 160 yards and Air Force totaled 431 yards on ground Saturday in a 45-17 romp over UNLV.

Clark scored on runs of 40, 24 and 2 yards. He had his first 100-yard game of the season and surpassed his career best of 131 yards.

Jared Tew, Savier Stephens and Nathan Walker also ran for touchdowns. Air Force (7-4, 5-2 Mountain West) won its third in a row.

Tim Jefferson threw for 126 yards and ran for another 63 yards.

The game matched the Air Force, the nation’s fourth-best rushing offense, against a team that ranked 111th of 120 FBS teams against the run.

Omar Clayton was 9 of 18 for 108 yards, with a touchdown and an interception for UNLV (4-7, 2-5).

The temperature was 33 degrees with a wind chill of 20 at kickoff, and snow fell most of the second half.

Clark ran for 113 yards and a touchdown as Air Force built a 24-3 halftime lead. The Falcons put together three touchdown drives of at least 80 yards.

Air Force went 95 yards in 11 plays after a punt by the Rebels’ Kyle Watson. Clark capped the Falcons’ longest scoring drive of the year with a 24-yard run with 5:53 left in the first quarter.

Tew’s 3-yard run made it 14-0 early in the second quarter. After the teams traded field goals, Air Force’s Chris Thomas made an interception in the end zone.

The Falcons needed only two minutes and 29 seconds to turn it into a 10-yard TD run by Stephens.

UNLV closed to 24-10 with 7:32 left in the third quarter on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Clayton to Phillip Payne on a fourth-and-6 play. Moments later the Falcons countered with a 2-yard run scoring run by Walker.

Clark had a 2-yard TD run to start the fourth quarter. UNLV backup quarterback Mike Clausen ran for a 6-yard touchdown, but Clark scored again on a 40-yard gallop up the sideline.