Rocco Conti finishes Air Force's double-overtime escape at Nevada 36-33

Rocco Conti ran seven yards for the decisive touchdown in the second overtime, lifting Air Force past Nevada 36-33 late Saturday in Reno. The finish came after the Falcons had let a 10-point lead slip away in the final minutes of regulation, then traded field goals with the Wolf Pack in the first overtime. Nevada scored three on its second extra possession; Air Force needed five plays to score six.

It was a game built around two rushing attacks. Air Force ran for 363 yards on 70 attempts, with quarterback Liam Szarka gaining 171 on 33 carries and scoring twice. Conti added 77 yards on 11 attempts. Nevada's Herschel Turner countered with 111 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries, including the 57-yard burst that tied the game at 27 with 1:49 left in regulation.

Air Force had appeared to break the game open earlier in the fourth quarter. Szarka found Matt Long for a seven-yard touchdown to put the Falcons ahead 20-17, then scored from eight yards out with 5:56 remaining. Joe McFadden's 31-yard field goal drew Nevada within seven. Turner needed one explosive run on the next scoring series to force overtime. The ESPN play-by-play traces the late sequence.

Carter Cremascoli and McFadden exchanged field goals in the first overtime. McFadden kicked again from 38 yards in the second to put Nevada up 33-30. The Air Force official recap notes that Nevada was held to a field goal after a third-down stop and a snap-infraction penalty erased a fourth-down conversion attempt. Conti's run then ended it. Air Force's four successful fourth-down conversions in regulation helped keep its long possessions alive, and the Falcons held the ball for more than 36 minutes.

Szarka also threw a touchdown on five completions for 92 yards. Nevada quarterback Carter Jones completed 18 of 30 for 224 yards, but the Wolf Pack could not get into the end zone in either overtime possession. Air Force totaled 455 yards to Nevada's 411, according to the ESPN final box score.

The Mountain West result moved Air Force to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in conference play; Nevada fell to 1-3 and 0-1. The Falcons host Navy next Saturday. Their trip out of Reno took a second comeback, this one after Nevada's late surge, and a running back who finished the last possession himself. Nevada had taken the lead three times before overtime, so the final score was hardly a routine road win. Air Force's ground game endured through six periods, and its last possession required a touchdown after McFadden had already supplied Nevada's second extra-period points.