Air Force Bettors Suffer Brutal Beat After Blown Lead, Declined Holding Penalty

The worst kinds of beats are the ones with layer after layer of horror.

Air Force (+3) backers could stomach the Falcons blowing a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter. They could handle throwing an interception on the first play following Wyoming's go-ahead score with a minute left.

They still felt confident because there were 45 seconds left, the Cowboys led 28-27 and Air Force had no timeouts. Because Wyoming simply taking a knee to run out the clock would have gotten those +3 or +2.5 tickets to the window.

But instead of taking a knee to end the game — again, Air Force had no timeouts — Wyoming ran the ball. With 45 seconds left! Xazavian Valladay took it 27 yards for a touchdown.

The cherry on top of this horrific beat, though, is that Air Force declined a holding call on the touchdown run so it could get the ball back and have a chance to win. The Falcons promptly threw another interception on the second play of that drive to end it and lose 35-27.

A replay of the holding is at 1:40 of this video, and it shows how the penalty opened up the hole for Valladay's touchdown.

And here's a full rundown of what happened:

• Wyoming TD with 4:32 left, trails 27-21
• Air Force goes three and out
• Wyoming TD with 1:09 left, leads 28-27
• Air Force interception
• Wyoming scores 27-yard TD with 45 seconds left, Air Force declines the holding call