Rebels one win away from being bowl-eligible after 5th straight win

Five straight wins to open the UNLV Football head coaching stint for highly-respected Dan Mullen.

The program picked up its fifth straight win on a, 31-17, win over Wyoming Saturday, Oct. 4 from War Memorial Stadium. Additionally, it was the team’s first game in Laramie in six years with its last win coming back in 2003 after losing the last six road games to the Cowboys.

“Look at the field out here,” head coach Dan Mullen said. “A lot of guys, it was their first time seeing snow so that was big. It’s still early October and we’re only 5-0 and the field is covered in snow.

“It says a lot about the players. When we talk about overcoming different adversities, the mental toughness, to be able to focus and be able to handle different things.”

Entering play, the Rebels were coming off their second idle week in the last three weeks. They will look to build on its 5-0 overall record and become bowl-eligible next week against a 1-4 Air Force Falcon team.

That next game is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 11 from Allegiant Stadium with kickoff set for 12:30 p.m. as part of the program’s Homecoming festivities. That will be the second of three straight games for UNLV.

Even a fumble on a designed flea flicker on the first play of the game couldn’t stop the Rebels from the eventual win as the team’s mistakes were far and few after that point. Wyoming took a 3-0 lead after that initial turnover by the visitors but it would serve to be the team’s only lead of the game.

From there, UNLV would force a punt attempt, fumble and turnover on downs on the next three home team possessions. In fact, the Rebels forced two fumbles in the first half while coming up with both in addition to hauling in an interception in the second half.

Senior defensive lineman Jalen Lee and sophomore defensive back Mumu Bin-Wahad were responsible for the fumble recoveries while junior defensive back Quandarius Keyes came up with the third quarter interception.

In addition to forcing turnovers, UNLV’s special teams had a highlight reel night as well. The unit blocked two punts in the win with both being returned for touchdowns.

Senior receiver Jaden Bradley and freshman receiver Kayden McGee accounted for those special teams scores. As a result, the Rebels took a 24-3 lead into halftime which goes down as the team’s largest lead at the break this season.

All that going well for the defense and special teams unit made up for the 6-for-15 start under center by quarterback Anthony Colandrea, who had just 58 points near the end of the third quarter.

The aforementioned Bradley hauled in a 27-yard catch in the fourth quarter to help set up a touchdown reception by junior running back Jai’Den Thomas from eight yards out. Bradley caught five passes for 65 yards in the win.

Thomas racked up 113 total yards and a touchdown on 18 touches. That was part of an effort that saw UNLV rush for 154 total yards as a team.