Story by Alan Snel Photos by Hugh Byrne
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — These are new days for the Mountain West Conference, where teams from flyover land like North Dakota State and Northern Illinois are now visiting Las Vegas for football games with UNLV.
The Bison from Fargo, North Dakota went toe-to-toe with UNLV, which struggled offensively at Allegiant Stadium today but managed to squeeze out a 13-7 win over North Dakota State without scoring an offensive touchdown and passing for only 77 yards as part of a 255-yard total yards output.
The Rebels have won three straight to forge a 4-2 record after a 1-2 start and travel to Colorado Springs to play Air Force next Saturday.
UNLV’s Jet Thomas ran 22 times for 112 yards.
The Rebels scored on a 23-yard interception return for a touchdown by Andre Porter in the first quarter and notched two short field goals of under 30 yards by Ramon Villela in the second half for their 13 points. North Dakota State scored their sole points on a 21-yard TD pass in the second quarter.
That was it for points.
UNLV said attendance was announced at 33,516 for the homecoming day game.
Here’s what UNLV coach Dan Mullen had to say on the tough win: “What a great team win by our guys with the toughness coming through. It was a great football game against a very good football team. Give North Dakota State a lot of credit as they are an extremely physical group.
“They know how to win games and know how to win tough games. They (NDSU) are used to winning and we (UNLV) found a way to win that game at the end. I’m really proud of our team,” he said. “You’re talking about a game that could have gone either way again, with two great football teams battling right down to the end.”
North Dakota State lost its first game of the season after non-league wins over Jacksonville State, Fordham and Sacramento State and MWC wins over Air Force and Wyoming.
Here’s UNLV’s next home game:
PSA
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