Blog: Rebels no match for BYU, falling to 2-9 with 42-23 loss

By Taylor Bern

Published Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014 | 3 p.m.

Updated Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014 | 7:42 p.m.

BYU 42, UNLV 23

Game over

UNLV quarterback Blake Decker got knocked out of the game for the second straight week, but there's nothing he would have been able to do about this one anyway. BYU controlled the game start to finish and became bowl eligible with a 42-23 home victory against the Rebels.

UNLV drops to 2-9 on the season with a road trip to Hawaii and the Battle for the Fremont Cannon remaining.

BYU gained more than eight yards per play and the only time the Cougars really struggled was when they were missing their own plays. The incompletions were usually overthrows and the running game finished with 233 yards despite a slow start.

Decker was 10-of-25 for 90 yards with an interception before he was injured on a clean hit. Jared Lebowitz came in and tossed his first career touchdown pass to Devonte Boyd, who set the UNLV freshman record with his 56th catch. Boyd finished with five catches for 70 yards while Devante Davis had five catches for 51 yards. Shaquille Murray-Lawrence had a really nice game with 143 yards and a score on 20 carries.

Check lasvegassun.com later tonight for a full report from the Rebels' loss.

Last year’s Air Force game this is not, but there are some flurries in the air as we get closer to kickoff today for UNLV-BYU at LaVell Edwards Stadium. The game starts at 4:02 p.m. Las Vegas time and will air on ESPNU.

The Rebels (2-8, 1-5) are here for the first time since 2010, BYU’s last season in the Mountain West Conference. Life as an independent has been a mixed bag for the Cougars (5-4) since that decision.

In their first season, the Cougars went 10-3 with a victory in the Armed Forces Bowl. After that, it was a pair of 8-5 seasons and bowl berths that would be good by certain programs' standards — like UNLV, for instance — but they certainly haven’t lived up to the vision of a national power that was sold when administrators made the move.

This year looked like BYU’s best chance to have that kind of season until quarterback Taysom Hill went down for the season in the fifth game of the year, a 35-20 loss to Utah State. That snapped the Cougars’ 4-0 start and sent them on a four-game losing streak that included three losses to Mountain West teams (Utah State, UNR and Boise State).

The Cougars aren’t likely to go winless against their former conference, as they’re a 26.5-point favorite today. It’s the biggest underdog UNLV has been since a trip to Boise State (minus-28) in 2012.

For BYU, this game means little. It would make them bowl eligible, which is something, but with Savannah State coming to town next week, that seems like a foregone conclusion. A season that started with such big aspirations from the fan base can be no better than 8-4 in the regular season, which is perfectly adequate at a place that sees itself as so much more.

For UNLV, the stakes are a little higher, though I don’t want to overstate what a win would do, even as this big of an underdog. Ultimately, it would be a victory that fans savor in a lost season but those paying attention know this isn’t a great BYU squad. The guy with the most on the line is UNLV starting quarterback Blake Decker, who grew up a Cougars fan and then was cut after walking on to BYU’s team.

It’s been a rough season for Decker, whose 14 interceptions are tied for third-most in the country. He was knocked out of the end of last week’s loss to Air Force with a hip injury and was limited in practice, though he’s expected to play.

A huge day from Decker would be the storybook moment in an otherwise ugly season, though with everything we’ve seen, only the staunchest Rebel believers are calling that one.

Bern’s prediction: In the time it took me to write this, most of the flurries have cleared — although there’s a small chance they return by kickoff. What’s not going to change much is the freezing temperature, which is going to be around 30 degrees when the game starts. The Rebels’ last cold-weather game went quite well, but that feels like a long time ago. BYU 41, UNLV 17

Season: ATS 5-5, O/U 6-4

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.