LAS VEGAS — It seemed like the stars were aligned for UNLV to beat BYU for the first time ever at Sam Boyd Stadium Friday night.
Going into the game, the rising Rebels were favored, and still harbored hopes of getting bowl eligible, while the beleaguered Cougars, assured of their first losing season since 2004, had a freshman quarterback, Joe Critchlow, making his first career start.
But despite all of that, BYU continued its dominance of UNLV here, improving to 9-0 all-time against UNLV at Sam Boyd Stadium with a 31-21 victory before a crowd of 19,811.