Graney: Boise State just a little better on historic night for UNLV

The program broke the record for single-game attendance, showed what college football can be like in Las Vegas, experienced the wild atmosphere such a setting can produce.

It was a historic night for UNLV football.

The Rebels just lost to a team that played better, is all.

Boise State showed itself to be superior on Friday night in a 29-24 victory at Allegiant Stadium.

It’s where an announced gathering of 42,228 showed to watch the two best teams in the Mountain West trade blows for 60 minutes. It’s where the 17th-ranked Broncos made more plays when it mattered most.

“It was a big-time game,” UNLV coach Barry Odom said. “Boise is a really good team, but so is UNLV. I’m devastated for our team we couldn’t win that one. We have a really good team.

“There is no consolation. We lost the game. I’m frustrated as a head coach I couldn’t get us in position to win it. They’re a good team built the right way. We knew we’d have to earn every inch. I hate that we didn’t get it done.”

Give the Broncos all sorts of credit: They assumed possession with 8:09 left in the fourth quarter of a five-point game and never relinquished the ball again. Things ended with three kneel-downs, an anticlimactic finish to what was a back-and-forth affair.

Odom, however, has preached since assuming control of the program last year that the key to being considered a good team is to win in November. To finishing a season strong.

The Rebels (6-2, 2-1) still have much to play for and a favorable conference schedule remaining that suggests a 10-2 record is more than possible.

Rematch?

This might not be the last time we see UNLV and Boise State (6-1, 3-0) tussle. There will eventually be a league championship game, one in which the Broncos also defeated the Rebels last season.

“I’m not sure we were quite ready for that, honestly,” Odom said. “But I thought we were ready tonight. That’s the growth of our team. Our program. We’ve been in the arena enough to be battle-tested. I knew we’d come out swinging and that it was going to be a heck of a game.”

The Rebels will look back on it and notice a few areas that ultimately cost them. An interception right before halftime that Boise State turned into seven points for a 20-10 lead at intermission. Costly penalties at the most inopportune times. The game management miscues of when and when not to call timeout, which also hurt UNLV in a loss to Syracuse.

The fact UNLV allowed six sacks Friday.

You can’t overstate the importance of losing UNLV kick returner/wide receiver Jacob De Jesus early to injury and all those hidden yards he supplies on special teams.

The Rebels did, however, a more than admirable job of slowing Boise State star running back Ashton Jeanty. He had 128 yards but needed 33 carries to get them.

And so a loss came before the giant crowd, a sea of red (and blue on the Boise State side) there to witness it. Las Vegas showed what college football can represent in Allegiant Stadium.

It showed that the town is not void of such an atmosphere.

The key is continuing that support at such a level.

‘They fueled us’

“I knew it was going to be (big),” Odom said. “You could feel it all week. You could feel it on campus. We’re here. We’re a program that’s going to be on the national stage. There’s a lot of sweat equity in this program by a lot of people.

“I’m very thankful for the city of Vegas for what they did for us. They fueled us. There will be a point where that’s what it’s like every week. We’re not there yet, but we’ll get there. I know it can happen.”

A historic night for the program.

They just lost to a team that played better, is all.

Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on X.