Upset barely out of reach

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This one will hurt for a while, but for all the emotional pain UNLV’s coaches and players wake up feeling this morning, what happened Saturday night could be a turning point if used the right way.

The Rebels can remember how close they came to recording the most shocking upset in their history and use that to begin to build up one of the nation’s more beleaguered football programs.

They took No. 5 Wisconsin — the highest-ranked team ever to walk on the field at Sam Boyd Stadium — down to the closing minutes.

UNLV led by one point until Badgers quarterback Tyler Donovan made a remarkable 29-yard touchdown run around left end with 1:53 left. The ensuing 2-point conversion gave the Badgers a 20-13 victory before a sellout crowd of 38,250.

"I don’t believe in moral victories. I believed we were going to win that football game, and we should’ve won that football game," said UNLV Mike Sanford, whose team was a 26 1/2-point underdog. "I believe our team played with tremendous heart, played with tremendous determination, tremendous belief, tremendous effort.

"But it wasn’t enough, and we’ve got to find a way to win those kind of games."

A victory for the Rebels (1-1) might not have been on the same level as Appalachian State beating No. 5-ranked Michigan the week before, but it at least would have surprised the nation — as well as most of the Las Vegas Valley.

It also would have sent a message that UNLV, which hosts No. 20 Hawaii next Saturday, might be working toward better days. The Rebels won only six games over the three seasons before this one.

But coming this close to Wisconsin (2-0) might start the process of moving forward.

"We had it," said senior linebacker Beau Bell, who led UNLV in tackles with 10 and had a sack. "Defense should’ve stepped it up at the end and made that stop."

The Rebels stayed in the game thanks largely to a defense that was outstanding for the second week in a row. After holding Utah State to 234 yards in the opener, UNLV limited the Badgers to 348 yards, though tailback P.J. Hill rushed for 147 yards on 30 carries.

Until Donovan’s winning run, he had been held largely in check. He finished 14 of 26 for 138 yards and a score.

On the other end, UNLV redshirt freshman quarterback Travis Dixon completed 23 of 36 passes for 258 yards with a touchdown, but he also had a costly interception that led to a Wisconsin field goal.

Rebels wide receiver Casey Flair caught 10 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown.

"He’s got some shiftiness to him," Badgers coach Bret Bielema said of Dixon. "He can create something out of nothing. Any time you have that ability, you can change a game."

UNLV sent a message early that it did not plan to hand over the victory.

The Rebels put together a 14-play, 80-yard drive that took up half of the first quarter. Dixon converted a third-and-goal with a perfect 5-yard touch pass in the right corner of the end zone to Flair, who made the catch despite tight coverage by Wisconsin cornerback Allen Langford. That gave the Rebels a 7-0 lead with 3:13 left in the first quarter.

Wisconsin came right back with a scoring drive. Donovan’s 4-yard TD pass to tight end Garrett Graham 5 seconds into the second quarter brought the Badgers within a point. The score stayed that way when Wisconsin holder Ken DeBauche dropped the snap on the extra point and was leveled by UNLV cornerback Mil’Von James.

The Badgers took the lead on the first half’s final play. They drove 81 yards to set up kicker Taylor Mehlhaff’s 27-yard field goal for a 9-7 lead.

That started a battle of field goals.

UNLV kicker Sergio Aguayo put the Rebels ahead 10-9 midway through the third quarter on a 25-yard field goal, Mehlhaff answered with a 51-yarder early in the fourth, and Aguayo pushed through a 35-yarder with 7:43 left.

In the end, though, Aguayo’s kick wasn’t enough.