GAME 4: Non-Conference Schedule Finale
UNLV REBELS (2-1/0-0 Mountain West)
At
UTEP (1-3/0-1 Conference USA)
DATE:    Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023
KICKOFF:    6:00 pm PT 
SITE:    Sun Bowl Stadium (45,971/Artificial) El Paso
STREAM:    ESPN+ (Duke Keith & Jacob Boggs)
RADIO:     ESPN 1100 AM & 100.9 FM (Russ Langer, Caleb Herring & Steve Cofield)
ONLINE: Live Stats at www.unlvrebels.com

SATURDAY'S PREVIEW...
UNLV (2-1/0-0) closes out its non-conference schedule by making the program's first trip in 30 years to play at UTEP (1-3/0-1) on Saturday night ... In fact, the last time these two tangled in Texas the Rebels were members of the Big West Conference and the Miners were in the WAC ... The game will be available for streaming on ESPN+ ... The Rebels have not won more than two non-conference games in a season since going 3-1 in 2008 ... Last time out, UNLV improved to 2-0 at home this fall with a 40-37 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday while the Miners fell at Arizona, 31-10 ...The Rebels, who are one of just 18 teams in the nation who have scored every time after reaching the red zone this season, head into Saturday leading the Mountain West in both red zone offense (100% at 11-11) and red zone defense (75% at 9-12) ... UNLV earned two Mountain West awards Monday: PK Jose Pizano (Special Teams Player of the Week) and QB Jayden Maiava (Freshman of the Week) ...  UNLV, which got its first passing touchdown of 2023 late in the fourth quarter on Saturday when Maiava hit Jacob De Jesus for a 48-yard score, is tied for second in the league with eight rushing touchdowns -- coming from six different players ... WR De Jesus leads the nation in kickoff return yards with 259 and ranks fourth in KOR average at 37.0, which is first among any player with more than five attempts ... The former JC transfer also stands third in the country in all-purpose yards with 155.0 per game ... Sophomore P Marshall Nichols, who booted a career-long 60-yarder at Michigan, ranks 12th in the nation with a 45.5-yard average.

REBELS vs. MINERS NOTES... 
UNLV leads the all-time series, which kicked off in 1978, 6-2 but the Miners have taken two of the three meetings staged at the Sun Bowl ... This game is a return game after UTEP played in Las Vegas in 2018 ... These schools have also scheduled another home-and-home slate in 2029 (El Paso) and '30 (Las Vegas) ... Oddly, UNLV and UTEP did not face each other when they were members of the same conference when both schools helped make up the 16-team WAC from 1996-98 ... Sixth-year UTEP head coach Dana Dimel is 2-2 vs. the Rebels, including 2-1 when he coached at Wyoming in 1997-99 ... UTEP is one of 10 schools from the state of Texas that UNLV has faced in football (TCU, Houston, SMU, UTSA, North Texas, Rice, Baylor, West Texas A&M and Prairie View A&M) ... 11 current Rebels graduated from Texas high schools, which is the most for any state other than California (33).