FORT COLLINS, Colo. (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV (7-2/3-2) won in Fort Collins for the first time in 23 years, 42-10 over Colorado State (2-7/1-4) on a chilly Saturday night before an announced crowd of 27,970 at Canvas Stadium.
 
The Rebels, who improved to 7-2 through nine games for the third straight season, broke a seven-game losing streak playing at the Rams in what was the final matchup of the teams as Mountain West rivals. UNLV, which tallied 571 total yards, has scored at least 30 points in every game this season, extending its school record to nine straight outings reaching that mark.
 
CSU led 7-0 after the first quarter before UNLV won the second quarter, 21-3, powered by three rushing touchdowns – all by different players – as part of a 320-yard night on the ground. The Rebels built an 18-point lead early in the third when Anthony Colandrea found Troy Omeire, who raced 68 yards to the end zone. Colandrea also ran for two touchdowns. UNLV, in fact would end up scoring the game's final 35 points.
 
The Rebel defense posted eight tackles for loss while holding the Rams to the fewest points by a UNLV opponent since winning 27-7 at Houston to open the 2024 season. The 10 points were the fewest allowed to a MW opponent since beating New Mexico 35-7 in 2012.
 
REBEL OF THE GAME:
Junior RB Jet Thomas ignited the Rebel offense with two long runs in the second quarter en route to his eighth career 100-yard outing. His 57-yard touchdown scamper got his team on the board and then his 59-yard bolt on the next drive set up another score. He ran for 121 yards on just four carries in the first half and finished with 131 yards on seven attempts for an eye-popping per-carry average of 18.7.
 
STAT OF THE GAME:
UNLV's defense held CSU to just 1-for-13 on third down.
 
QUOTABLE:
"I'm really proud of the guys and how they respond as a team. Like I've said for a while, I think we do some of the tough things really, really well, like we stick together as a team. You don't see much finger pointing going on. I'm really pleased with our guys because we keep grinding on the little things. I still think we made some mistakes, a couple of penalties. There are still going to be a couple of missed assignments we're not going to be really pleased about, but overall, I really thought we played well defensively. They came out, coming off a bye week, showed some different looks, went down the field, scored, and I don't think they did much after that. And offensively, I thought up front, we played really well. Of course they're going to blitz you all over the place. They're going to get theirs. But I knew if we could cover them up when they blitz that much, you get to the second level and there's no one left if you're going to blitz. And we hit them on some really big runs that way."
-UNLV Head Coach Dan Mullen
 
NOTABLE:
--Latterance Welch hauled in his fourth interception of the season to tie him with Aamaris Brown for the team lead
-Jaylon Glover fell just short of giving UNLV two 100-yard rushers as he finished with 99 net yards on 12 carries, including a touchdown
--With CSU leaving the Mountain West after this season, the Rebels won what were possibly the last two games in the series but the Rams still lead 17-8-1 all-time vs. UNLV
--This marked only the second time the Rebels played at Canvas Stadium
--UNLV had not won playing at Colorado State since 2002 when John Robinson's squad upset the 13th-ranked Rams 36-33 in the season-finale on Nov. 30
--CSU Interim Head Coach Tyson Summers served as an analyst for Dan Mullen's staff at Florida in 2021
 
UP NEXT: UNLV will host the first of back-to-back home games on Saturday vs. Utah State. Kickoff at Allegiant Stadium is set for 4 p.m. and the game will be broadcast by CBS Sports Network.