BOISE, Idaho (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV (10-3/6-2) fell to Boise State (9-4/6-2) in the Mountain West Championship game, 38-21, in front of 27,152 fans at rainy Albertsons Stadium Friday night.
 
The Rebels saw their four-game win streak snapped in what could be the program's final trip here as the Broncos exit the Mountain West.
 
The visitors fell behind 21-0 before quarterback Anthony Colandrea capped a 95-yard scoring drive with his ninth rushing touchdown of the season from five yards out. He then threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Troy Omeire to make it 28-14 at the break. UNLV made it a one-score game with another methodical drive, capped by a direct-snap rushing TD by WR JoJEo Earle. BSU, however, started off the fourth quarter with another score and then added a field goal.
 
UNLV will now wait to see which bowl game it will play in when the Sunday announcement is made. The Rebels will look to bounce back as they appear in a bowl game for the third consecutive season for the first time in program history.
 
REBEL OF THE GAME:
Anthony Colandrea continued to be the only player in college football this season to throw for at least one touchdown and finish with at least 15 net rushing yards in every game this season. His 66 yards rushing moved him into third place at the school for ground yards in a season, passing Jason Thomas (2000), with 621.
 
STAT OF THE GAME:
UNLV has only six losses in the last two seasons – four of them coming at the hands of the Broncos.
 
QUOTABLE:
"Tough loss. Great job by Boise State. They're a good football team that is very well coached and disciplined. I give them credit on getting the win tonight. I'm proud of our guys' effort and how they all came together throughout the course of the season. Nobody knew each other last January and this team came together to compete for a championship. I'm proud of the effort our guys gave from the beginning to end of the season, since last January, in what we've tried to do, what we've tried to build and how we've played together."
-UNLV Head Coach Dan Mullen
 
NOTABLE:
--UNLV extended its nation-leading streak of scoring at least 20 points to 35 games dating back to the second game of 2023
--These programs met for the fifth time in the last 25 months
--This marked only the third time in history that the same two teams faced each other in three straight league title games
--UNLV, which leads the nation with 11 road wins since the start of the 2024 season, lost for only fifth time in its last 20 true road games
--Colandrea's touchdown pass gave him a conference-leading 23 on the year and he added his ninth rushing touchdown of the season
--Colandrea also moved past Jayden Maiava (2023) into third place on the school's single-season passing yards list with 3,275