Rebel Football Scares Up Halloween Win Over NIU - University of Nevada Las Vegas Athletics

Saturday, October 31

Las Vegas, NV

7:30 PM PT

University of Nevada Las Vegas

5-3 , 3-1

NIU

0-8 , 0-4

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
NIU	14	3	7	0	24
UNLV	10	14	7	0	31

Photo by: Lucas Peltier

11/1/2026 12:12:00 AM | Football

Box Score

UNLV (5-3/3-1) defeated new Mountain West member NIU (0-8/0-4) for the first time in six all-time meetings, holding on 31-24 late Saturday night before a crowd of 22,383 fans at Allegiant Stadium.

UNLV struck first with a 75-yard touchdown bomb from Jackson Arnold to Kayden "Big Play" McGee on the first play of the game but had to rally with 14 second-quarter points to take a 24-17 lead at halftime. Both teams only scored once after the break and the home team did not allow any points after NIU found the end zone with 9:31 left in the third quarter.

McGee posted his first career 100-yard receiving game with 112 on five grabs while DB Mumu Bin-Wahad led the way on defense with his fourth interception of the season to go with another pass breakup and eight total tackles.

UNLV QB Jackson Arnold was outstanding in the first half, throwing a trio of touchdown passes (one each to McGee, TE Keyan Burnett and WR Taeshaun Lyons) before the break. Arnold finished the night 20-of-30 for 269 yards with the three TDs and two interceptions to go with 86 net rushing yards. Ramon Villiela also hit his only field goal attempt.

STAT OF THE GAME:
UNLV won a game on Halloween for the first time since downing San Jose State 35-31 at home in 1992. The Rebels are just 3-7 on the spooky holiday, which is also officially Nevada Day (the day we became the 36th U.S. state in 1864)

REBEL OF THE GAME:
Star RB Jet Thomas led all players with 114 net rushing yards on 16 carries, including a 60-yard sprint to the end zone for his team's only points in the second half. It was the senior's 13th career 100-yard rushing effort and moved him into a tie for second in UNLV history with 40 overall touchdowns scored.

QUOTABLE:
"First, give credit to Northern Illinois, their coaching staff and players. In a situation where you come in the middle of spring practice and are told you are the interim head coach and the season doesn't play out the way you want. Just a huge shoutout to the coaching job and what they did and how hard they played and the character of their team. For us, in a lot of ways, we made a lot of big plays that we needed to win the game. We also made a lot of critical errors and we have to get that cleaned up down the stretch on both sides of the ball. But also, on both sides of the ball, we were able to make plays we needed to win the football game and battle it out to win a tough game. As we know in this conference, the margin for error is really small."
-UNLV Head Coach Dan Mullen

NOTABLE:
-Jet Thomas's rushing TD was his 35th as a Rebel, moving him into a tie for third with Tim Cornett (2010-13)
-The Rebels improved to 8-2 under second-year head coach Dan Mullen at Allegiant Stadium
-This marked the second meeting with NIU as league foes as both teams were members of the Big West Conference when they played in 1995
-There were no penalties called in the first half but the story changed after halftime as UNLV racked up six for 75 yards while NIU was whistled five times for 50 yards
-There were also no punts for either team in the first half but after the break, NIU punted twice while UNLV punted thrice
-DB Tony-Louis Nkuba led UNLV with nine total tackles

UP NEXT: UNLV will be right back at home next Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. PT kick vs. Wyoming. The game will be shown nationally by CBS Sports Network. Tickets are available at unlvtickets.com.