BYU, UNLV agree to home-and-home football series

PROVO, Utah (Nov. 15, 2012) — BYU and UNLV today announced the schools have agreed to a home-and-home football series for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

The Cougars and the Rebels will meet at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Nov. 15, 2014, with the second game set for Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas on Nov. 14, 2015.

“It’s good to have UNLV on our football schedule again,” said BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe. “We have a very large fan base in Las Vegas who was incredibly supportive of our football team during the five-straight years we played in the Las Vegas Bowl, and all the conference games we played at UNLV. I appreciate our relationship with UNLV and look forward to this series.”

As founding members of the Mountain West Conference, BYU and UNLV have met numerous times over the past two decades. The Cougars have an overall record of 15-3 versus the Rebels, with a 10-2 mark in conference play.

Interestingly, the first meeting between the two institutions was a neutral site game played in Yokohama, Japan, on Dec. 2, 1978. The Rebels were riding a seven-game winning streak and the game turned out to be one of the best of the 1978 season. Future All-American quarterback Jim McMahon was injured in the first half, but future All-American Marc Wilson came in and threw for three touchdowns in the second half to give BYU a 28-24 victory.

UNLV was founded in 1957 and currently has a student body of approximately 27,500. The Rebels began playing football in 1968 and are currently a member of the MWC. UNLV has played in three bowl games (winning all three) and has had 13 All-Americans.

BYU was founded in 1875 and played its first season of intercollegiate football in 1922. The Cougars have appeared in 30 bowl games and garnered 71 All-Americans. Recently, BYU has been ranked in the Top 25 each of the past seven years, while appearing in seven straight bowl games. The Cougars have captured at least 10 wins in five of the past six seasons and are No. 12 nationally in total wins since 2005.