‘Those are huge plays’: 4th-down stops help propel UNLV past Cal

While it might not seem much in the grand scheme of a 39-31 victory, UNLV’s football team had some fourth-down stops Saturday at Allegiant Stadium that definitely helped propel the Rebels to victory.

UNLV closed out the nonconference portion of their schedule with the win and now re-enter Mountain West play with an overall record of 3-2 and 1-0 in league.

Coming off this sort of victory can only help its cause.

The Rebels stopped Cal on three fourth-down plays with the Bears driving for scores.

The first came on the game’s opening drive, when UNLV held on fourth-and-2 from its own 48.

The second stop was huge. Cal opened the second half with a successful onside kick and drove to the UNLV 23 when facing a fourth-and-2. Instead of attempting a field goal, the Golden Bears went for it and were stuffed by the Rebels.

The final one came with UNLV leading 32-25 with less than eight minutes remaining. Cal had fourth-and-5 from the UNLV 48 when Jake Pope came on a safety blitz and forced an errant throw to turn the ball over on downs.

Notable efforts

“I mean, those are huge plays,” UNLV coach Dan Mullen said. “Forcing them off the field in distance situations, I think (defensive coordinator) Paul (Guenther) and the defensive staff had a great game plan coming in.

“We came after them in the first half and then they made some adjustments and we made some adjustments to change things up. Any time you can get them on fourth down, you’re stealing possessions, right?”

The Rebels received notable efforts from several defensively. Tre Fulton led UNLV with 10 tackles, including six solo. Pope had eight tackles, including one for loss.

And defensive back Mumu Bin-Wahad picked up where he left off last week in Akron with six tackles (four solo) and a sack.

In all, the Rebels tallied four sacks.

“It’s really about my coaches and teammates trusting me every week,” Bin-Wahad said. “I feel like when I first got here, I was pressing too hard, trying to make every play. (Guenther) just told me to go out and do my job and plays will come to you.”

Said quarterback Jackson Arnold: “Mumu is a fantastic leader. He brings a lot of fire to our defense. You see it in practice. It’s what I saw in spring and summer and fall camp. The fire he plays with. He’s a lot of fun to watch. Grateful to be his teammate.”

Um, 60,000?

So now it’s about returning to Mountain West play, and the Rebels will first host the league’s hottest team in North Dakota State on Saturday.

There have been rumblings that the Bison fans are going to travel quite well to Las Vegas, perhaps in the range of 8,000-10,000 folks arriving for the game.

“For us, we’ll enjoy the win tonight and worry about that (game) next week,” Mullen said. “For us, we’re in Vegas. We had a great environment with students and fans and everybody showing up. But now it’s conference play and it’s a big, big, big-time game.

“Today’s attendance was 30,000. We need (60,000) next week. Double down. If you’re a UNLV fan and in the city of Las Vegas and want to represent, I’ll call everybody out. It’s a big game, and we need that homefield advantage in these matchups. We’re going to have a raucous crowd. It will be a really fun Saturday night.”

It will be even more fun on their side if they get a few more of those fourth-down stops.