Rebels thrash visiting Lobos 45-10

The bad news for UNLV is it won't be able to face New Mexico again until next season.

Not that the Rebels much cared what the rest of their schedule looked like Saturday night. They were simply happy to finally win, and it didn't matter which team it occurred against.

Winning, though, was something the Rebels didn't have to worry about.

Quarterback Omar Clayton threw three touchdown passes to wide receiver Michael Johnson, giving the Rebels a 45-10 victory over the Lobos at Sam Boyd Stadium and coach Bobby Hauck his first win as UNLV's coach.

"I'm excited for our kids," Hauck said. "A lot of times when you get into a little bit of a losing streak, your character flaws show up. We didn't have any of that this week."

Hauck, though, probably won't celebrate long. He'll get introduced to the rivalry with UNR this week, and the Rebels welcome a 4-0 Wolf Pack team coming off a 27-13 victory at Brigham Young on Saturday.

"We're going to enjoy this one for a few hours," Hauck said, putting off UNR talk.

In other words, the Wolf Pack are no New Mexico, which fell to 0-4 overall (0-2 in the Mountain West Conference) and lost for the 19th time in the past 20 games. This game tied the closest for the Lobos this season.

They might be the worst team in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and no doubt the heat will increase over second-year Lobos coach Mike Locksley.

But UNLV (1-3, 1-1 MWC) badly needed this victory, especially after its 30-7 loss at Idaho a week ago. If there was a positive in that game, it was the second-half effort by UNLV's defense in which it allowed just 58 yards and six points.

That defense put in a similar performance against New Mexico, starting with quarterback-turned-safety Mike Clausen's interception with 3:04 left in the first quarter. That set up the first Clayton-Johnson touchdown connection 44 seconds later, a 10-yarder that put the Rebels ahead for good, at 14-7.

UNLV's defense made many big plays, the most vicious a hard blind-side shot by cornerback Sidney Hodge that leveled Lobos quarterback Tarean Austin. The ball popped loose, and defensive end B.J. Bell returned the fumble 40 yards for a touchdown and 42-7 lead.

Cornerback Will Chandler also intercepted a pass for his fifth takeaway this season, and UNLV harassed Austin into four sacks.

He looked frazzled much of the game in completing 17 of 40 passes for 177 yards. Austin, the first New Mexico freshman to start at quarterback since 1988, had two intentional-grounding penalties.

The Lobos as a team had just 291 yards.

UNLV's offense also did its part, racking up 415 yards, with Johnson becoming the first Rebels receiver to catch three touchdown passes in a game since Lenny Ware in 1996 at Hawaii.

Johnson caught touchdown passes of 10, 43 and 35 yards and finished with eight receptions for 138 yards.

"As a receiver, that's what you want," Johnson said. "My game is best in the open field."

Clayton completed 14 of 20 passes for 194 yards. He passed Glenn Carano for fourth place on UNLV's career passing list with 5,276 yards and could catch No. 3 Sam King (5,393) next weekend.

Though there was an indication during the week Clayton could be pulled quickly if he struggled, he never came close to forcing Hauck to make that decision.

Backup Caleb Herring stayed on the sideline until 12:58 remained. He was able to relax for most of the night, as were most Rebels fans.

With UNR coming to town, though, the time to relax won't last long.

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914.