Nevada 31, UNLV 14

Saturday, Sept. 6, 1997 | 9:36 a.m.

Sophomore Chris Lemon rushed for 156 yards and a touchdown on 34 carries and Nevada (1-1) forced two turnovers inside its 4.

UNLV (0-1) lost for the eighth time in nine meetings with its intrastate rival. The Rebels have lost 20 of their past 22 games and have a 15-game road losing streak.

UNLV quarterback Jon Denton passed for 265 yards and a touchdown and Todd Floyd had 11 receptions for 100 yards.

Rodrick Johnson rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries in his debut with UNLV. Johnson was the junior college player of the year last season at Dixie College in Utah.

Nevada, leading 17-7 at the half, took the second-half kickoff and advanced 80 yards on nine plays to put the game out of reach. Dutton, who completed 24-of-33 passes without an interception, threw 30 yards to Greg Russell on the first play of the drive and finished it with a 4-yard throw to Trevor Insley for a 24-7 lead with 12:31 remaining in the third quarter.

Johnson's 1-yard run with 11:52 remaining in the game made it 24-14, but Lemon closed out the scoring with a 1-yard run with 27 seconds to go. Lemon carried 10 straight times for 66 yards on the final Nevada drive as UNLV, out of timeouts, was unable to stop the clock.

UNLV took the opening kickoff and drove 65 yards in nine plays. Denton's 5-yard pass to Sam Mineo gave UNLV a 7-0 lead with 12:13 remaining in the first quarter. Floyd's 33-yard reception gave the Rebels the ball on the Nevada 9.

Damon Shea kicked a 45-yard field goal to bring Nevada to 7-3 and Dutton passed 11 yards to Geoff Noisy for a 10-7 lead with 4:13 left in the first quarter. Noisy led Nevada receivers with eight catches for 114 yards.

UNLV marched 79 yards to the Nevada 1, but Johnson fumbled and George Jones recovered for the Wolf Pack. Nevada then drove 99 yards on 11 plays to score on Dutton's 5-yard pass to Matt Kelly with 10:11 remaining in the second quarter.

The drive featured a 30-yard completion by Dutton to Insley and two 15-yard penalties, one a personal foul, against UNLV.

Denton passed 53 yards to Floyd to give the Rebels the ball on the Nevada 14, but two plays later Nevada's Mack Carminer deflected a pass over the middle and teammate Don Morgan intercepted at the 4.