You probably were not expecting to read a story about UNLV football during Week 1 of the season but here we are.
The Rebels were shocked on Saturday night in Las Vegas by Howard, an FCS team from across the country that recently hired former Virginia coach Mike London. Several sports books had the Bison, which were 3-19 the past two years coming into the game, as between a 45 and 46 point underdog. That means the team surpasses then-41 point underdog Stanford’s upset of powerhouse USC back in 2007 as the biggest shocker in college football ever according to certain folks in the south Nevada desert.
WOW!!!
— RJ Bell (@RJinVegas) September 3, 2017
Howard +45 leads UNLV in the 4th Q
This would be the BIGGEST UPSET IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL HISTORY!
$100 money line bet on Howard to beat UNLV would have paid off ...
— Eric Edholm (@Eric_Edholm) September 3, 2017
$71,500!!!! pic.twitter.com/8M35rwsmRq
As crazy as even pulling off the win was for Howard, the story gets even better as they were led on Saturday night by a new star quarterback, Caylin Newton. Perhaps you might recognize that last name and yes, indeed, that’s Heisman winner Cam Newton little brother. The young signal-caller accounted for three touchdowns, ran for 190 yards and threw for another 140 as somebody the UNLV defense simply did not have an answer for.
The loss is already being labeled as the worst in school history in Las Vegas and... well, yeah. Some folks wondered what the program had to lose when they hired a high school head coach to run things and it appears now we know.