LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Paul Petrino has coached in a lot of big games; he's won a lot of big games but Saturday night's overtime victory at UNLV was one of the most special of his career.
 
"Just where this program is, where we need to get," he said outside of a jubilant locker room after the 33-30 victory, "that's as proud of a group of guys as I've ever been."
 
Callen Hightower scored the winning touchdown on an 11-yard pass from Matt Linehan to win the game. And it was Linehan who picked up the vital third-down conversion to give the ball to the Vandals on the UNLV 10.
 
It was the type of shared collaborative effort that was the theme of the night. The offense clutch when it need it most. The defense doggedly determined. And the specialist – Austin Rehkow, who time and time again pinned the Rebels deep in their territory.
 
After UNLV tied the game midway through the fourth quarter, Linehan took the Vandals the length of the field to score on his own seven-yard run to cap a five-play, 70-yard drive that was highlighted by an acrobatic 33-yard reception by Reuben Mwehla.
 
The Rebels came right back to score in 1:01 on an 80-yard drive with Lexington Thomas going 55 yards on the scoring play. The PAT kick was good to tie the game at 27 with 5:09 to play.
 
The Vandal offense didn't advance past midfield and Austin Rehkow was called on to punt with 2:12 left in the game. His 46-yarder was downed at the UNLV nine.
 
Kaden Ellis opened the scoring for the Vandals with his 31-yard interception return with 10:30 left in the first quarter. Austin Rehkow's PAT kick made it 7-0.
 
The teams traded possessions with Rehkow pinning the Rebels on their own two with a 46-yard punt with 6:55 left in the first. Defense holds and, after a 46-yard UNLV punt, Idaho takes over on its own 46. That drive, too, stalled but Rehkow again came up with a big kick with a 56-yarder that pushed the Rebels to their own six to start the drive.
 
Johnny Stanton had a 25-yard pass and a 20-yard run in a drive that advanced the Rebels to the Idaho 34 but Elliss came up big again with his second interception of the game.
 
Rehkow booted a 40-yard field goal with 11:48 to go in the second to give Idaho a 10-0 lead but the Rebels responded with a four-yard scoring run with 9:04 to go to close the gap to 10-7.
 
The Vandals then put together a nine-play, 75-yard drive – capped by Aaron Duckworth's four-yard run with 4:58 to go the half. Rehkow's kick made it 17-7.
 
The Rebels responded with a run-fueled drive with the four-yard scoring toss the only pass of the drive. The PAT kick trimmed Idaho's lead to 17-14 with :59 left in the first half.
 
Both teams scored field goals on their opening drives before Idaho drove deep into UNLV territory only to give the ball up on a fumble by Duckworth. Again, the Vandal defense held and forced a punt and Idaho took over at the UNLV 46 with 2:31 left in the third.
 
Linehan finished the night 17-of-35 for 249 yards – and the one touchdown. Hightower was one of six receivers to catch a ball and his four matched those of Deon Watson. The ground game scratched out 129 yards with Aaron Duckworth's 90 on 20 carries a team best.
 
Linebacker Ed Hall had a stellar night with 15 total tackles but Kaden Elliss was a show stopper with two interceptions. Jayshawn Jordan also had nine tackles and Russell Siavii and Tueni Lupeamanu had eight each.