The UNLV Rebels Climb In The Mountain West Power Rankings After Big Week 12 Win

The UNLV Rebels stole a crucial win in double overtime in Week 12 over the Utah State Aggies. They won the game by a score of 29 - 26. Knocking off the Aggies improved their Mountain West Conference record to 4 - 2 and kept them alive in their quest to win a Mountain West Championship this season. The win also has them climbing up the Mountain West power rankings and did irreparable damage to Utah State's season. For the Aggies, this loss essentially knocked them out of the race in the Mountain West and forces them to wait at least one more week to become bowl eligible. We get to see where both of these teams land after the double-overtime thriller in Mike Wittmann's Mountain West Connection's Mountain West Power Rankings.

Mountain West Connection On Their No. 3 Ranked UNLV Rebels

"The Rebels keep finding ways to bring games, despite being a flawed team with a not-so-great defense. But their offense keeps them in every game, and more often than not, they score enough to pull through. UNLV is still in the hunt for a spot in the title game, and it would help to find ways to keep their opponents off the scoreboard a bit in the next few weeks."

Mountain West Connection On Their No. 7 Ranked Utah State Aggies

"The Aggies gave a win away this past weekend, one that would have put them into bowl eligibility. Kicking cost them this game, despite an amazing offensive performance from Bryson Barnes. Utah State is still in pretty good shape to make a bowl game, but they are going to have to step it up on defense and make sure their kicking issues don’t happen again. It’s been a pretty good year for the team this season, but one more win will make it a success."

It's good to see the Rebels starting to climb back up the power rankings, but they still have plenty of work to do. They jumped from No. 4 to No. 3. They'll have a huge opportunity to climb up another spot in Week 13 when they take on the No. 2-ranked Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors. While this is a big game for the power rankings, more importantly, it will be a huge game in the Mountain West standings.

For the Aggies, this was a brutal loss in a game that they could have and probably, in their minds, should have won. Heading into this game, they had high hopes in the Mountain West, but it all came crashing down in the second overtime. They still have hope to become bowl eligible with a win in their upcoming game. We hope they can get themselves into a bowl game, but are glad they didn't do it at the Rebels' expense.

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