When Bronco Mendenhall took over the head football coaching job at BYU, he emphasized that he wanted his teams to learn how to make one more play than the opposition.

Since the Cougars were unable to convert deep in Tulsa territory in a 55-47 loss to the Golden Hurricanes in 2007, BYU has competed in six games decided by a touchdown or less.

The Cougar record -- including Saturday's 42-35 win at home over UNLV -- is 6-0 in those contests.

"When the game is coming down to the final play, it takes grit and it takes determination," said Mendenhall. "We needed to make enough plays to win and that's what we did today (against the Rebels). I'm proud of them."

BYU's current run of success in close games has relied at times on both the offense (Utah in 2007), the defense (New Mexico and TCU in 2007) and the special teams (UCLA in 2007 and Washington in 2008) making big plays.

Saturday afternoon, the Cougars needed both sides to make those key plays and the team answered the call.

The BYU offense did it first by driving the length of the field in the final seven minutes of the contest to turn a one-point deficit into a seven-point lead with quarterback Max Hall passing to tight end Dennis Pitta for the touchdown and to running back Harvey Unga for the two-point conversion.

UNLV had almost two minutes to drive back into scoring position and reached the Cougar 14-yard line before the defense forced a sack, then safety Andrew Rich intercepted the Hail Mary on the final play of the game.

"It feels great to be able to help out the team," Rich said. "I feel fortunate that I was able to be in that position, but it feels pretty good."

• Collie moving up: Junior Austin Collie broke the MWC record for most consecutive games with 100 yards receiving, gaining 113 yards off seven receptions for his sixth straight game surpassing the century mark. Collie also jumped Phil Odle for fourth place in the BYU record books for most career receiving yards.

• Coach to Cure: Mendenhall and UNLV coach Mike Sanford joined other college coaches around the country wearing Coach to Cure armbands to promote awareness of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

"College football is so visible that if we get united on a given cause, we can make a difference," Mendenhall said. "They ask very little of us except to unite as coaches, but it can really increase awareness."

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy currently has no cure and is the most common fatal genetic disorder diagnosed during childhood, primarily affecting boys. For more information, visit www.coachtocuremd.org.

• Quick out of the gate: Junior tight end Andrew George's eight-yard touchdown catch from Hall was the fastest touchdown the Cougars have scored to start a game this season, coming just 2:35 into the first quarter.

• Back to the Valley: The only Utahn on the Rebel roster is senior Thor Pili. The Timpanogos High alumni saw playing time at defensive end against the Cougars. This is Pili's second season with Las Vegas after playing at Oregon and Snow College.

• Far from a shutout: The 35 points scored by the Rebels is the most by a BYU opponent this season and the largest total since Sept. 15, 2007, when Tulsa lit up the Cougars for 55 points.

• Sharing the love: For the second time this season, six different players scored for BYU: Running backs Unga and Fui Vakapuna, tight ends Pitta and George and wide receiver O'Neill Chambers all scored a touchdown apiece while placekicker Mitch Payne nailed two field goals and four extra points. Unga also caught a two-point conversion, the first such conversion for BYU this season.

• Got their number: Under Mendenhall, the Cougars have never lost to UNLV (4-0). The Cougars are now 13-3 all-time against the Rebels. BYU won its first meeting against UNLV 28-24 in Yokohama, Japan, in 1978.

• Extra points: Attendance for the game was 64,081, BYU's eleventh straight sellout and the longest sellout streak since 1991-92. ... Leading the team out onto the field before the game carrying the Y flags were junior linebacker Coleby Clawson and former BYU linebacker Brady Poppinga, now playing linebacker with the Green Bay Packers. ... UNLV won the coin toss and deferred. ... Temperature at kickoff was 57 degrees.

• Jared Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@heraldextra.com.