Moore sets record for QB victories

LAS VEGAS (AP)

UNLV needed to capitalize on all its chances to get an edge on No. 5 Boise State, but fell short in a 48-21 loss despite flashes of strength.

UNLV had nine penalties for 84 yards — including a 15-yard pass interference penalty that gave the Broncos their go-ahead score in the first half on Saturday night.

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The Rebels forced two fumbles, but recovered neither. They also dropped two possible interceptions, and skipped taking any shot to score points late in the first half despite getting the ball at their 40 yard line with 25 seconds left.

"We're in the game with a Top Five team in the country and have the ball coming out of the locker room," UNLV coach Bobby Hauck said. "We were trying not to be stupid."

Hauck said his team had a shot at forcing four or five turnovers.

"People had a chance to come up with a few and didn't, and I'm not happy about that. We needed those," he said. "If we're going to win this game we have to come up with those."

Instead, Boise State beat UNLV as expected behind five touchdowns from Kellen Moore, despite looking little like a national title contender during the first half.

"We played all right, not spectacular," Moore said after his 46th win, one more than former Texas quarterback Colt McCoy.

Broncos coach Chris Petersen said his team would have to do play better next week to beat TCU.

"That's news to me that we threw five touchdowns. We were not clicking," he said.

Moore threw two touchdowns each to Tyler Shoemaker and Matt Miller, racking up 224 yards through the air on 18-of-31 passing despite leaving the game early in the fourth quarter.

UNLV (2-6, 1-2 Mountain West Conference) matched the Broncos' first two touchdowns, before the pass interference penalty that gave Boise State a first-and-goal.

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Moore, in his fourth year as the Broncos starting quarterback, is 46-2, tops among FBS quarterbacks in career winning percentage (95.8 percent). Stanford's Andrew Luck is second at 85.3 percent (29-5).

"You have a lot of respect for those guys on that list," Moore said. "I'm very fortunate to play at Boise State."

Boise State (8-0, 3-0) pulled away from UNLV during the second half, as Moore found Shoemaker streaking past UNLV's secondary in the middle of the field for a 51-yard touchdown with 8:37 left in the third quarter.

"It's great. Kellen is a winner," Petersen said. "A lot of guys around here are winners."

On its next possession, the Broncos faked a punt on fourth-and-8, snapping the ball to J.C. Percy and letting him run 20 yards before he was tackled at the UNLV 31-yard line.

Shoemaker then gave Moore his fifth touchdown, as the fourth quarter began, by catching a ball that had been deflected in the end zone by a UNLV defender.

DJ Harper and Drew Wright added rushing touchdowns for the Broncos in the fourth quarter.

During the first half, the Broncos looked nothing like the 41-point favorites Las Vegas casinos thought they were. Two of their three first-half touchdowns were set up by UNLV mistakes.

Early in the second quarter, Boise State blocked a punt and took over needing 40 yards to score. Less than two minutes later, Moore hit Miller for a 30-yard touchdown.

Just before halftime, UNLV was called for pass interference and penalized 15 yards, setting up first-and-goal for the Broncos with just over a minute left. Three plays later, Moore found Miller again for a 5-yard score.

At the break, each team had run 32 offensive plays, but UNLV had 198 yards compared with 161 for Boise State.

UNLV coach Bobby Hauck said he was happier with his team's play in the first half, but it still missed opportunities.

"Certainly (Boise State is) a pretty good football team, and we struggled to keep up in the second half," he said.

The matchup was the first between the teams since the 1970s, and could be their last for a while if Boise State leaves the Mountain West after one year for the Big East Conference.

Athletic department spokesman Max Corbet told The Associated Press before Saturday's game that the school hadn't received a formal invitation from the Big East and hadn't decided the future of its program. He said the school wouldn't be immediately prepared to accept an invite without considering what is best for all its sports.