week to make progressions. But regression was more the early theme in

its return to the field.

The Cougars reverted to their turnover-prone ways against UNLV on

Saturday night. But thanks to Harvey Unga's workmanlike performance

and another stout defensive effort, BYU managed to leave Las Vegas

with a familiar jackpot - a win.

Unga finished with 221 all-purpose yards to lead the Cougars to a

24-14 victory over UNLV in front of a sellout crowd of 38,026 at Sam

Boyd Stadium.

With Wyoming and San Diego State suffering their first conference

losses earlier in the day, BYU (4-2, 3-0) is alone atop the Mountain

West standings.

The defending champions extended multiple streaks in beating UNLV

(2-5, 1-2). The win was their 11th consecutive conference victory,

eighth straight conference road victory and seventh straight victory

over UNLV in Las Vegas.

But the Rebels put up a much stiffer fight than in the previous two

seasons, and BYU abetted the cause.

After taking a step forward in its victory over New Mexico, BYU

returned to its charitable ways with turnovers on its opening two

possessions.

A fumble by Matt Allen at the BYU 27-yard line led to a 37-yard

field goal by Sergio Aguayo to give UNLV a 3-0 lead early in the

first quarter.

BYU quarterback Max Hall marched the Cougars to the UNLV 7-yard

line on their next possession only to get hit as he threw and have

his pass intercepted by Elton Shackelford.

But Hall bounced back to lead BYU on a 12-play, 93-yard scoring

drive capped by Manase Tonga's 3-yard run to put the Cougars ahead

for good at 7-3. The highlight of the drive was a darting 32-yard

scamper by Unga to set up Tonga's score.

A UNLV quarterback switch from Travis Dixon to Omar Clayton in the

second quarter resulted in a 43-yard field goal by Aguayo to narrow

UNLV's deficit to 7-6 at halftime.

Coming out of the locker room, BYU placed the ball in Unga's hands,

and the redshirt freshman took over to put the game out of reach with

clock-churning drives.

Unga accounted for 50 of BYU's 66 yards on its opening drive, which

culminated with Hall finding Vic So'oto for a 4-yard touchdown - the

first of So'oto's career.

BYU tacked on two more scores - a 27-yard field goal by Mitch Payne

and a 5-yard run by Unga - before the Cougar defense surrendered a

late touchdown pass.

Unga outshined UNLV's touted running back Frank "The Tank" Summers.

Unga rushed 25 times for 178 yards and a touchdown while Summers

finished with just 50 yards on 13 carries.

Hall completed 21 of 33 passes for 214 yards, but threw a

career-high three interceptions. Dennis Pitta was Hall's go-to

receiver with seven catches for 97 yards.

The defense limited UNLV to just 217 yards - the least it has

surrendered all season - and BYU dominated the time of possession.

The Cougars held the ball for more than 37 minutes while UNLV had it

for 22:36.