This past Sunday, Ryan Greene of the Las Vegas Sun reported that Sources confirmed to him that the UNLV-Wisconsin opener is likely to be moved to Thursday night and be aired on ESPN.

Sources confirmed to the Sun on Sunday that a deal should be reached by the middle of this week for UNLV's 2011 football season opener at Wisconsin to be moved to Thursday, Sept. 1, and aired on ESPN.

Both sides and conferences have agreed to the change, with ESPN simply now needing to give the final OK to the deal.

It also mentions that this would be the first Division 1 College Football game of the season, kind of like Southern Miss at South Carolina was the very first game of the season last year.

This would be a big step forward for the Rebels and the Mountain West. Wisconsin is known to play down to their opponents in the non-conference and if it just so happens to be on opening night before a giant national audience, then it could go a far way as far as the Mountain West getting more respect. Not saying that it's going to happen, just saying that it's possible.

If the Rebels are unable to make the game close (most likely) then the exposure for the Mountain West would still be great. Either way, this would be a great move for the Mountain West, but this is by no means a done deal. ESPN still has to OK it and who knows if they've got other games lined up for that slot.

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