UNLV football will play Vanderbilt in 2019 and 2023

UNLV’s football team will play another Power Five school, but this time the Rebels will get a return trip.

They agreed to a home-and-home with Southeastern Conference member Vanderbilt, and will visit the Commodores on Oct. 12, 2019. Vanderbilt will play in Las Vegas on Sept. 16, 2023 in what probably will be the new stadium shared with the Raiders.

Vanderbilt will be only the second SEC team to play UNLV in Las Vegas. The Rebels beat Arkansas 31-14 in the 2000 Las Vegas Bowl.

UNLV has never played Vanderbilt.

“We are delighted to add Vanderbilt to our future schedule,” UNLV athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois said in a statement. “Signing a home-and-home series with an SEC team shows how bright the future is for our program. Las Vegas is a world-class city and we look forward to hosting the Commodores and other fan bases from major programs in the coming years.”

UNLV also announced it will open the 2019 season Aug. 31 against Southern Utah at Sam Boyd Stadium. The Rebels are 3-1 against Southern Utah, but the Thunderbirds won the most recent meeting 41-16 in 2011.

Adding Vanderbilt and Southern Utah completes the 2019 nonconference schedule. The Rebels also will host Arkansas State on Sept. 7 and visit Northwestern on Sept. 14.

Getting a home-and-home with Vanderbilt bucks the recent trend of playing Power Five teams largely for the payday. The Rebels are playing games the next three seasons that each will bring in more than $1 million.

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Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.