In a move that had been discussed for a while, Minnesota and UNLV have agreed to move their season-opening football game to Thursday, Aug. 30. The game, which will be played at UNLV's Sam Boyd Stadium, was originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 1.

Gophers officials accommodated a request from the Rebels and the Mountain West to move the game up to Thursday night. Kickoff time and potential television arrangements will be figured out later, but the change allows Minnesota to gain some more TV exposure than it likely would have received on opening Saturday.

“We understand that changing dates may impact fans that have already made arrangements to travel to Las Vegas for the game,” Minnesota senior associate athletics director Marc Ryan said in a statement released by the school. “We hope that by announcing this change as early as possible, issues fans may encounter in altering travel plans can be minimized.”

The Gophers should be used to opening on Thursday nights. This will mark the fifth time since 2001 that Minnesota debuts in a Thursday night road game, joining the 2010 game at Middle Tennessee, 2006 at Kent State, 2005 at Tulsa and 2001 at Toledo.

Minnesota and UNLV are meeting for the first time in football, and they'll conclude the home-and-home series in 2013 when the Rebels visit TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 31.

A win on the road in the opener could be big for the fortunes of Jerry Kill's team. The Gophers will play their next three nonconference games at home against New Hampshire, Western Michigan and Syracuse, so a 4-0 start heading into Big Ten play is possible.