UNLV caps their most successful season in four decades with an LA Bowl Victory

The UNLV Rebels football program has spent a long time at the bottom of the college football barrel, and it has often seemed that no matter who coached at the school, just winning six games and qualifying for a bowl game seemed almost impossible. But those days are behind the Rebels.

On Wednesday, December 15, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, the Rebels won their 11th game of the season, beating the California Golden Bears, 24-13 in the LA Bowl hosted by Gronk, also known as former NFL All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski. The attendance for the game was 24,420.

The 11 wins are the most by a UNLV football team since 1984 when the UNLV football team went 11-2. Their 20-8 record over the past two seasons is the best over two seasons ever in UNLV football history. This was UNLV's 6th bowl appearance in 47 years, and second consecutive bowl appearance, as well as the first bowl victory for UNLV since the 2000 season.

UNLV finished the 2024 season 11-3, with a 4-1 record against power conference schools, beating Houston, Kansas, Oregon State, and the Cal Bears. Their one lone loss to a power conference was to Syracuse at home in overtime, 44-41. UNLV finished the season as the No. 24 ranked team in the nation in the final CFP rankings and in the AP rankings.

UNLV linebacker Jackson Woodward was named the Defensive MVP of the LA Bowl Game. Woodward had 11 total tackles and three pass breakups in the game. Woodward has had a banner season at UNLV. He was also named the Mountain West Conference (MWC) Defensive Player of the Year, was named Second Team All-America by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), and he was named a first team Academic All-American.

"I am so blessed," Woodward said after the game. "This is exactly how we wanted to finish it. It feels great to end the season with this win. Not many people can say they won 11 games in a season." Woodward thanked interim head coach Del Alexander for guiding them to victory in the LA Bowl.

Alexander, who played his high school football at University high school in Los Angeles and his college football at West Los Angeles College and at USC, was once a senior offensive assistant for running backs with the San Diego Chargers in 1999. The starting quarterback on that Chargers team was Jim Harbaugh, the current head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. Alexander was also a running backs coach for Harbaugh at the University of San Diego in 2005 & 2006.

"How's that for a substitute teacher?" Alexander said. "Fortunately, it was a big reward for us and our players. They're outstanding young men. They're full of character and integrity, and they work their tails off and to stand in front of them and look in their eyes, they gave me every piece of the motivation that I needed to work tirelessly as a first-year interim head coach."

UNLV quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams, a second team ALL-MWC selection, threw two touchdown passes in the victory over the Golden Bears. The first of his two touchdown passes was a 49-yard strike to wide receiver Kayden McGee to give UNLV a 10-7 first quarter lead and his second touchdown pass was setup by a shovel pass fake punt from punter Marshall Nichols to running back Greg Burrell for 52-yards and a first down at the Bears nine-yard line.

On the next play, Williams connected with wide receiver Jacob De Jesus for a nine-yard touchdown pass, giving the Rebels a 14-10 lead that they never relinquished. De Jesus was named the Offensive MVP of the LA Bowl. He ended up with two receptions for 38 yards and three punt returns for 75 yards. De Jesus was a second team ALL-MWC selection as a kick returner.

The turnaround for UNLV football has been nothing short of amazing. Barry Odom was the head coach for the past two seasons, and he did a terrific job of turning the dormant UNLV football program around. UNLV has not had a player drafted in the NFL draft since 2010. They will have several NFL prospects for the 2025 NFL draft.

Their new $35 million dollar state-of the-art practice facility has helped, as well as playing their home games at Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL. UNLV averaged 32,202 fans in 2024, an all-time record for the football program.

Odom UNLA left for the head coaching job at Purdue, where he will be paid a reported $39 million over six seasons. Purdue will pay UNLV $3 million for Odom to backing out of his contract. UNLV hired Dan Mullen as their new head coach. Mullen spent nine seasons as the head coach at Mississippi State and four seasons as head coach at Florida, compiling a record of 103-61 with 11 bowl appearances.

The Cal Bears ended the season at 6-7, the second consecutive season they qualified for a bowl game with a 6-6 record and then lost the bowl game. The Bears started the season 3-0, highlighted by a road win over Auburn. They followed that up with a four-game losing streak, losing the four games by a total of nine points.

In three of those losses the Bears had fourth quarter leads. In the loss to Miami at home, the Bears blew a 25-point third quarter lead, losing 39-38. The Bears are close but need to learn to finish games. Head coach Justin Wilcox, who has been the Cal head coach for the past eight seasons and is well-regarded as a defensive coach, needs to find a way to get better talent to the school.

Against UNLV, the Bears were playing without starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who entered the transfer portal at the end of the regular season. Mendoza has decided to transfer to Indiana. Former Norco high school star running back Jadyn Ott led both teams in rushing yardage with 84 yards on 11 carries.

Ott was first team All-Pac-12 at running back in 2023 but has struggled with injuries this past season. He is 10th all-time at Cal in career rushing yardage with 2,587 yards and if he decides to return next season, he will have a shot at the all-time record if he can stay healthy.

Cal cornerback Nohl Williams, the FBS leader with seven interceptions this season, was named a consensus All-American select by the NCAA. Williams transferred from UNLV two seasons ago. He will be leaving for the NFL.

The Cal Bears open the 2025 season at Oregon State on Saturday, August 30, and the UNLV Rebels open up their season on the road against the Sam Houston University Bearkats in Huntsville, Texas on August 30th. UNLV will return home the next Saturday, September 6, to take on the UCLA Bruins at Allegiant Stadium.