UNLV Football had a tester this week against California. I know that Cal is a lower tier PAC-12 school, they still are a good football program. Rebels was +13 going into this game, making the Bears heavily favored. The Rebels had a chip on their shoulder going into this one after a good win against Idaho State two weeks before.

Game Summary

With two weeks of rest, you would think that the Rebels would come out well rested on defense and firing on offense. After receiving the kickoff in the 1st, UNLV went three-and-out on their first possession.

Cal went on to score two TDs in the 1st Quarter and UNLV could not get a sustainable drive together until the beginning of the 2nd Quarter.

The Rebel’s first score of the game was after a 75-yard drive ending with a QB Doug Brumfield touch pass to WR Kyle Williams for an 11-yard score. Besides the Cal field goal towards the end of the half, that was the only points in the 2nd Quarter.

The first half ended with the score 17-7, Cal.

The Rebel defense showed up in the second half. They only allowed three points in the beginning of the half. This enabled the offense to gain momentum and put up more points.

UNLV got the ball with 8:21 left in the 3rd quarter after Cal’s opening drive of the second half ended in a field goal. RB Aiden Robbins, who earned the lead back roll after his performance last week, started the drive off with a 5-yard rush. The next play was a 33-yard pass from Brumfield to Williams to get the Rebels into great field position. After another nice gain from Robbins, the rebels decided to run the ball again. This Robbins run ended up being a 31-yard score. After the extra point the Rebels had found themselves back in the game, down only six.

After this score Coach Arroyo decided to make a bold move. With seven minutes in the 3rd quarter, the Rebels kick an onside kick and recover the onside.

Unfortunately, the onside recovery did not lead to points as UNLV could not convert on a 4th-and-7.

The Cal bears were lined up to kick a field goal with eight minutes left in the game, but they missed it and that gave UNLV the opportunity to make the come back.

The next UNLV drive after the missed field goal went for 5:20 of possession and was 13 plays, but the Rebels could not punch it in as they turned the ball over on downs again. That was three times in the second half they had turnover-on-downs.

UNLV did get the ball back with 1:10 left in the game. Brumfield completed a 14-yard pass to WR Ricky White to get the Rebels moving. They had used all their timeouts so the Bears did not run the clock out on the previous possession. Brumfield was then sacked twice and on the final possession of the game, was picked off to seal their fate.

Final Score: 20-14, Cal Bears.

Stats

Passing -

• D. Brumfield: 17/32, 192 YDS, 1 TD, 1 INT

Rushing -

• A. Robbins: 14 ATT, 84 YDS, 1 TD

Receiving -

• Ricky White: 4 REC, 59 YDS
• Kyle Williams: 3 REC, 52 YDS, 1 TD
• Jeff Weimer: 4 REC, 49 YDS

Defense -

• Jerrae Williams: 1 INT

Takeaways

• This team is not the same as last years team.
• The defense steps up when needed.
• Like I said, Aidan Robbins is a DAWG!
• Proved that they are here to compete.

The Rebels are back at home in Allegiant Stadium against North Texas, Saturday, September 17th.

#BEaREBEL