Rebels make quick work of Rainbow Warriors in final home showing of season

UNLV Football celebrates with the Golden Pineapple after beating Hawaii, 38-10, in the latest installment of the Ninth Island Showdown. Photo Credit: UNLV Athletics

It’s now two straight UNLV wins in the Ninth Island Showdown, this time to close out the home slate from Allegiant Stadium with so much more to play for ahead.

The Rebels won a third straight game by beating the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, 38-10, Friday, Nov. 21 from Allegiant Stadium. The win secured the third straight nine-win season for the program, a first in program history.

“Defense, unbelievable night,” head coach Dan Mullen said. “We gave up the one blown coverage on the first series on the 70-yard play and that was about it. I think [defensive coordinator Paul Guenther] and the staff had a great plan.”

UNLV entered Friday a part of a five-way tie for second place in the Mountain West. Essentially, the UNLV-Hawaii meeting served as a Mountain West Championship eliminator.

San Diego State leads the conference with just one Mountain West loss. It came at the hands of Hawaii, 38-6, earlier this month.

“If we can peak at the end of the year, hopefully we have a chance to play for a championship,” Mullen said. “[We want to] play our best football when the days get shorter, the nights get longer and the games get bigger. And that’s what happens this time of year, every single week.”

Rebels head coach Dan Mullen address the band after the team's win in its final home showing of the season. Photo Credit: UNLV Athletics

UNLV will take its 9-2 overall record into its season finale which will take place as part of Rivalry Week. The team will head up north for a meeting with the UNR Wolf Pack Saturday, Nov. 29.

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

“We want to keep improving,” Mullen said. “We want to be playing our best football at the end of the year. We’re going to enjoy this win tonight, give the guys two days off and get ready for another huge rivalry game next week.”

After getting hit hard for a 70-yard touchdown pass on 3rd and 5, the Rebel defense snapped out of it and wouldn’t allow a repeat of last week. After allowing conversions on its first two third downs faced, it would stop the Rainbow Warriors on seven of their next nine tries.

Late in regulation, UNLV stopped its opponent on third and fourth downs on its final two completed drives.

“[We] got after the quarterback,” Mullen said. “Didn’t let them get into a rhythm at all all night.”

UNLV defensive back Jake Pope celebrates with his teammates after hauling in the team's lone interception in its win against Hawaii. Photo Credit: UNLV Athletics

Junior defensive back Jake Pope was responsible for the lone Rebel turnover hauled in in the win with his second quarter interception of former Bishop Gorman quarterback Micah Alejado.

UNLV now has 62 interceptions since 2022 which is tied for the most in the nation along with Notre Dame.

“As a team, stay locked in,” senior linebacker Marsel McDuffie said. “Let’s continue to stack performances and [build] on what we’ve been doing. We came out tonight and just played our football.”

Moreover, the 10 points allowed is the second-lowest amount scored this season by the Rainbow Warriors. Additionally, the UNLV defense has allowed 15 points per game over the current three-game win streak.

“The things that were wrong were fixable,” Mullen said. “They were mistakes. It wasn’t attitude, it wasn’t like we don’t know what we’re doing, it wasn’t all of that stuff.

“Defensively, I give Paul a lot of credit and I give the defensive players a lot of credit of just the ownership of sticking with it.”

In order to understand how well the Rebel offense played, it’s good to note that the team didn’t punt the ball for the first time until nearing the two-minute warning in the second quarter. By that point, the team had already rattled off 21 straight points.

Rebels quarterback Anthony Colandrea loads up for a deep downfield shot against the Rainbow Warriors inside Allegiant Stadium. Photo Credit: UNLV Athletics

Junior quarterback Anthony Colandrea flung the football around at will as he found success early and often. He found senior receiver Jaden Bradley in the back of the end zone late in the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, Colandrea returned the favor for that 70-yard touchdown pass in the opening quarter with a 72-yard scoring pitch-and-catch to redshirt sophomore receiver Taeshaun Lyons.

“If there’s a shot there to take, he takes the shot,” Mullen said. “If he checks it down, he checks it down. And if it all goes to crap, he does his Anthony stuff right? Which is his favorite thing in the world to do, correct?”

Colandrea would later find junior receiver Daejon Reynolds for his third touchdown pass of the night as part of a 21-for-26 night with 253 yards and those three touchdowns. His play was sufficient enough to allow backup quarterback Cam Friel to get some live reps after taking over about midway through the fourth quarter.

“The ability to get some longer drives on offense to keep them on the sidelines and stay out of rhythm was a huge part of the game,” Mullen said. “This is a big win for our team. I think there’s a standard in which we expect to play.”

The final blow of the game came in the form of a 27-yard touchdown run by senior receiver Jojo Earle on a trick play early in the fourth quarter with UNLV already up 21 points.

Speaking of running, the team welcomed back junior running back Jai’Den Thomas after he missed last week’s win over Utah State with a hamstring injury. He returned to action with 61 yards on 13 carries.

Late in the third quarter, Thomas stayed down after a hit but would walk back to the sidelines under his own power.

“He’s fine, he was tired,” Mullen said. “I think he was just exhausted. He was just tired. He wasn’t banged up.”