What a way to start the season, coming in as an underdog, you would never know that after UNLV came into Houston and dominated them in the 27-7 win on the road on Saturday.
Highlights from the 27-7 win over Houston
WATCH????: https://t.co/wzdWTHMZJN pic.twitter.com/pNIPv0ThDe
— UNLV Football (@unlvfootball) September 1, 2024
The continued culture change that Head Coach Barry Odom has continued to implement his signature aggressive defenses that he was known for at Missouri. He’s clearly brought that with him to the Dice City.
Newly named starter at quarterback 45 minutes before kick off Matthew Sluka managed the game very effectively for the Rebels. He finished 6-of-13 passing, threw both touchdown passes of 13 and 24 yards to Jacon De Jesus.
“I thought he managed (the game) well and … it seemed like on the headsets, the things I was hearing the offense talk about, I thought he made good decisions,” UNLV coach Barry Odom said of Sluka. “We’ve got a number of playmakers on that side of the ball. The thing we need the quarterback to do is we need him to be a playmaker as well but also distribute the ball, be efficient with it, don’t turn it over and make really good reads.”
You win games at the line
Without a doubt UNLV controlled the ball on both sides of the line of scrimmage. That made things very difficult for Houston to be able to develop any type of rhythm. The game got away from them. On defense, the star player for the Rebels was Jalen Catalon. who finished with two interceptions, had a 36-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Houston Head Coach was very disappointed with his team performance but also took responsibility for the loss.
“Very disappointing,” Fritz said. “I thought we’d play better than that. I did a poor coaching job as a head coach. Poor job by my assistant coaches and poor job playing. I didn’t see much good out there.”
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Robert LaMar is a writer for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X via @RobertLaMar26
