Don’t look now but the UNLV Rebels are now 2-0 after dominating Utah Tech in their home opener 72-14. Making this the first season since 1999 that the Rebels have started out the season winning their first two games of the season.
WINNNNEERRRSSS pic.twitter.com/CRPKeGsBy0
— UNLV Football (@unlvfootball) September 7, 2024
All-American wide receiver Ricky White III had three touchdown catches in the first quarter. The chemistry between quarterback Matthew Sluka and White looked very good. Which is very encouraging for Rebels fans as they could both give opposing defenses nightmares trying to figure out how to stop them.
Head Coach Barry Odom was to assert dominance in the run game. UNLV ran the ball 20 straight times and scored two touchdowns. Greg Burrell scored first, capping off a 12 play, 60 yard drive with a 4 yard run in the third quarter. Timothy Conerly scored on a 8-yard run ended an eight play drive for a 58-14 lead early in the fourth.
Sluka would score on a 30 yard touchdown run, and UNLV upped its advantage to 44-7 at halftime. That would be the last stat for Sluka due to him sitting out the rest of the game. He finished completing 8 of 15 passes for 161 yards and ran eight times for 81 yards. Not bad at all for one half of work.
“We set a goal before the game to 70 points and we executed that so it felt good,” Rebels wideout, Ricky White III said. White finished his day with 5 catches for 111 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Bowl game rematch
Next Friday UNLV will travel to Kansas City, MO to face off against Kansas in a rematch of the Guaranteed Rate Bowl where they fell short to the Jayhawks 49-36. The game will be played at Children’s Mercy Park.
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Robert LaMar is a writer for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X via @RobertLaMar26
