It was announced Sunday that the UNLV Rebels (10-3, 6-1) will head to the LA Bowl at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California to meet the California Bears.
It is being reported by SI.com that the Rebels may face the Bears without former head coach Barry Odom who took the head coaching position with the Purdue Boilermakers. It is unknown if offense coordinator Brennan Marion will call the plays if Odom does decide to leave before the game. In a press conference Sunday afternoon, UNLV’s Athletic Director, Eric Harper said that no interim coach has been named as of yet. He has also not met with Marion about the head coaching job. To round out the press conference, Harper said that UNLV will go on a national search for their next head coach and that he hopes to have a permanent coach lined up in 10 days.
The Rebels finished the season the runner-up in the Mountain West Conference after losing the championship to Boise State on Friday, 21-7. The Rebels are ranked 24th in both the College Football Playoff ranking and the top 25 AP Poll.
This will be UNLV’s second straight bowl appearance. They lost to the Kansas Jayhawks in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl 49-36. If the Rebels had won the Mountain West Championship against Boise State, they would have been eligible for the College Football Playoff.
California finished the season 6-6 and went 2-6 in the ACC. This is the Bears’ second consecutive bowl berth and their fourth appearance in a bowl game under head coach Justin Wilcox. Last season the Bears lost in the Independence Bowl, 34-14 to TCU. The two times have previously faced each other in Berkeley where the Bears won 20-14.
The game will be available on ESPN on Wednesday, December 18th at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST. Tickets will be available at https://www.ticketmaster.com/la-bowl-hosted-by-gronk.
