UNLV can boost bowl hopes with win at Cal
How important is UNLV’S game Saturday at Cal? According to recent Mountain West history, it might end up being the most pivotal game of the season for the Scarlet and Gray.
By virtue of winning the opener over Idaho State last week, UNLV is sitting at 1-0 for the first time since 2019. And that presents Marcus Arroyo’s squad with a golden opportunity as they prepare to travel to face Cal, because if they manage to score an upset victory to improve to 2-0, their bowl odds will shoot through the roof.
How pretty would UNLV be sitting with a win on Saturday? Of the last 17 Mountain West teams to begin the year with a 2-0 record, 16 went on to qualify for a bowl game.
That’s a success rate of 94.1%. UNLV hasn’t played in a bowl since the 2013 season, when backup quarterback Caleb Herring took over and led the team to a 6-6 record and a spot in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
A win at Cal would accelerate a return to the postseason and certainly add momentum within the program.
“I think it’s really good for our program to get out to a fast start,” Arroyo said. “Especially if we can get on the road and get a victory over a Pac-12 opponent. I think that’s a huge piece. We’d love to get out to a 2-0 start, but there’s going to be a lot of work ahead of that.”
The only recent Mountain West team that managed to fumble a 2-0 start was last season’s New Mexico squad, which won its first two contests and then dropped five straight on its way to a 3-9 finish. Other than that, 2-0 Mountain West teams have a perfect success rate becoming bowl eligible over the last four years.
UNLV will head to Cal as a 13.5-point underdog, but the Scarlet and Gray looked impressive in their 52-21 demolition of Idaho State. Quarterback Doug Brumfield was particularly locked in, completing 21-of-25 passes for 356 yards and four touchdowns.
If UNLV can topple Cal, the Rebels would only have to go 4-6 over the remaining 10 games to qualify for a bowl, and many of those contests could be classified as “winnable,” including home games against North Texas (Sept. 17), New Mexico (Sept. 30) and UNR (Nov. 26), as well as road games at San Jose State (Oct. 7) and Hawaii (Nov. 19).
Cal looked shaky in the first half of its season opener, but the Golden Bears eventually pulled away for a 34-13 win over UC Davis. Quarterback Jack Plummer threw for 268 yards and three touchdowns, while running back Jaydn Ott produced 104 rushing yards on 6.1 yards per carry.
UNLV senior linebacker Kyle Beaudry said he and his teammates cannot afford to look past Cal or start thinking ahead to January and possible bowl scenarios.
“Obviously for the media and all the people outside, it’s a huge deal,” Beaudry said. “But I think for us, we’re always focused on going 1-0.”