Rebels prove road warriors in victory over Sam Houston — PHOTOS
HOUSTON — Yes. That seven-point win against Idaho State seems a while ago now.
UNLV’s football team found something in practice this week. It fixed some things that needed fixing. Improvements were made.
It was all evidenced by a 38-21 win against Sam Houston on Friday night before a sparse gathering at Shell Energy Stadium.
Road warriors?
The Rebels are now 11-3 in true road games since the beginning of the 2023 season.
They are also 2-0 under coach Dan Mullen because UNLV built a sizable early lead, because junior transfer quarterback Anthony Colandrea played about as well as you could hope in just his second game running Mullen’s offense.
Clock’s broke, scoreboard isn’t
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— UNLV Football (@unlvfootball) August 30, 2025
Colandrea would complete 19 of 23 passes for 249 yards with two scores and an interception.
He also would finish UNLV’s scoring with a 13-yard touchdown run with 7:05 remaining in the game.
Defense was better
“I think we’re really coming together,” Mullen said. “We took a huge step from last week to this week. That’s a big deal for us.”
Things actually got somewhat sloppy from UNLV in the second half, but by then the Rebels had built their robust lead and were never threatened.
It was a stark difference from coordinator Paul Guenther’s defense from what was witnessed last week, when little ol’ Idaho State ripped off big play after big play.
Sam Houston (0-2) had just a few that mattered to their cause, both coming on fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter.
The first was a 53-yard run for one score and then a 59-yard touchdown pass. Other than that, the Bearkats struggled to discover any sort of consistency against Guenther’s side of the ball.
Example: The Rebels limited Sam Houston to just 1 of 12 on third down.
UNLV led 24-7 at halftime, and it really wasn’t that close.
The only thing that didn’t allow Mullen’s team a larger advantage was its own mistakes — five penalties for 57 yards over the first 30 minutes.
Two of them — a defensive offsides and a pass interference — aided Sam Houston’s only scoring drive of the half.
But the Rebels were sharp offensively behind Colandrea, who completed his first six passes and was 13 of 16 for 167 yards and the two touchdowns before intermission.
UNLV’s first score came via a 48-yard pass from Colandrea to Jaden Bradley, who picked up right where he left off last week against Idaho State.
He had six catches for 131 yards against the Bengals.
Bradley added six more for 125 yards and his touchdown Friday.
JUST THROW IT UP THERE AND JADEN GONNA COME DOWN WITH IT 👀
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— UNLV Football (@unlvfootball) August 30, 2025
The Rebels then went 75 yards on 13 plays for a drive that ended with Colandrea finding DeAngelo Irvin from 3 yards out.
Another thing Colandrea did well was spread the wealth, completing passes to five different names over the first quarter and seven for the half.
In all, eight players caught balls for UNLV.
Self-inflicted mistakes? The Rebels had consecutive penalties — a hold and an offensive pass interference — that wiped out touchdowns on consecutive plays early in the second quarter.
But after settling for a field goal and 17-7 lead, UNLV’s defense came up with its biggest play when Aamaris Brown returned an interception 52 yards for a score. After that, the outcome was never in doubt.
It was again the defense that stood tall when Sam Houston drove to the UNLV 15 before throwing three straight incompletions. The Bearkats then missed a short field goal to allow UNLV its 17-point halftime lead.
The Rebels just had their way. They amassed 238 yards over the half, converting on four of six third downs. They also averaged 7.7 yards per play to just 3.9 for Sam Houston.
And it didn’t stop there.
Little punting
UNLV came out for the second half, promptly got a defensive stop and then went 67 yards in five plays, highlighted by a Colandrea-to-Bradley connection for 49 yards.
Jai’Den Thomas then scored from 3 yards out for a 31-7 lead. It was his fourth touchdown of the young season and the 23rd of his career, which ranks seventh all-time.
How one-sided was it for most of the evening?
UNLV’s first punt came with 7:31 left in the third quarter.
How weird was it? The game clock didn’t work for most of the second half because, according to a television commentator, “the console overheated.”
Yes. Idaho State appears to be in the rearview mirror.
Things get somewhat tougher now. UNLV next plays UCLA on Sept. 6 at Allegiant Stadium.
“It’s like last week,” Mullen said. “When we’re good on both sides of the ball, we’re really good. But our errors are glaring errors. But the good thing is, when I see good things, I like them.”
Contact Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.