Las Vegas – The UNLV Rebels football program, which has historically been among the worst in FBS college football, has begun to find themselves as a football program, and it showed last Saturday Night, September 6, with an impressive 30-23 win over the UCLA Bruins.
The game was played at Allegiant Stadium; a stadium UNLV shares with the Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL. A vocal crowd of 36,117 was on-hand to watch UNLV take a 23-0 lead late in the second quarter and hold off a late rally from the Bruins to go to 3-0 for the season and get their first win over a Big Ten team since the 2003 season, when they defeated Wisconsin. With the loss, UCLA fell to 0-2 to start the season for the first time since the 2019 season, when they finished 4-8.
The Rebels scored on all four of their offensive possessions in the first half and had an almost flawless defensive performance as well, allowing only a field goal at the end of the first half for a 23-3 lead at halftime. For the second consecutive game, the Bruins fell behind by 20 or more points in the first half.
In both losses, the opponent came out ready to play and took it to the Bruins on both sides of the ball. After the 43-10 blowout loss to Utah in Week 1, it was assumed that the Bruins would come out in Week 2 with a sense of urgency, wanting to avoid going 0-2. Instead, it was UNLV that played with a sense of purpose and energy. UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster was frustrated with the performance of his team.
“First half, we didn’t really show up the way that we wanted to,” Foster said. “Second half, we were able to make some plays but were still doing some things we shouldn’t have done, stopping drives and just getting in our own way. But it’s something we can fix.”
“I’m just frustrated because when you know that you can execute better than we were and put together two halves like I wish we would have done and this outcome would have been different,” Foster said. “But the situation that we were in in the first half, we didn’t really help ourselves out. And we came in the second half and finally we were able to execute, but it still wasn’t enough and just didn’t make enough plays.”
When asked what his team needed to do to play better in the first half, Foster was not sure. “I have been trying to do stuff at practice to help us start fast,” said Foster. “We have to figure it out.”
There was a total of 27 penalties in the game, with the Bruins committing 14 penalties for 129 yards and the Rebels committing 13 penalties for 130 yards. The penalties did not please the second-year UCLA head coach, particularly the personal foul penalties. “Just being undisciplined,” Foster said. “You can get baited into situations. There is all type of stuff that can happen out there. You have to maintain your composure, it’s football.”
UNLV is a member of the Mountain West Conference (MWC) and a football program on the rise. The Rebels 20-8 record over the 2023 & 2024 season was the best in their program history. The roster has improved via the transfer portal. Playing in Allegiant Stadium, UNLV has developed a vibrant home field atmosphere. In the 2025 NFL draft, UNLV had their first player drafted since the 2010 NFL draft. Therein lies the problem for UCLA football.
These should be two very different football programs. UCLA had five players drafted in the 2025 NFL draft, and six UCLA players made NFL rosters as rookies in 2025. UCLA has 24 former players on the 2025 NFL opening day rosters, which was tied with Wisconsin at 20th for most among schools. UNLV does not have a single player on an NFL roster in 2025.
UCLA has better football talent, with a roster full of four-star recruits. But on the playing field, UNLV looked like the better football team. The Bruins are missing too many tackles on defense. They are often out of position on defense. In the first half of the game against UNLV, the Bruins were outgained in yardage, 250 to 110.
The second half was different, when the Bruins finally played with a sense of urgency, and outgained the Rebels in yardage, 318 to 101. UCLA played at a faster pace in the second half on offense. The Bruins rallied from a 23-point deficit to cut the lead to 30-23 with 2:10 left in the game. The rally fell short when quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s pass over the middle from the UNLV 24-yard line was tipped and intercepted with 52 seconds remaining in the game. UNLV had a big win, and UCLA had a bad nonconference loss.
Iamaleava was a five-star recruit and was the No. 1 recruit in the 2023 California football recruiting class. Iamaleava transferred to UCLA after two seasons at Tennessee, leading Tennessee to the college football playoffs in 2024. The 6-foot-6 Iamaleava showed off his talents in the second half, leading the Bruins to 20 points, with a 4-yard touchdown pass to tight end Noah Fox-Flores, and adding a 30-yard touchdown scamper. The Bruins coaching staff needs to unlock his talents for a full game.
The Bruins need to play with a sense of urgency from the opening kickoff for their next opponent, the New Mexico Lobos. The game will be played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Friday, September 12, beginning at 7:00 pm. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network (BTN). Like UNLV, New Mexico is a member of the MWC. New Mexico is 1-1 on the season, with a 34-17 loss at Michigan, and a 32-22 victory over Idaho State.
The Bruins have to get Iamaleava and the offense going early against the Lobos. They need the defense to show more energy and discipline. The defense has not caused a turnover in the first two games. Linebacker Isaiah Chisom leads the Big Ten conference in tackles with 26 and linebacker JonJon Vaughns is second with 25 tackles. They need more help from their teammates. The coaching staff needs to get the team focused and ready to play. UCLA is a 15.5-point favorite for the game against New Mexico.