Rebels eager to start fresh against Utah State after 1st defeat

The UNLV football team is ready for a new beginning after taking its first loss of the season — or at least that’s what coach Barry Odom is telling the team.

Odom said this week that he heard someone argue a season only truly begins after the first loss. He liked the sentiment so much that he shared it with the team in hopes of shifting the Rebels’ focus away from last week’s 44-41 overtime defeat to Syracuse, which he said the staff and players spent countless hours reviewing.

As UNLV (4-1, 1-0 Mountain West) prepares to face Utah State (1-4, 0-1) at 6 p.m. Friday in Logan, Utah, the message is sticking.

Senior linebacker Jackson Woodard was the second person to share it Monday after Odom left the podium at his weekly news conference.

“Coach said earlier (that) this is the start of the season.” Woodard said. “This is where you really see who we are as a team, as a brotherhood.”

UNLV talked about the goal of an undefeated season and a College Football Playoff berth before the campaign started, and while the loss isn’t ideal, it’s not the end of the road.

The directive now shifts to dominating the Mountain West. This is UNLV’s second conference matchup, and a chance to make a statement.

“We’ve got to bounce back from our first defeat of the year.” Odom said. “We understand how important every single game is in the conference race, and this is our next opportunity.”

Woulda, coulda, shoulda

Odom said it’s “easy to look back and (say) what if we would have done this? What if we would have done that?”

But UNLV’s staff is focused on critique and self-evaluation, he said.

“Sometimes you gotta look in the mirror and say, ‘Man, I messed that up,’ ” he said. “And then you do everything you can to get your team back in position to go play winning ball.”

It was Odom’s decision for the Rebels to kneel on the ball with 23 seconds left in regulation against Syracuse instead of attempting to get into field-goal range.

He said he trusted his team to go to overtime and “get in that situation and go win it.”

Instead, Odom soon found himself grabbing his headset in disbelief and screaming “there’s no way” from the sideline.

UNLV kicked a field goal to start overtime before Syracuse landed itself in a predicament on third-and-20 following a chop-block penalty. Woodard got a crucial stop on LeQuint Allen at the line of scrimmage, but a roughing the passer call with targeting derailed UNLV’s chance to pull out the victory.

The targeting call was reviewed and removed, but the roughing the passer penalty stood and put Allen in position to later break a Woodard tackle and score the game-winning touchdown.

“It’s not my standard, personally,” Woodard said. “I’ve got to get better from it, and that’s what I’m going to go do. The team’s going to rally around, and like I said, it’s going to make us better.”

Scouting report

Odom said the defense will have to be “more consistent” against the Aggies.

“I think the way Utah State is playing, they’re ultra explosive on offense,” Odom said. “Defensively, they’ve got great speed, and I am impressed with, schematically, how they’re playing.”

Utah State is averaging 23.2 points over their five games this season, while their defense has given up 41.4 points over that span. The Aggies’ defensive line is decimated, with injuries to defensive tackles Miguel Jackson and Taz Williams and defensive ends Enoke Miago, Blaine Spires and Gabe Peterson.

Utah State has lost four straight, including 62-30 to Boise State last week.

The Aggies are being led by defensive coordinator Nate Dreiling, who was appointed as interim head coach in July after former coach Blake Anderson was fired for his handling of a domestic violence incident.

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.