‘It’s huge’: UNLV retains Fremont Cannon, nears bowl eligibility

RENO — The Fremont Cannon weighs 545 pounds, requiring wheeling from UNLV’s sideline inside Mackay Stadium across the football field, down a long paved pathway — and into an ebullient Rebels locker room.

“It’s big. It’s huge. There’s momentum. You can feel it,” coach Barry Odom said afterward, a new black cap atop his head and a red silhouette sewn into its stitching akin to the memento that’s returning with him to Las Vegas.

“We’ll enjoy this one until we get home. Then it’s on to the next.”

The Rebels hadn’t been 5-1 since Randall Cunningham was their quarterback in 1984, but they are again this season after a resounding 45-27 victory over rival UNR on Saturday.

Redshirt freshman Jayden Maiava is their quarterback now, completing 20 of 25 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns — and occasionally resembling Cunningham while breaking contain en route to 32 rushing yards for UNLV (5-1, 2-0 Mountain West).

UNR (0-6, 0-2) has lost 16 games in a row.

UNLV junior wideout Ricky White supplied eight catches for 174 yards and the two scores, the second of which covered 82 yards after a goal-line interception from junior linebacker Jackson Woodard.

The cannon returns red to the Fertitta Football Complex, and with it a team one win away from bowl eligibility for the first time since 2013.

“It’s real big for us,” White said. “It’s real big for the community, the city and for us, obviously.”

The stadium Saturday was sparsely filled amid UNR’s losing streak, depriving the rivalry of the tension it included when the Wolf Pack were viable and the Rebels less relevant. But Odom’s arrival at UNLV has sparked a resurgence that coincides with UNR’s tailspin, depicted most obviously by a defense that ranked 133rd among 133 Football Bowl Subdivision programs in yards allowed.

No wonder Maiava was so unbothered, the pocket devoid of pressure while White streaked free on the opening drive along the right sideline on a 59-yard scoring catch-and-run. His second touchdown secured a 28-7 halftime lead after Woodard nabbed a bullet from Brendon Lewis, who had driven the Wolf Pack the length of the field in their most ardent display of competitiveness against the Rebels.

Senior running back Donavyn Lester ended UNLV’s first second-half possession with a 66-yard touchdown run, sprinting untouched like White a couple hours before him.

Junior defensive back Johnathan Baldwin added an interception, and the Rebels recorded three sacks, though Lewis accounted for 287 passing yards, exploiting breakdowns in UNLV’s secondary.

Hence Odom’s stoic focus afterward: “We’re still not where we need to be — offense, defense, kicking. We did some really good things, enough to win that game.”

“But the pursuit of getting as good as we can get” remains far more fulfilling for the 46-year-old Odom, who joins Jeff Horton as UNLV coaches to win their first two conference games.

“Determination,” Woodard said, defines the culture Odom is constructing.

“Winning is everything, and (he’s) instilled that,” Woodard added. “The reason we work in the summer like we work, the reason we work in practice like we work, is to win, and that’s the only reason.”

One more win clinches for the Rebels their fifth bowl berth and further solidifies the progress they’ve made. Their next opportunity arrives with homecoming at 4 p.m. Saturday against Colorado State at Allegiant Stadium.

“We executed again. We did what we had to do for the community,” White said. “We’re going to keep working. Each and every day. We’re going to keep working.”

Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on X.