Playing ‘relentlessly,’ Rebels open with road blowout of Big 12 foe

HOUSTON — UNLV entered Saturday’s season opener against Houston with expectations soaring to unprecedented heights in program history.

The Rebels took the field and backed up the hype in a 27-7 road victory over a Big 12 opponent that looked overmatched from the start.

It was a final score that was only misleading in that it could have been much more one-sided in favor of UNLV (1-0).

The Rebels had a short field goal blocked and several long gains wiped out by penalties, preventing them from taking full advantage of a 308-247 edge in total yards that was only that close after the Cougars racked up some numbers in garbage time.

“It certainly wasn’t a clean football game by any stretch with penalties and I thought coming up short on some scoring opportunities, but I thought our defense played relentlessly all night,” UNLV coach Barry Odom said.

Houston (0-1) avoided being UNLV’s first road shutout victim since 1983 when it scored on a fourth-down play in the final minute.

In short, it was as dominant a showing as UNLV could have hoped for in a season debut on the road against a power conference opponent.

“There was so much work that went into this from mid-July in 120 degrees to just this week in preparation,” linebacker Jackson Woodard said. “I’m so proud of every guy. These guys work so hard. It’s such a team game, especially on defense, so you have to be all together and really dialed into your job, and that’s what happened tonight.”

While the offense made more than enough plays over the course of the game, it was the UNLV defense that was suffocating from start to finish.

The Rebels were particularly stout on third down, limiting Houston to two conversions on 15 attempts.

Woodard, the Mountain West preseason co-defensive player of the year, had three sacks and 11 tackles, and fellow linebacker Marsel McDuffie added six tackles and 2½ tackles for loss while flying around the field.

Defensive back Johnathan Baldwin racked up eight tackles, and Jalen Catalon made the biggest play of all by batting down a pass in the backfield and securing the deflection before racing 36 yards for a touchdown.

“That’s him,” Woodard said. “He’s a playmaker, and he went out and made a play and I got a front-row view. I was just right there watching. I’m so proud of him. It’s awesome because it means a lot to him, and I can say he earned this because he worked for it.”

Catalon intercepted another pass in the fourth quarter as UNLV’s defense refused to give an inch even with victory having long been a formality.

That made things pretty easy for quarterback Matthew Sluka in his UNLV debut. He didn’t even need to complete a pass after halftime.

The Holy Cross transfer got the start and threw a pair of first-half touchdown passes to Jacob De Jesus. For the game, Sluka completed 6 of 13 passes for 71 yards with an interception and added 59 yards rushing on 11 attempts.

Sluka had been locked in a quarterback competition with sixth-year Campbell transfer Hajj-Malik Williams and returning senior Cameron Friel throughout fall camp. All three were listed as starters on the team’s official depth chart, but it was Sluka who won the job and then went out and validated Odom’s decision by earning UNLV its first win over Houston in four tries.

The Cougars had outscored the Rebels 153-23 in the three previous meetings. UNLV had also been 3-10 in 13 previous games against schools who were members of the Big 12 at the time.

It became evident early on that stat was going to change.

While Sluka got the start, he was not the first Rebel to complete a pass this season.

UNLV opened its second possession with an end around to DeAngelo Irvin Jr., who stopped and hurled it downfield for a 42-yard completion to Jalen Bradley.

Sluka hit De Jesus four plays later for a 13-yard touchdown to open the scoring.

It was part of a dominant first quarter in which the Rebels outgained Houston 125-22 but led only 7-0 after they were stuffed on fourth-and-1 from the Cougars’ 11-yard line in the final minute.

UNLV will next play Utah Tech at noon Saturday at Allegiant Stadium.

“I look at it that there are 130-some schools, so let’s just line up and go play,” Odom said. “… We have a grueling schedule. It’s good to see a win on the road.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.