UNLV ready for bowl game rematch with Kansas: ‘We just have to execute’

UNLV coach Barry Odom and Kansas coach Lance Leipold agreed on one thing when they held separate news conferences Monday: A lot has changed since their last meeting.

The Rebels and Jayhawks faced off in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl on Dec. 26 in Phoenix last season. It was UNLV’s first bowl game since 2014, but Kansas won 49-36 for its first bowl win since 2008.

Now, the teams will square off again at 4 p.m. Friday at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas. Neither coach believes the previous matchup is an indicator of how the rematch will go.

“I can’t lean too much on last year’s game,” Odom said. “You learn from those experiences. But we’ve got 50-plus new players in the program that saw our bowl game, but they weren’t part of it.”

Leipold believes the Rebels (2-0) are a better team than they were last year, when they finished 9-5 and made the Mountain West title game for the first time in program history.

“They’re playing extremely confident and feel they should be a top 25 team,” Leipold told reporters Monday. “So, we’ve got to make sure that we’re ready as well.”

Roster changes

UNLV’s new starting quarterback Matthew Sluka stands out the most to Leipold.

The Holy Cross transfer has 129 rushing yards through his team’s first two games, a 27-7 win at Houston in the season opener Aug. 31 and a 72-14 home win over Utah Tech on Saturday.

“He can throw on the run,” Leipold said. “Excellent speed and quickness on the outside.”

Kansas (1-1) also has a different signal caller than the one it started in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.

Junior Jalon Daniels has returned from a back injury that kept him out of the Jayhawks’ final 10 games in 2023. He’ll be looking to rebound after throwing a career-high three interceptions and losing a fumble in Kansas’ 23-17 loss at Illinois on Saturday.

Wide receivers Lawrence Arnold and Luke Grimm, who each caught three touchdown passes in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, return for the Jayhawks.

UNLV senior Jalen Catalon, a defensive back that transferred from Texas, was impressed with Kansas on film.

“They have a great receiving corps. Everyone is experienced,” Catalon said. “We just have to execute our game plan.”

The Rebels return strong weapons of their own in wideouts Ricky White III and Jacob De Jesus. The team’s defense also looks improved after UNLV revamped its secondary this offseason.

“We understood last year we were not good throughout the course of the game at allowing or not giving up explosive plays,” Odom said. “That’s not all on the secondary.”

Injury watch

Both teams are waiting for updates on a starting player as they begin a short week of preparation.

Odom said junior linebacker Marsel McDuffie suffered a lower-leg injury Saturday and would be limited in Monday’s practice.

On the other side, Leipold said linebacker Jayson Gilliom’s availability for Friday’s game is unclear. The redshirt junior exited in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s loss with a leg injury.

Contact Callie Lawson-Freeman at clawsonfreeman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.