Cal Will Face UNLV in LA Bowl, but Rebels' Head Coach Won't Be There

Cal will face Mountain West Conference runnerup UNLV in the LA Bowl on Wednesday, December 18, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Cal confirmed the matchup on Sunday.

The game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Pacific time and will be televised by ESPN. UNLV is listed as a 3-point favorite by Action Network.

Ticket information appears at the end of this report.

UNLV is 10-3 overall and went 6-1 in the Mountain West before losing to Boise State in the Mountain West championship game 21-7 on Friday. The Rebels are ranked 24th in both the AP top-25 poll and the College Football Playoff rankings released Sunday.

Barry Odom was the head coach at UNLV this season, but he will not be the Rebels head coach when they face Cal. Odom wwas hired Sunday as the next head coach at Purdue and won't be coaching the Rebels in the bowl game. UNLV wide receiver coach Del Alexander has been named the Rebels' interim head coach and will coach the team in the LA Bowl. This suggests that UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion is likely to accompany Odom to Purdue as the Boilermakers' offensive coordinator,

UNLV's Barry Odom will be next coach at Purdue, source told @ActionNetworkHQ. 1st reported by @RossDellenger. Odom was 19-8 past 2 years w/Rebels
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 8, 2024

Cal is 6-6 overall, including 2-6 in the ACC, and the Bears are playing in a bowl game for the second straight season. This is Cal’s fourth bowl berth under Justin Wilcox. The Bears lost to TCU 34-14 in the Independence Bowl last season. They lost to TCU 10-7 in the 2018 Cheeze-It Bowl and defeated Illinois 35-20 in the 2019 Redbox Bowl in San Francisco.

Cal and UNLV have faced each other only once on the football field. That was in 2022 when the Bears beat UNLV 20-14 in Berkeley.

Cal needs to win the LA Bowl to finish with a winning record for the first time since 2019, which also the last time the Golden Bears won a bowl game (Redbox Bowl over Illinois).

Cal became bowl-eligible with a comeback victory over Stanford, then lost to SMU 38-6 in the Bears’ final regular-season game.

UNLV is playing in a bowl game for the second straight season after losing to Kansas 49-36 in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl last season.

This season the Rebels lost twice Boise State and also lost to Syracuse 44-41. UNLV ranks 14th in the country in scoring offense, averaging 36.2 points per game.

The Rebels would have been in the College Football Playoff if they had defeated Boise State in the Mountain West Championship game, but UNLV lost that game.

The LA Bowl matches the top available Mountain West team against the No. 5 available team from the Pac-12. UNLV is the No. 1 available Mountain West team with Boise State playing in the College Football Playoff.

Teams that were in the Pac-12 last season are assigned to Pac-12-affiliated bowls this year. That makes the pecking order for Pac-12-bowls difficult since the 2023 Pac-12 members are scattered around the country in various conferences this season. Oregon and Arizona State are the 2023 Pac-12 teams playing in the College Football Playoff.

Cal coach Justin Wilcox said every player on his roster that he's spoken with in recent days is committed to play in the game. Asked specifically about injury-plagued running back Jaydn Ott, Wilcox said.

"Now, guys have certain things that they're dealing with, including injuries and potential NFL careers," he said. "I don't want to speak for our players. All the guys I've talked to, including (Ott), have given me the intention they're all playing."

Ticket information

Season ticket holders have until tonight at 11:59 p.m. PT to secure their priority selection for the Art of Sport LA Bowl hosted by Gronk.

Log in to your account.
Click Application under My Tickets.
Click 2024 Bowl Games – New Application.

Art of Sport LA Bowl tickets will go on sale to the general public on Monday, December 9, at 9 a.m. and can be purchased here: https://calbears.evenue.net/list/FB

Click here for more information.

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