UNLV Rebels Defensive Back Aamaris Brown Seals Week 2 Victory Over UCLA Bruins

The UNLV Rebels hold off the UCLA Bruins for a big Week 2 victory.

The UNLV Rebels logo at midfield during the Mountain West Championship at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

We're going to start at the end with the UNLV Rebels' big win over their Big 10 opponent, the UCLA Bruins. Rebels' star defensive back Aamaris Brown sealed the 30 - 23 victory over the Bruins with an interception of quarterback Nico Iamaleava after taking shots at the polarizing quarterback during the week leading up to the game. He undoubtedly backed up his talk with that interception. Brown has brought his swagger to Las Vegas, and it's showing for the 3 - 0 Rebels.

Let's get the negative out of the way right off of the bat. There was some very questionable offensive play calling late in this game, including running on a 2nd and 9 with less than three minutes left, that left UCLA with way more time than they should have had. Head coach Dan Mullen has to do a better job with clock management in the future.

On offense, quarterback Alex Orji was a non-factor as the team relied heavily on the arms and legs of Anthony Colandrea. He finished the game with 203 passing yards and three touchdowns, while adding 59 yards on 11 carries on the ground. Surprisingly, star wide receiver Jaden Bradley was a non-factor. He caught just one pass for six yards. The rest of the passing yards and TDs were evenly distributed amongst the rest of the pass-catchers.

As far as the running backs go, Jai'Den Thomas is still being underutilized. His 13 carries, more specifically, his four carries in the second half, are unacceptable. He finished with 13 carries for 61 yards, and the Rebels won, but this usage is going to come back to haunt them and be inexplicable if they lose a tight one because they simply refused to use their best player.

The defense looked great in the first half, limiting UCLA to just three points and 110 yards, but they struggled in the second half. Luckily, they built a big enough lead that a huge turnover was enough to hold off the Bruins.

This was a huge win for the Rebels, but it's fair to question the second-half collapse, specifically the play calling. These are things they need to clean up. Just handing the ball to Thomas could fix a lot of these issue, nevertheless, a win is a win. The Rebels are now 3 - 0 and continue their quest toward the College Football Playoffs.

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