UNLV Rebels players hold up the 9th Island Showdown trophy after defeating the Hawaii Warriors, 44-20, during an NCAA college football game at Allegiant Stadium Saturday, Sep. 30, 2023.
Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023 | 5:44 p.m.
As UNLV pulled away for a 44-20 victory over Hawaii on Saturday, the most encouraging aspect from the Scarlet and Gray perspective may have been how routine it felt.
For the second straight week, UNLV rolled up more than 300 yards rushing, and after recording four sacks in the win over UTEP, they notched another six against Hawaii. Redshirt freshman Jayden Maiava was good enough in his second start at quarterback, throwing a pair of touchdown passes while protecting the ball (zero turnovers).
If it sounds like UNLV was checking boxes, that’s a good thing.
Barry Odom’s squad has now won three straight games, and in the process of running their season record to 4-1, it appears they’ve figured out a blueprint.
Run the ball. Create havoc on defense. Limit turnovers. It’s a simple plan, but when it’s working and the wins keep coming on a weekly basis, it can feel like magic.
UNLV didn’t execute to perfection on Saturday, but they still did enough to easily outpace a visiting Hawaii team that was not as organized as Odom’s crew. The Warriors were 1-of-11 on third down and committed two turnovers, while UNLV ran up a time-of-possession advantage of 34:15 to 25:45.
In short, under Odom’s stewardship, this UNLV team knows what it’s doing.
“We’ve got a hungry football team that wants the plan every week,” Odom said in praising his team's collective football IQ. “And then the way that our practice habits are going, it gives us a chance to execute on game day.”
UNLV took a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter when Maiava found running back Vincent Davis alone in the flat for a 16-yard touchdown reception.
It was 13-3 late in the second quarter when the defense produced a game-changing play; linebacker Zavier Carter sacked Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schager and forced a fumble. UNLV recovered deep in Hawaii territory, and four plays later Courtney Reese squeezed in a 4-yard touchdown run with 45 seconds on the clock.
Hawaii tried to open up the passing game in the second half but never got closer than 10 points again. UNLV led, 30-20, midway through the fourth quarter when Maiava connected on his second scoring pass, this time hitting Jacob De Jesus for a 3-yard touchdown to ice it.
UNLV finished with exactly 307 yards rushing for the second week in a row, with seven ballcarriers (including Maiava) combining to average 6.5 yards per carry. Donavyn Lester put forth his best performance of the season, running for 98 yards and a touchdown.
Lester, a senior transfer from William & Mary, was listed on the depth chart as UNLV’s No. 1 running back coming out of training camp, but only saw 23 carries through the season’s first four games. He waited his turn, however, and bruised his way through the Hawaii defense on a team-high 12 carries.
Four UNLV running backs have now topped 100 rushing yards on the season, with a fifth (Jordan Younge-Humphrey) sitting at 96 yards.
Lester endorsed the running-back-by-committee approach.
“We’ve got a bunch of selfless guys who don’t care who gets the ball,” Lester said. “We just want to build off each other.”
This is the second straight year UNLV has started 4-1, but the 2023 version seems more sustainable considering the consistent way in which the team is stacking up its victories. If the Scarlet and Gray secure two more wins — which seems exceedingly likely — the program will qualify for its first bowl game since 2013.
UNLV now heads into its bye week, which Odom said will be spent fixing some of the issues that have popped up consistently even during the current winning streak, namely committing too many penalties and allowing too many deep completions.
Odom said his players understand that if they want to keep winning games, they have to get it right in practice to the point that it becomes routine.
“The way that these guys are preparing, that gives us an opportunity to play winning ball,” Odom said. “We’ve got to keep an edge about ourselves.”
After the bye, UNLV will travel to face UNR on Oct. 14. Expect the plan to look the same.
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
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