LOS ANGELES — Both the Cal and UNLV football teams had reason to believe their 2024 seasons had the potential for a high ceiling after impressive starts, but each program spent the fall navigating campaigns that were riddled with ups and downs.
The Golden Bears and the 24th-ranked Rebels will meet in the The Art of Sports LA Bowl hosted by Gronk on Wednesday night at Sofi Stadium in a matchup that includes a few more late-season audibles for each side, one team having lost its starting quarterback and the other seeing its head coach depart.
Cal (6-6) went just 2-6 in its inaugural season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, while the Rebels (10-3 overall, 6-1 in the Mountain West) steadied the rockiness to reach their second consecutive MWC championship game, where they lost to Boise State, 21-7.
“This is a prototypical Bowl game where there’s a lot of exposure,” former NFL star Rob Gronkowski, the host of the LA Bowl, said at the press conference on Tuesday. “A lot of good players will be playing in this game from California and UNLV.”
Given the recent departures, this matchup looks different than it would have had these teams met earlier this season.
UNLV began the year with wins over Houston, Utah Tech and Kansas before its starting quarterback Matthew Sluka announced his decision to redshirt because he said name, image and likeness (NIL) “commitments” went unfulfilled. Sluka, who transferred to UNLV after four years at Holy Cross, officially entered the transfer portal on Dec. 9, with one year of eligibility remaining.
Hajj-Malik Williams took over at quarterback in late September, throwing for 182 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 119 and another score while leading the Rebels to a 59-14 victory over Fresno State in his debut.
“Hajj is a winner,” Rebels interim head coach Del Alexander said on Tuesday. “When his opportunity showed up, he was right on the spot.”
The Rebels lost an overtime thriller to Syracuse in Williams’ second start, but dropped just two more games the rest of the way, both to Boise State (12-1).
Two days after the Broncos beat the Rebels in the conference title game, head coach Barry Odom announced his decision to leave UNLV for the vacancy at Purdue. Odom oversaw the Rebels for two years, authoring a quick turnaround as he led them to a pair of winning seasons, something they hadn’t achieved since 2013. The Rebels have since hired Dan Mullen, who last coached for the University of Florida in 2021, to be their next head coach.
Alexander, an L.A. native who played wide receiver at USC before becoming a well-traveled college assistant, will serve as the interim head coach for the LA Bowl.
He and the rest of the staff will have to collaborate on the game plan – the offensive script, specifically – as offensive coordinator Brennan Marion “decided to move towards other opportunities,” Alexander said.
Cal also made a change at offensive coordinator at the end of the regular season. The Golden Bears hired former Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin to take over for Mike Bloesch. Neither will be involved with the play-calling on Wednesday.
The Golden Bears’ season began with a pair of wins and they had an opportunity to grab the national spotlight, but they came up one play short in potential upsets of Florida State and Miami. They lost to Pittsburgh and North Carolina State by a combined three points, suddenly sitting at 2-4 after a strong start, but they scraped together four wins in their final six games to become bowl-eligibile.
Quarterback Fernando Mendoza started 11 games and threw for 3,004 yards and 16 touchdowns before sitting out the Golden Bears’ regular-season finale against SMU. The sophomore showed marked improvement from his freshman campaign, but he decided to continue his growth elsewhere. He entered the transfer portal on Dec. 11 and won’t play in the bowl game.
Backup Chandler Rogers started Cal’s game against SMU, but it will be sophomore CJ Harris leading the team on Wednesday with Rogers injured.
“He’s done a great job this season,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said of Harris. “Probably didn’t get to play as much as he would have wanted … took advantage of the reps he had.”
Neither team will have its Week 1 starting quarterback or offensive coordinator, but they have yet to be impacted by a significant number of transfer portal departures.
“We’ve talked about respecting each other, respecting everyone’s option to choose,” Alexander said. “That word, respect, in our locker room, has to do with, let’s stick around and let’s finish what we started.”
That means key players such as linebacker Jackson Woodard and receiver Ricky White will play in their final game for the Rebels. White finished the season with 79 catches, 1,041 yards and 11 touchdowns (and blocked four punts on special teams). Woodard was tied for sixth in the nation in total tackles (124) and tied for second among linebackers in interceptions (four). The MWC Defensive Player of the Year has a team-leading 17 tackles for losses and 3½ sacks.
He and the rest of the Rebels’ front seven will be tested by Cal running backs Jayden Ott and Javian Thomas. White’s matchup with second-team All-American cornerback Nohl Williams (an FBS-best seven interceptions) should be be an intriguing matchup.
LA Bowl: No. 24 UNLV (10-3) vs. CAL (6-6)
When: Wednesday, 6 p.m.
Where: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood
TV/radio: ESPN