With finale loss, UNLV football waits for MWC title invitation

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023 | 4:13 p.m.

UNLV will play in the Mountain West championship game next weekend.

Maybe.

Possibly.

Probably.

Nothing was certain after the Scarlet and Gray came up short on Saturday, falling at home to San Jose State, 37-31. The result brought both teams’ conference records to 6-2, tied for first place with Boise State as the curtain closed on the 2023 regular season.

A win would have clinched UNLV’s spot in the title game, and also cemented Allegiant Stadium as the venue. Now, due to the mish-mash of legalese that is the MWC tiebreaking procedure, neither the participants nor the location of the big game will be known until Sunday morning.

Due to the three-way tie, a composite of computer rankings will determine the two teams to advance to the final weekend. UNLV entered this game as the highest-ranked Mountain West team, with a comfortable gap between them and Nos. 2 and 3, so the Scarlet and Gray are most likely going to play for the title.

The rest is up in the air.

“I have no clue on the scenarios,” head coach Barry Odom said after the game. “On what needs to happen, didn’t happen, did happen, who we’re playing or where it will be. I know that’s a boring answer.”

The simplified answer — the one Odom desired — would have come with a UNLV victory over San Jose State. That would have been a fitting conclusion to the program's feel-good turnaround campaign, but the Scarlet and Gray botched the opening minutes and fell behind, 17-0, before most of the crowd had a chance to settle in for the afternoon kickoff.

“We couldn’t have started any worse,” Odom said. “We dug ourselves a hole early and then couldn’t ever get the momentum to stay on our sideline.”

As has been the case all season, UNLV showed resiliency and hung around, finally mounting a comeback in the fourth quarter that saw the Scarlet and Gray get the ball back with a minute on the clock, needing a touchdown to win. That drive ended with a fourth-down incompletion near midfield, leaving Odom and the rest of the program wondering about their fate.

If Boise State finishes as the second-ranked team, UNLV will host the championship game. If San Jose State is No. 2, the game will be in San Jose by virtue of the Spartans’ head-to-head win on Saturday.

Odom said he spent the entire week preaching to his players that leaving anything up to the computers would be a bad idea.

“Chance usually doesn’t work out in life,” Odom said. “If anyone was thinking that this one didn’t matter, I don’t think it was in our locker room.”

After receiver Ricky White and linebacker Jackson Woodard fielded several postgame questions about playing for the Mountain West championship, Odom cut off the press conference to remind his guys that they were getting ahead of themselves.

“While talking about next weekend, these guys have no clue that we could possibly be in the championship game,” Odom said. “That would be news to them that we’re in it. I said if we don’t win this game, we’ve got to wait on the call. And to my knowledge, the polls don’t come out until 7 o’clock tomorrow morning our time.”

White enjoyed his fifth straight 100-yard game, finishing with five catches for 111 yards. Freshman running back Jai’Den Thomas ran for 48 yards and three touchdowns.

Defensively, UNLV just couldn’t figure out a way to slow down San Jose State. The Spartans gained 7.3 yards per play and rolled up 482 yards of offense while committing zero turnovers. Running back Kairee Robinson, a leading candidate for MWC Player of the Year, ran for 165 yards and two touchdowns.

Now Odom and his players are likely to have a restless night, waiting for the Mountain West to tally up the final rankings and inform the lucky participants.

White seemed to believe it will be good news.

“Hopefully that call comes through,” White said. “When we get that call, we’re going to execute it.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.