Miracle win could be start of something big for UNLV football

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023 | 9:12 p.m.

UNLV football does not win this game. It just doesn’t.

Not after overcoming an early 17-0 deficit by scoring 30 straight points, then slowly allowing Vanderbilt to claw back into a 37-37 tie. Not after a last-minute interception thrown by a freshman backup quarterback to set up a go-ahead field goal for the visitors.

Throughout the hapless history of the program, this is a game the Scarlet and Gray lose every time. The one that comes back to haunt them at the end of the season. The one they let get away.

The ultimate heartbreaker.

And yet, on Saturday, under first-year head coach Barry Odom, they found a way to pull it out. It took a miracle finish, but they fought for a 40-37 win over Vanderbilt at Allegiant Stadium, and it may just signal a sea change for UNLV football.

The Scarlet and Gray are now 2-1, with a trip to UTEP set for next week.

Things could not have looked more dire in the first quarter, as starting quarterback Doug Brumfield threw a pick-6, then got knocked out of the game on the ensuing drive after taking a big hit. Vanderbilt had already built a 17-0 lead by that point, and redshirt freshman Jayden Maiava was inserted in place of Brumfield.

A most amazing sequence followed, as UNLV’s defense and special teams combined to erase the deficit, and the home team went into halftime with an improbable 20-17 advantage.

The lead ballooned to 30-17 when Maiava ran for a 25-yard touchdown late in the third quarter, but Vanderbilt rallied, scoring on three straight drives to knot the score at 30-30. Maiava then put his mark on the game with a 48-yard touchdown pass to Jacob De Jesus with 2:23 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Vanderbilt answered right back with a 35-yard touchdown pass from A.J. Swann to Quincy Skinner. In a contest that had devolved into wild momentum swings, UNLV took the field with a minute remaining and decided to let Maiava go for the win; his first pass was promptly picked off deep in UNLV territory.

Game over, right?

Vanderbilt ran three handoffs; UNLV used its timeouts (Odom had smartly conserved all three of them). Jacob Borcila’s kick missed with 44 seconds left, and UNLV found itself with possession at the 20, needing only a field goal to win.

Odom and his assistants engaged in a lengthy conversation about whether they wanted to let Maiava go for it again. They decided to play it safe initially, but after Jordan Younge-Humphry converted a 3^rd-and-6 with a run up the middle, it was time to tempt fate.

“There was a lot of discussion,” Odom said. “Once we got the first down, we got into the position to say ‘Go for it.’ And thankfully guys stepped up.”

Junior receiver Ricky White lined up on the outside and ran a vertical route down the left sideline; he got a step on his defender, and Maiava lofted a perfect pass into his hands. White caught it in stride and stepped out of bounds to stop the clock after a 48-yard gain.

Kicker Jose Pizano took the field and knocked through a 36-yard field goal with five seconds left.

UNLV had completely flipped the script.

Maiava finished with 261 passing yards, one touchdown and one nearly fatal interception.

The Liberty product credited his teammates for helping him forget his mistake before his heroic pass to White.

“When I threw that pick I was like, ‘What am I doing?’” Maiava said. “My whole demeanor changed, but the team brought me back up. I felt confident going out there for the next drive.”

White, who had been a non-factor in the first two games of the season, enjoyed a breakout night with 12 catches for 161 yards.

In a reversal of decades of UNLV history, the Scarlet and Gray won the turnover battle, 4-2, and also vastly outplayed their opponents on special teams. Vanderbilt botched a punt, which aided UNLV’s first-half comeback, and the snap on the Commodores’ final field-goal attempt was off-line, leading to the bad kick.

The UNLV defense also made game-changing plays, highlighted by a 53-yard fumble return touchdown by senior cornerback Jerrae Williams.

Williams, who had another huge game with eight tackles and a sack to go along with his TD, was on the field for Vanderbilt’s missed kick in the final minute.

“Surreal,” Williams said, summing up not only the field-goal try but the entire game. “I was going, trying to block it. I didn’t even look back—I just heard the crowd. Our fans were so into it tonight. That’s the best feeling. I didn’t even have to turn around to see the play. The fans were going to let me know.”

A rollicking homefield atmosphere at a UNLV game? Since when?

Just another way in which Odom is hoping Saturday’s unforgettable victory can be the start of something big for the program.

“The energy in the building, I’m so thankful for that,” Odom said. “We can turn this into a huge homefield advantage for us, for our team, for our city. That’s our mission. That’s what we’re going to get done.”

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