FOLLOW OHIO FOOTBALL: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
ATHENS, Ohio — The Ohio football program is set to close 2025 regular season at the Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl, taking on the UNLV Rebels on Tuesday, Dec. 23. Kickoff is set for 9 p.m. ET at the Ford Center at the Star and can be seen on ESPN with Wes Durham, Steve Addazio and Dana Boyle on the call.
The Bobcats' matchup can also be heard on the Ohio Sports Network from Learfield, presented by Holzer Health System. Veteran Ohio radio personality Marty Bannister is reprising his role as Ohio's play-by-play broadcaster. Bannister will be joined by color analyst Rob Cornelius, who has been a part of the broadcasts for more than two decades.
Bowl Season radio will be on site as well. Brian Estridge, Elvis Gallegos and Chris Mycoskie are set to cover the 2025 Frisco Bowl and can be heard on Sirius XM and the Varsity Network.
SERIES HISTORY VS. UNLV
This is the second all-time meeting between the Bobcats and UNLV.
The two teams last met on Sept. 24, 1988 on the road, where the Bobcats fell, 26-18.
The game in 1988 was the first time in NCAA Division I-A (now FBS) history that two African American head coaches faced each other (Cleve Bryant and Wayne Nunnely).
SCOUTING UNLV
The Rebels are currently 10-3 overall, posting a 6-2 record against conference opponents.
As a team, the Rebels average 35.92 points on 203.1 rushing yards and 256 passing yards per game. They are coming off a 38-21 loss to Boise State in the Mountain West Championship (Dec. 5), snapping their four-game win streak. This marks UNLV's first time in program history its appeared in bowl games in three consecutive seasons.
The Rebels are led by junior quarterback Anthony Colandrea, who was named Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year. Colandrea was also named First Team All-Mountain West and is the first Rebel quarterback to earn such honors since College Football Hall of Famer Randall Cunningham in both 1983 and '84 in the Big West Conference.
Colandrea is currently 256-for-387 with eight interceptions, logging 23 touchdowns on 3,275 passing yards. His longest pass currently sits at 86 yards. A dual threat, Colandrea is second on the team in rushing yards (621) and owns nine rushing touchdowns on 118 touches. Notably, he remains the only player in college football this season to throw for at least one touchdown and finish with at least 15 net rushing yards in every game this season.
Junior running back Jai'Den Thomas leads the Rebels on the ground, responsible for 985 rushing yards, 137 carries and 12 rushing touchdowns. Senior running back Keyvone Lee net 433 yards and found the end zone six times, while junior running back Jaylon Glover logged 379 rushing yards on 62 carries, scoring once.
Senior wide receiver Jaden Bradley owns a team-best 869 receiving yards and 54 catches, scoring four times. Redshirt senior wide receiver Troy Omeire and senior wide receiver DaeDae Reynolds have both found the end zone five times each, responsible for 505 and 470 receiving yards, respectively. Both redshirt sophomore Taeshaun Lyons and redshirt senior tight end Var'Keyes Gumms have scored three touchdowns each. In total, 13 Rebels have logged two or more receptions.
On the defensive side of the ball, senior inside linebacker Marsel McDuffie leads the way with 103 tackles—including a team-best 50 solo stops— two sacks, two fumble recoveries and two interceptions. Junior safety Jake Pope trails with 79 tackles, 37 of which are solo.
Senior safety Jaheem Joseph leads the Rebels with eight tackles for loss, with Tunmise Adeleye just trailing with 7.5. Adeleye claims a team-best in sacks (6) and is one of three Rebels with three pass breakups on the season.
Senior defensive backs Aamaris Brown and Laterrance Welch lead UNLV with four receptions each, accounting for over 60 percent of the Rebels' picks. Brown also leads the team in pass breakups (7).
Sophomore placekicker Ramon Villela is UNLV's leading scorer, amassing 99 points so far this season. He is 57-for-57 in PATs and has made 14-of-19 field goal attempts, with his longest hitting 50 yards. Senior kicker Caden Costa is responsible for 85 kickoffs, accumulating 5,410 yards and averaging 65.7 yards per kick. True freshman punter Cam Brown has 43 punts on the season, with his longest hitting 71 yards.
To read this week's complete notes, click here.
#OUohyeah
