Nevada Trampled by UNLV 42-17 as Cannon Stays Red

It’s always a good day when Nevada and UNLV face off for the battle for the Fremont Cannon. It would’ve been even sweeter if Nevada was able to paint the cannon blue for the first time since 2021, but the Rebels continued their streak over the Wolf Pack, winning 42-17.

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter:

11:20: Jai’Den Thomas 17-yard rushing TD (Ramon Villela PAT)

UNLV 7 – Nevada 0

1:48: Joe McFadden 40-yard FG

UNLV 7 – Nevada 3

2nd Quarter:

13:55: Anthony Colandrea 17-yard TD pass to Troy Omeire (Ramon Villela PAT)

UNLV 14 – Nevada 3

10:55: Anthony Colandrea 17-yard TD run (Ramon Villela PAT)

UNLV 21 – Nevada 3

4:09: Jai’Den Thomas 18-yard TD run (Ramon Villela PAT)

UNLV 28 – Nevada 3

3rd Quarter:

14:17: Caleb Ramseur 17-yard TD run (Joe McFadden PAT)

UNLV 28 – Nevada 10

12:13: Jai’Den Thomas 4-yard TD run (Ramon Villela PAT)

UNLV 35 – Nevada 10

4th Quarter:

11:35: Jai’Den Thomas 1-yard TD run (Ramon Villela PAT)

UNLV 41 – Nevada 10

4:38: Caleb Ramseur 3-yard TD run (Joe McFadden PAT)

UNLV 41 – Nevada 17

Final: UNLV 41, Nevada 17

Offense

Nevada had some help from a few penalties on its opening drive, pushing near midfield. QB Carter Jones faced a third and short, but it fell incomplete, and the Pack had to punt it away.

UNLV continued to give up free yardage on offside penalties, but a sack to make it third and long forced Nevada to settle for a field goal and cut it down to a four-point game late in the first quarter.

A few big runs by Caleb Ramseur put Nevada into UNLV territory, and yet another offsides penalty made it a short 3rd & 1. Ramseur wiped out his own success, however, fumbling on the third down run and giving the Rebels the ball back.

Nevada’s offense stalled the rest of the first half. Ramseur continued to have some nice rushes, but the offense was quiet outside of that. Kicker Joe McFadden had a chance to give Nevada six points under a minute of the first half, but it doinked off the left side of the goal post and kept Nevada to three points.

The Wolf Pack picked up 138 yards in the first half and 10 first downs. Jones went 10-16 with 66 yards and finished the game 17-25 with 105 yards. He also fumbled twice after being sacked.

The first two plays of the second half were all Nevada needed to get its first touchdown of the game. Chubba Purdy ran for a 58-yard gain, followed by Ramseur taking it into the endzone for a 17-yard TD run to make it 28-10. Ramseur, who celebrated his senior season tonight, finished with 95 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 15 attempts.

“I thought we were a little bit streaky [on offense],” Choate said. “I thought when we stayed on schedule, as I mentioned a moment ago, and were able to run the ball, that opened up the throw game. Really, what we needed to do, probably, was throw more on first down, because they were a little bit more predictable in terms of their coverages.”

One of the few things that went right for Nevada’s offense was its ability to get UNLV to take on penalties, especially the offside call. The Rebels jumped seven times and drew 12 penalties totaling 72 yards. I don’t think I’ve seen that many offside calls in one game by one team.

“I don’t know that I have either, but it wasn’t anything complicated,” head coach Jeff Choate said about the penalties. Our cadences clapped and they jumped when we went on two, but as I said, there were times last year where we would do that and we would have a procedure penalty. So I think those guys did a good job operating that aspect of the game plan.“

Defense

UNLV’s offense was an unstoppable force on its first drive of the game. Seven plays for 75 yards with a defensive holding call gave the Rebels a path for a 17-yard rushing TD from Jai’Den Thomas.

After a beautiful punt by Nevada, UNLV started its second drive on its own 2-yard line. A three-and-out followed by an unsportsmanlike penalty on the Rebels forced a punt, giving Nevada the ball near midfield.

Another 75-yard drive by the Rebels gave QB Anthony Colandrea his first touchdown of the game to make it 14-3 early in the second quarter.

The first three touchdowns for UNLV were all from 17 yards out, with the third coming from a QB keeper run by Colandrea, making it 21-3 UNLV before the first half. Colandrea finished the night with 270 passing yards, 27 rushing yards and two total touchdowns.

Nevada’s defense finally got a break with under 20 seconds of the first half. Colandrea threw it up, and Murvin Kenion III picked it, his fourth of the season. Kenion III picked up his second INT of the game and fifth on the season, grabbing it in the end zone in the third quarter.

Thomas did early damage on Nevada’s defense with two first-half touchdowns and dominated the rest of the way, ending the night with 103 rushing yards on 11 carries and four touchdowns. He scored UNLV’s first touchdown of the second half after yet another 75-yard drive.

What’s Next

Nevada ends the 2025 season with a 3-9 record and 2-6 in conference play, finishing 9th best out of 12 MW teams. It’ll be a new conference next year, one that Nevada may be able to compete more highly in. It’ll be an interesting offseason, one that Choate said he has a lot of decisions to make.

“I’ve got a short window to think about these things, and I’ve obviously given a lot of things thought, and so I want to be very calculated about the decisions that we make. These are all important decisions, and it’s an important time. We’ve got to do really good job of putting the pieces together in this program that can allow us to take a step forward on offense, defense and in the kicking game, and whether that’s the aspect of garnering doing a great job of evaluating and bringing in players that can help us elevate our performance, or, you know, making scheme changes or personnel changes within the staff, those things are obviously something that I think about a lot, so, you know, stay tuned.”