In the night window of Week 2’s college football slate, the UCLA Bruins (0-1) travel to Las Vegas for a matchup against the UNLV Rebels (2-0). This meeting in Sin City takes center stage for these two programs, one of which seeks to bounce back after an ugly start to their season while the other tries to keep rolling following a hot start under a new head coach. Could this game end up on upset watch?
Find out below with a UNLV Rebels vs. UCLA Bruins prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook.
UNLV Rebels vs. UCLA Bruins preview, prediction
UNLV Rebels
This UNLV program went 11-3 last season a bowl win over Cal, and now they seem back with a vengeance in 2025. Despite change previous head coach Barry Odom leaving for Purdue, change at the quarterback position and eight incoming transfers on the offense with seven more transfers starting on defense, the Rebels still look like a team that can make some noise. Former Florida head coach Dan Mullen was a splash hire and seems like he’s well-positioned for a standout year in his return to the sidelines.
UNLV enters this game 2-0 with a 38-31 win over FCS Idaho State in Week 0 before downing Sam Houston 38-21 last week. Through the first couple of games, the Rebels have averaged 468 yards per contest while moving the ball almost at will. Quarterback Anthony Colandrea’s completed 34-of-44 passes (77.3%!) for 444 yards and three touchdowns with one interception, showing some very impressive efficiency orchestrating the offense. He’s also ran for 116 yards and a score on 19 carries and is the second-leading rusher on the team. Halfback Jai’Den Thomas paces the roster with 212 yards and four touchdowns on the ground while averaging an absurd 11.2 YPC, while receiver Jaiden Bradley leads pass catchers with 12 receptions for 256 yards and a score.
The offense here looks formidable, and the defense seems passable after holding Sam Houston to 332 yards and 21 points last week, One area of concern, though, is the discipline — UNLV has given up 16 penalties for 182 yards already, so the flags must be cleaned up if they don’t want to set themselves back in games.
UCLA Bruins
On the other side of the matchup, UCLA went 5-7 overall last year and finished just 3-6 in their first year of Big Ten competition. Head coach DeShaun Foster is in just his second season at the helm and returned just four offensive starters with two on the defensive side of things. While the Bruins worked to address that via the transfer portal with a new quarterback, a handful of linemen and essentially an entire secondary, they’ll still have their work cut out for them once conference play rolls around.
Unfortunately for UCLA, the season started in horrific fashion with a Week 1 loss to the Utah Utes. The final score of that game? A 43-10 drubbing, far from an encouraging result. Granted Utah now sits No. 25 in the latest AP Poll, so it was far from a cakewalk, but there weren’t many positives to gain from the season opener. Tennessee transfer Nico Iamaleava went just 11-for-22 with 136 yards, a touchdown and an interception, and Anthony Woods led the team with three catches for 48 yards and a score. The run game looked abysmal with Iamaleava as the leading rusher thanks to 47 yards on 13 carries, so this offense will need some serious adjustments after gaining just 220 yards.
However, the defense fared even worse. They allowed 492 total yards of offense and gave up 30 first downs, also allowing Utah to convert 14 of their 17 third downs. The revamped secondary allowed 206 yards but the front seven gave up 286 more. That’s something the Rebels will undoubtedly target today.
UNLV Rebels vs. UCLA Bruins pick, best bet
On DraftKings Sportsbook, UCLA enters as 1.5-point favorites as a -125 favorite on the Moneyline. Meanwhile, UNLV holds +105 odds to pull off the upset while the game total sits at 54.5.
The Bruins may be the bigger program with significantly more resources, as well as the bigger name at quarterback. However, the Rebels aren’t a team you can undersell and the spread actually feels a little closer than expected for this contest. This sets things up for a potential big upset out at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
It’s easy to assume UCLA emerges with a much-needed win in this game, especially with a big name like Iamaleava at quarterback and the recognition that comes with landing a former top recruit through the transfer portal. While UNLV gave up 249 yards through the air against Sam Houston and might end up vulnerable to the pass, UCLA’s own defense looks even more leaky after their poor showing last week. The Rebels’ run game performed admirably through their first two contests, and if Thomas really is the real deal at halfback, I think they stand a real chance of gashing the Bruins on the ground.
It’s not necessarily the most likely outcome, but I fully expect UNLV to enter this game with confidence and make a real run at upsetting the Bruins. They’ve started the season strong whereas UCLA got punched in the mouth in Week 1, so I’m officially placing the visitors on upset watch today and taking the Rebels on the Moneyline.
