2024 LA Bowl

2024 Art of Sport LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk
4th LA Bowl
California Golden Bears UNLV Rebels
(6–6) (10–3)
ACC Mountain West
13 24
Head coach: 
Justin Wilcox		 Head coach: 
Del Alexander (interim)
APCoachesCFP
242424
1234 Total
California 10300 13
UNLV 7773 24
DateDecember 18, 2024
Season2024
StadiumSoFi Stadium
LocationInglewood, California
MVPOff.: Jacob De Jesus (WR, UNLV)
Def.: Jackson Woodard (LB, UNLV)[1][2]
FavoriteUNLV by 3.5
RefereeTed Pitts (Sun Belt)[3]
Attendance24,420
United States TV coverage
NetworkESPN
ESPN Radio
AnnouncersBob Wischusen (play-by-play), Louis Riddick (analyst), and Kris Budden (sideline) (ESPN)
Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play) and Max Starks (analyst) (ESPN Radio)
←  2023
2025 →

The 2024 LA Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 18, 2024, at SoFi Stadium located in Inglewood, California. The fourth annual LA Bowl game featured California and UNLV. The game began at approximately 6:00 p.m. PST and aired on ESPN.[4][5] The LA Bowl was one of the 2024–25 bowl games concluding the 2025 FBS football season. Through a marketing agreement with former National Football League player Rob Gronkowski, and sponsorship by Art of Sport, a Starco Brands subsidiary, the game was officially known as the Art of Sport LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk.[6][7]

Teams

The bowl featured the California Golden Bears of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the UNLV Rebels of the Mountain West Conference; California was selected due to being a former Pac-12 Conference school.[8]

This was the second meeting between California and UNLV, the first coming in 2022, a 20–14 victory for the Golden Bears in Berkeley.[9] Neither team had appeared in a previous LA Bowl.

California Golden Bears

Main article: 2024 California Golden Bears football team

California entered the game with an 6–6 record (2–6 in the ACC), tied for 14th place in their conference. The Golden Bears faced and lost to three ranked FBS teams during the regular season: Miami (FL), Pittsburgh, and SMU.

UNLV Rebels

Main article: 2024 UNLV Rebels football team

UNLV entered the game with an 10–3 record (6–1 in the MW), tied for second place in their conference and ranked 24th in both the AP poll and the College Football Playoff (CFP) final rankings. The Rebels became the first ranked team to play in an LA Bowl. Their most recent prior bowl victory was in the 2000 Las Vegas Bowl.

The Rebels faced and lost to one ranked team during the regular season, Boise State by a 29–24 score. UNLV qualified for the Mountain West Conference Championship Game but again lost to Boise State, 21–7. For the LA Bowl, UNLV named Del Alexander interim head coach, following Barry Odom leaving the program to accept the head coaching position at Purdue.[10]

With the Rebels win, UNLV won its first bowl game since 2000.

Game summary

2024 LA Bowl
Quarter 1 2 34Total
California 10 3 0013
No. 24 UNLV 7 7 7324

at SoFi Stadium • Inglewood, California

  • Date: Wednesday, December 18, 2024
  • Game time: 6:11 p.m. PST
  • Game weather: Clear • Temperature: 72 °F (22 °C) • Wind: 4 mph (6.4 km/h) northwest (fixed roof)
  • Game attendance: 24,420
  • TV announcers (ESPN): Bob Wischusen (play-by-play), Louis Riddick (analyst), and Kris Budden (sideline)
  • Box score
Game information
First quarter
  • (7:45) CAL – Derek Morris 43 yard field goal (Drive: 5 plays, 52 yards, 2:13; California 3–0)
  • (5:04) UNLV – Kayden McGee 49 yard pass from Hajj-Malik Williams, Caden Chittenden kick (Drive: 9 plays, 75 yards, 2:41; UNLV 7–3)
  • (0:19) CAL – Josiah Martin 29 yard run, Derek Morris kick (Drive: 9 plays, 89 yards, 4:45; California 10–7)
Second quarter
  • (13:17) UNLV – Jacob De Jesus 9 yard pass from Hajj-Malik Williams, Caden Chittenden kick (Drive: 6 plays, 75 yards, 2:02; UNLV 14–10)
  • (1:50) CAL – Ryan Coe 30 yard field goal (Drive: 13 plays, 32 yards, 5:40; UNLV 14–13)
Third quarter
  • (2:13) UNLV – Kylin James 23 yard run, Caden Chittenden kick (Drive: 1 plays, 23 yards, 0:06; UNLV 21–13)
Fourth quarter
  • (6:01) UNLV – Caden Chittenden 48 yard field goal (Drive: 4 play, -5 yards, 2:08; UNLV 24–13)

Statistics

Statistics CAL UNLV
First downs 21 12
Plays–yards 82–348 60–291
Rushes–yards 43–182 41–143
Passing yards 166 148
Passing: comp–att–int 19–39–0 6–19–0
Time of possession 36:09 23:51
Team Category Player Statistics
California Passing CJ Harris 13/20, 109 yards
Rushing Jaydn Ott 11 carries, 84 yards
Receiving Jack Endries 7 receptions, 61 yards
UNLV Passing Hajj-Malik Williams 5/18, 96 yards, 2 TD
Rushing Jai'Den Thomas 18 carries, 72 yards
Receiving Cameron Oliver 1 reception, 52 yards

References

  1. ^ @LABowlGame (December 18, 2024). "Our 2024 Offensive MVP" (Tweet). Retrieved December 19, 2024 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ @LABowlGame (December 18, 2024). "Our 2024 Defensive MVP" (Tweet). Retrieved December 19, 2024 – via Twitter.
  3. ^ Austro, Ben (December 9, 2024). "2024-25 bowl officiating assignments". footballzebras.com. Retrieved December 18, 2024.
  4. ^ Cobb, David. "2024-25 college football bowl schedule, games, dates, locations, kickoff times, TV channels". CBS Sports. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  5. ^ Kelley, Kevin. "College football bowl schedule for 2024-25 season released". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Art of Sport To Be Title Sponsor of 2024 LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk". Retrieved November 13, 2024.
  7. ^ "2024 LA Bowl - Hosted by Gronk Suites". sofistadiumsuites.com. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  8. ^ "Pac-12 Legacy Schools to Play in Pac-12 Bowl Games". Sun Bowl Association. July 16, 2024. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
  9. ^ "Winsipedia – California Golden Bears vs. UNLV Rebels". Winsipedia.com. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  10. ^ "Del Alexander Named UNLV Football Interim Head Coach". unlvrebels.com (Press release). December 8, 2024. Retrieved December 18, 2024.