UNLV not only lost the Frisco Bowl to Ohio on Tuesday night in Texas, the Rebels handed the college football world a holiday season blooper that anybody who was watching will likely never forget.
With UNLV down 17-3 late in the 4th quarter and needing a quick score desperately to have any chance at outlasting Ohio, fate got in the way. Or, in this case, it was Rebels tight end Matt Byrnes, who was innocently coming in motion on a 3rd-and-goal play from the Bobcats’ 1-yard line.
Byrnes was trying to make a key block that would help get running back Keyvone Lee into the end zone. Instead, Byrnes made a different kind of block. He blocked Lee from his path to the end zone, running smack into his teammate and turning a potential touchdown into a 1-yard loss.
It was wonderful bowl season theatre for anyone who was up late watching the game matching Mountain West and MAC teams, but it wasn’t so great for the Rebels and especially not for Byrnes and the shaken up Lee.
Now, it should be noted that on the very next play, UNLV scored its touchdown anyway, with Anthony Colandrea punching it in on a 2-yard run to pull the Rebels within 17-10. So, the mishap that went viral was made up for, and UNLV finally got its TD with 4:45 remaining in the game.
But the Frisco Bowl didn’t end well for the Rebels, who fell short by that same score to finish Dan Mullen’s first season in Las Vegas at 10-4.
So, UNLV didn’t give its fans a victory to end the 2025 season, but unfortunately it did give viewers around the country and those in the crowd in Frisco, Texas, a moment that will live in bowl infamy.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
