Ohio Football extends bowl game winning streak to seven games with victory over UNLV
By: Andrew Bowlby
Posted on:
Wednesday, December 24, 2025
FRISCO, Texas (WOUB) – Ohio Football (9-4) put the nation’s second-longest bowl winning streak on the line in Frisco on Tuesday night facing off with UNLV (10-4)
The Bobcats put together a stellar defensive performance holding the Rebels high-octane offense at bay in a 17-10 Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl victory.
“I knew we were going to play with emotion,” interim head coach John Hauser said. “But we talked about playing with execution because that’s what wins football games and that’s what we did. The execution, it’s what won us the game.”
UNLV had the game’s first possession and after getting one first down, the drive stalled and the Rebels were forced to punt.
Bobcats redshirt freshman Miles Cremascoli made the first of many big plays blocking the punt and setting Ohio up with great field position.
The Bobcats ran just two plays on their opening drive. The first was a Sieh Bangura rush of 27, the second was a Parker Navarro interception looking for Rodney Harris deep in UNLV territory.
Ohio Football safety DJ Walker (right) celebrating with the ball after his interception in the Frisco Bowl vs UNLV. [Ohio Athletics]It was by no means a bad interception, but rather a great play from Laterrance Welch.
On the second play of the Rebels ensuing drive, quarterback Anthony Colandrea completed a pass to Jaden Bradley while being hit by Anas Luqman.
After a review, Luqman was ejected for targeting, taking one of the Bobcats’ best pass rushers out of the game.
Colandrea fumbled the ball on the next play and Ohio recovered. But after another review Colandrea was called down keeping the ball with UNLV.
The Rebels moved the ball inside the Ohio 10-yard line, however, a second Colandrea fumble that was recovered by Ike Akerman gave the Bobcats the ball.
Ohio ended up fumbling back to UNLV when Nick Marinaro had a bad snap that the Rebels jumped on.
And through the first four drives between two high-scoring teams, they had combined for zero points, three turnovers and a blocked punt.
UNLV got things going on its third drive, and Colandrea even threw a touchdown, however, an ineligible man downfield flag brought the play back and the Rebels were forced to punted.
Ohio’s third drive was where the Bobcats got moving. The longest play on the drive was a Navarro to Chase Hendricks 38-yard pass. That set Ohio up and eventually, Navarro found himself scoring from five yards out to open the scoring.
As it has gone with the special team’s unit, David Dellenbach nailed the extra point off the right upright putting Ohio ahead just 6-0.
That score would carry into halftime but not that easily. Both Ackerman and DJ Walker came up with big defensive plays to take Ohio into the break ahead. Ackerman put up by far his best performance of the season finishing the night with five tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery.
Walker had an interception late in the first half that kept UNLV scoreless.
Ohio’s offense at halftime had been fine. Nothing too flashy but it got the job done. However, the Bobcats were only ahead by six points. So, getting the ball out of half was huge.
And Ohio took complete advantage. Navarro hit Harris on third-and-6 and converted the first down which got the offense rolling.
The Bobcats picked up the tempo from there and Navarro continued to connect on passes. Ohio turned to Bangura as it approached the red zone, and he rushed in from the 23-yard line to put the Bobcats ahead 12-0.
Ohio also converted a two-point conversion making the score 14-0 early in the third quarter.
Ohio Football running back Sieh Bangura carrying the ball against UNLV in the Frisco Bowl. [Ohio Athletics]UNLV went three-and-out on their next drive but were gifted a second opportunity when Ohio muffed a punt. Despite the great field position, the Rebels were only able to pay off the Bobcats mistake with a field goal.
Konner Melzer knocked through a Frisco Bowl record 50-yard field goal to get UNLV on the board.
Ohio’s drive that ended the third quarter and began the fourth lasted 7:47. While the Bobcats didn’t get a touchdown out of the drive, they did add a critical 45-yard field goal from Dellenbach to extend the lead back to 14.
UNLV answered with a long touchdown drive capped off with a Colandrea rushing score, but the drive seemingly took too long. Down by multiple scores, the Rebels cut into the Ohio lead but took nearly six minutes off the clock.
That proved to be costly as Ohio drained the remaining time with their run game and finished the game in victory formation.
“The guys up front, they did there thing all game long,” Bangura said. “We love to have the ball in our hands at the end of the game. Running the ball is what we do at Ohio and it was a great way to end it.”
Ohio has now won seven-straight bowl games and could have the longest streak in the country if Minnesota falls to New Mexico on Dec. 26.
The senior class also has achieved something no other group in Ohio history has. That’s w\inning 40 games in four years.
“Just a special group of guys. We coach them hard, we love them and they trust us and it goes a long way,” Hauser said.
The Bobcats bowl win also marks the end of the 2025 campaign. While they may not have won the MAC or reached the double-digit win plateau, it was certainly another successful season in Athens.