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]
| 2024 Art of Sport LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 4th LA Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 18, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | SoFi Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Inglewood, California | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Off.: Jacob De Jesus (WR, UNLV) Def.: Jackson Woodard (LB, UNLV)[1][2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | UNLV by 3.5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Ted Pitts (Sun Belt)[3] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 24,420 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN ESPN Radio | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Bob Wischusen (play-by-play), Louis Riddick (analyst), and Kris Budden (sideline) (ESPN) Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play) and Max Starks (analyst) (ESPN Radio) | ||||||||||||||||||
Teams
editThe 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
editCalifornia 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
editUNLV 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 it's first bowl game since 2000.
Game summary
edit| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| No. 24 UNLV | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 24 |
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 |
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Statistics
edit| 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
edit- ^ @LABowlGame (December 18, 2024). "Our 2024 Offensive MVP" (Tweet). Retrieved December 19, 2024 – via Twitter.
- ^ @LABowlGame (December 18, 2024). "Our 2024 Defensive MVP" (Tweet). Retrieved December 19, 2024 – via Twitter.
- ^ Austro, Ben (December 9, 2024). "2024-25 bowl officiating assignments". footballzebras.com. Retrieved December 18, 2024.
- ^ Cobb, David. "2024-25 college football bowl schedule, games, dates, locations, kickoff times, TV channels". CBS Sports. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
- ^ Kelley, Kevin. "College football bowl schedule for 2024-25 season released". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
- ^ "Art of Sport To Be Title Sponsor of 2024 LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk". Retrieved November 13, 2024.
- ^ "2024 LA Bowl - Hosted by Gronk Suites". sofistadiumsuites.com. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
- ^ "Pac-12 Legacy Schools to Play in Pac-12 Bowl Games". Sun Bowl Association. July 16, 2024. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
- ^ "Winsipedia – California Golden Bears vs. UNLV Rebels". Winsipedia.com. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
- ^ "Del Alexander Named UNLV Football Interim Head Coach". unlvrebels.com (Press release). December 8, 2024. Retrieved December 18, 2024.
External links
edit- Game statistics at statbroadcast.com