NFL
By: Brock Vierra
It’s football season again and the UNLV Rebels are back. With a level of enthusiasm not felt by Rebel fans in quite a while, year two of the Barry Odom era kicks off with a tough non-conference schedule as the school could be lining up a move to a Power Four conference.
As UNLV looks to return to the Mountain West conference championship game, we’re here to predict the team’s wins and losses in 2024. Without further ado, here are my predictions for the Rebels this season.
Let’s Talk UNLV Football
At Houston: Win. Houston is in the midst of a massive rebuild and do not let the 2021 season distract you from how tumultuous the Dana Holgorsen era was. The team has a new head coach in Willie Fritz, a new scheme, inconsistent QB play in Donovan Smith and they’re trying to plug as many holes as possible with the transfer portal. It took Fritz three years to make Tulane decent and seven for them to be good. That shouldn’t happen in game one.
Utah Tech: Win. At home against an inferior opponent. Not much needs to be said unless UNLV overlooks them.
At Kansas: Loss. As sweet as it would be to get revenge on the Jayhawks for the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, Jalon Daniels is back and Kansas is just too good at home. Despite having a new OC in Jeff Grimes, they didn’t miss a beat against Lindenwood once they got settled in. Expect points in bunches.
Fresno State: Win. An unfortunate drop in Fresno last year snatched defeat from the jaws of victory for the Rebels. However, Jeff Tedford is no longer there and playing in Vegas might be the secret to stopping Malik Sherrod. UNLV opens conference play with a win.
Syracuse: Loss. Don’t sleep on Fran Brown but more importantly, don’t sleep on Elijah Robinson’s defense. Texas A&M looked a whole lot better with Robinson as interim head coach and with Kyle McCord slinging the ball, the Orange might be a bit much for UNLV.
At Utah State: Win. Utah State’s toughness has already been tested beyond measure before their first game and I believe the Aggies will come out stronger but with a first-year head coach who was shot into the role after Blake Anderson’s dismissal, UNLV will be too much for the offensively.
At Oregon State: Loss. Oregon State has to replace a bunch of key contributors but Corvallis in October is nearly impossible to win at.
Boise State: Loss. The Broncos are coached extremely well, they have one of the best running backs in the country and one of the more promising head coaches in all of college football. They pose several challenges for the Rebels.
At Hawaii: Win. Hawaii looked awful against Delaware State and quite frankly, UNLV has too much firepower on the offensive and defensive line. Could turn into a shootout though.
San Diego State: Win. SDSU will be very good under Sean Lewis but not this year. UNLV has superior talent and at the very least, a comparable coaching staff.
At San Jose State: Win. Ken Niumatalolo and Craig Stutzmann’s spread and shred offense will put defensive backs in hell. Good thing UNLV has some of the best DB’s in the Mountain West. An uncomfortable victory but a win none the less.
Nevada: Win. Their defense is solid but their offense is still a massive question mark. As it should, the Cannon stays red as the seniors show out.
UNLV ends the regular season with a 8-4 record.
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