The 2023 turnaround
Barry Odom takes a doormat to nine wins and a share of the Mountain West title
Program prestige
Zeitgeist statureRegional Program IIProgram outlook
Program outlook
UNLV plays its home games in a $2 billion NFL stadium on the Las Vegas Strip, went 10-3 in 2025, and lost the Mountain West championship game to Boise State for the third year in a row. 2026 has been a roller coaster: a season-opening loss to Memphis, a bounce-back road win at Hawai'i, then a 44-6 rout at North Texas as three-point favorites — the widest margin of Dan Mullen's tenure.
Since Sep 14: W 39-31 vs California; W 13-7 vs North Dakota State; L 31-41 at Air Force; W 31-24 vs Northern Illinois. 5-3 this season.
Read the full essay — 3 more paragraphs
The transformation is recent and real. Barry Odom took a program with one of the worst records in the FBS and in 2023 turned it into a nine-win Mountain West co-champion, playing in front of Raiders-caliber infrastructure at Allegiant Stadium. Dan Mullen arrived in 2024 and kept climbing — double-digit wins, back-to-back title-game appearances, and QB Anthony Colandrea named Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year in 2025. Three years ago UNLV was a punchline. It spent 2025 as the standard the rest of the conference was trying to beat.
The problem is that Boise State keeps winning the last game. Three straight Mountain West championship losses to the Broncos is a specific kind of frustration — not the frustration of a program not good enough to get there, but of a program good enough to get there and not good enough to close it. The fan debate in Las Vegas used to have a clean shape: the faction that says three title-game trips in three years proves UNLV has arrived, against the faction that says it isn't real until Boise State is finally beaten.
The 2026 question is whether Mullen has closed the gap enough to take the last step — and it now gets asked with a new quarterback, on a start that has whipsawed both ways. Colandrea took his Offensive Player of the Year season to Nebraska in January; Jackson Arnold, the former No. 8 overall recruit, arrived from Auburn and accounted for all three touchdowns in the opener, a 27-21 loss to Memphis in which UNLV led 21-14 in the second half before the last thirteen points went the wrong way. Arnold and the Rebels answered with a 21-6 road win at Hawai'i the next week — Arnold ran for two scores — before North Texas blew the doors off at Allegiant's expense, 44-6, the widest margin of Mullen's UNLV tenure. The Rebels are 1-2, still looking for the version of this team that closes, and the 'best team in the conference that can't close' framing from earlier this summer is now competing with a more basic question: which result is the real team, the win at Hawai'i or the rout at North Texas. The offense is designed to entertain. Allegiant Stadium is, by any objective measure, the most spectacular venue in Group-of-Five football. What's left, right now, is finding out which Rebels team shows up.
On the field
UNLV runs a high-scoring, pace-up spread offense that fits the city — entertainment-first, built for the big play, with Jackson Arnold operating a system that generates yards in chunks rather than grinding possessions. Dan Mullen's scheme leans on fast reads, manufactured matchups, and an aggressive shot chart; the defense carried it far enough in 2025 to reach a third straight title game. Three games into 2026 the results have swung wildly, win to blowout loss, without a settled floor yet. The Rebels are not built to play slow, and the Allegiant crowd rewards them for it.
UNLV has won 39% of its games since 1970 — 47% at home, 30% on the road.
228-348-3 all-time · 56 seasons · 1970–2026
Home
129-145-1
Away
87-199-2
Neutral
12-4
59%
1970s
51%
1980s
29%
1990s
35%
2000s
28%
2010s
52%
2020s
The CFP era
13 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.
Trajectory · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program quality
AP rank (inverted)
CFP appearance
Swipe left for earlier seasons
UNLV’s 2014–2026 record is 64-89.
Dan Mullen
Dan Mullen is in year 2. The methodology is taking shape.
Era Dan Mullen · 2025–presentPrev: Barry Odom (2023–2024)OC: Corey DennisPrev OC: Brennan Marion (2023–2024)DC: Paul GuentherPrev DC: Michael Scherer (2023–2024)
2
years · era
UNLV and Nevada, meeting by meeting
Nevada leads the series 25-17-0 (since 1978); UNLV has won the last 4
2025: UNLV won 42-17. After this game, Nevada led 25-17-0.
Last 25 meetings: ▲ UNLV won, ▼ Nevada won, by how much
Each step is one meeting: up when UNLV wins, down when Nevada wins, flat for a tie. Counts every game in our records since 1978. Tap the line for any season.
Moments in UNLV history
- UNLV 34, Nevada 29Nov 24, 2018
- UNLV 29, Utah State 26Nov 15, 2025
- UNLV 33, Nevada 30Nov 30, 2019
What this program never forgets
Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.
2025
The title-game losses to Boise State
A third straight Mountain West championship-game defeat to the Broncos, 38-21
Heartbreak
Moment of the year · 2026
Won 21-6 at Hawai’i
Week 1 of 2026. The single game that defined the season's arc.
2025–2025
UNLV has sent 1 player to the NFL Draft since 2025 — none in the first round.
Thin. Roster development still maturing.
1
picks · 0 in round 1
#238
Ricky White III
Wide Receiver · 2025 · 
Seattle Seahawks · #15/466 final season
Seattle Seahawks · #15/466 final season
#158 all-time in draft picksthe talent factory →
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Ladder finish
Season standing · 2026 · 5-3
Season standing · 2026 · 5-3UNLV is 5-3 — competitive, unranked, not yet bowl-eligible.
Competitive in FBS but not bowl-eligible — the close-loss tier.
FBS competitive
Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Conference
Mountain West standing · 2026
4th in the Mountain West
UNLV sits 4th of 10 in the Mountain West at 3-1. Mid-conference — moves up or down depend on rivalry results and the late-season closing run.
| # | Program | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Mexico | 4-0 |
| 2 | Wyoming | 4-1 |
| 3 | North Dakota State | 4-2 |
| 4 | UNLV | 3-1 |
| 5 | Air Force | 3-2 |
| 6 | Nevada | 2-2 |
| 7 | San José State | 2-3 |
| 8 | Hawai'i | 1-4 |
| 9 | Northern Illinois | 0-4 |
| 10 | UTEP | 0-4 |
Coaching history
Coaching history
- Hired Dan Mullen
- Barry Odom departs
- Hired Barry Odom
- Marcus Arroyo departs
- Hired Marcus Arroyo
- Tony Sanchez departs
- Hired Tony Sanchez
- Bobby Hauck departs
Coordinator lineage
UNLV’s offense and defense, by coordinator
FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.
Offense2014–2026
2014 · Timm Rosenbach2015–2018 · Barney Cotton2019 · Garin Justice2020–2021 · Glenn Thomas2022 · Nick Holz2023–2024 · Brennan Marion2025–2026 · Corey Dennis
Defense2014–2026
2014 · Tim Hauck2015–2017 · Kent Baer2018–2019 · Tim Skipper2020–2021 · Peter Hansen2022 · Keith Heyward2023–2024 · Michael Scherer2025–2026 · Paul Guenther
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customs
Rituals
Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.
Allegiant Stadium (Raiders Share)
since 2020
more
UNLV plays home games at Allegiant Stadium — the Las Vegas Raiders' NFL stadium. The 65,000 capacity + dome roof + Las Vegas Strip proximity + Raiders co-tenancy create a venue distinct from any other G5 program. The shared identity + the Vegas-NFL atmosphere give UNLV a venue advantage unmatched in the Mountain West.
Barry Odom 2023 / Dan Mullen 2024 Transition
since 2023
more
Barry Odom's 2023 9-5 + LA Bowl appearance reset the program. His 2023 hire (post-Arkansas DC) was unconventional + immediately productive. The 2024 11-3 + Mountain West championship game appearance under Dan Mullen continued the trajectory. The Las Vegas market + NIL infrastructure + UNLV institutional positioning drive the modern era.
Vegas Strip Identity
since 1968
more
UNLV's Las Vegas Strip proximity + the Sahara Avenue campus + the casino-corridor cultural overlap + the Mountain West regional positioning create a unique CFB venue identity. The Vegas-as-CFB-destination angle drives recruiting + visiting-team-experience + NIL infrastructure.
Cultural identity
2025 L
2024 W
2023 L
2013 L
2000 WReddit blowups
r/CFB moments
393
[Postgame Thread] UNLV Defeats Idaho State 38-31
300
[Postgame Thread] Eastern Washington Defeats UNLV 35-33 (2OT)
All-time top community posts
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