The hype surrounding UNLV football has reached a fever pitch after their 27-7 trouncing of Houston on Saturday.
The Rebels quickly alleviated any concerns they would come out flat, getting out to an early lead thanks to two touchdown connections between Matthew Sluka and Jacob De Jesus. Those were the only trips to the end zone the offense made all night —and it was all they needed.
It was Barry Odom’s defense that turned the preseason concerns into unbridled optimism. A UNLV defense that gave up an average of over 45 points across their last five games last season was certainly in need of an overhaul.
Jackson Woodard and Cameron Oliver remain constants, but the addition of transfers like Jalen Catalon and Tony Grimes have plugged holes in the secondary that cost the Rebels a worthy finish last season.
It was Catalon who had the big coming out party Saturday as his third quarter pick-six was one of two interceptions by Odom’s former Arkansas recruit. Woodard added 11 tackles and three sacks, besting his season total of 2.5 last year.
By the way, Woodard was with Odom and Catalon in Fayetteville to start his college career. If it felt like there was some extra chemistry in their first game back together, that’s why.
Where will all of this lead to? Is this the best roster UNLV will ever have? Is this the second step in the transformation of UNLV football into a national brand?
After seeing the way Odom and defensive coordinator Mike Scherer altered the defense this offseason, the latter seems like the best bet. Brennan Marion and his Go-Go offense already showed the potential of UNLV's offense.
Sure, Ricky White and Jacob De Jesus will be gone next year. Woodard and Oliver too. But the foundation they’ve built for this program over the last 15 games could legitimately propel it to relevance on a national scale.
It's easy to assume the Rebels will lose both Marion and Scherer to FBS head coaching jobs. But after keeping Barry Odom through one hectic coaching carousel, perhaps there really is truth to the notion that the head man is comfortable with his situation at UNLV.
If that’s the case, what if he were to choose an extended future at UNLV instead of a more lucrative but less stable Power 4 job in the offseason? The possibilities are intriguing.
The two most hopeful paths while remaining somewhat realistic actually have some historic precedent.
Former Mountain West powers Utah and TCU have shown they can make the leap not only to power conference football, but to sustained national relevance.
Both teams have become consistent fixtures in the playoff picture throughout the last decade since they made the move. Both have enjoyed the fruits of brand exposure that have come from that.
In the last five seasons, Utah has won two conference championships and a Rose Bowl. TCU, of course, made a somewhat improbable run to the national title game in 2022. It’s taken both teams more than a decade to reach their current level as consistent P4 conference title contenders, but the blueprint has been unrolled.
UNLV doesn’t have anywhere near the level of success at the G5 level that Utah and TCU had, and it probably wouldn’t have the same amount of success if it were to make the jump to P4 football, either.
What UNLV does have comparative to TCU and Utah 20 years ago is central location in a major metropolitan area. It wasn’t only their on-the-field success that brought them into the fold of the Big 12, it was also their presence in the fifth (Dallas Fort-Worth) and 34th (Salt Lake City) largest TV markets in America.
It helps that TCU is a private university in one of the nation's largest and wealthiest metro areas, which probably puts it in a different category than what UNLV would occupy in this reality, but Utah's example feels conceivable in the right environment.
Las Vegas (40th) isn't far behind Salt Lake City in terms of TV market. And Las Vegas has the benefit of being one of the world's most sought after tourist destinations, making it a bucket list trip for fans of any opposing team on the schedule.
Salt Lake City does get a decent tourism boost in the fall and winter, but nothing that tangibly increases the amount of opposing fans in the seats at Utes football games. UNLV does bring this dynamic into play, even if the football team itself isn't the main attraction every year.
Again, UNLV has had far less success in football than Utah, so the benefit of bringing the destination that is Las Vegas into a power conference is very much a necessary part of the conversation.
Compare that to Boise State, which had similar success to Utah and TCU but is located in the 98th largest TV market. It has been courted for a leap to a power conference, but has opted for more consistent success at the G5 level that has resulted in a decent amount of New Year's Six bowl game success.
That leads into the next possibility for an optimistic view of UNLV’s extended future. If it stays in the Group of Five, it’s somewhat plausible it could become a 2020s version of Boise State.
Remember, Boise State is a G5 school that captured the country’s heart with an upset victory in a New Years bowl before earning its respect as a legitimate national threat.
That path may not be viable, though. The New Year's Six bowls no longer exists — sucked into the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff — so it might be easier to a join a P4 conference. After all, Utah and TCU get the luxury of having a down year every now and then — it’s the ups and downs of big time college football.
Boise State, however, lives under a different kind of pressure. Part of this due to the fact that life in Boise revolves around Broncos football in a way that Vegas doesn't orbit around the Rebels. Part of it is also because BSU experiences success at an unprecedented level for a team outside college football's power structure. In a way, it has become the football equivalent of Gonzaga in men's basketball.
And Boise State has standards to show for it. Last year, it fired coach Andy Avalos after 10 games with a .500 record because he was at risk of posting the program’s first losing season since it was their second FBS season in 1997.
Boise State eventually turned it around under interim coach Spencer Danielson and won the Mountain West title game. Fans were still barely satisfied. It’s probably not realistic to expect that level of sustained culture from UNLV in a city like Vegas, but it has a chance to build their own unique path off the initial trail that Boise State set for Mountain West football.
It's also possible, maybe even probable that the new NIL-driven world of college football won't allow a school like Boise State to naturally rise through the ecosystem of college football and become a disruptor of the established power structure from the outside anymore. In that case, UNLV is in a pretty good place to get on the inside of that power structure.
The ideal future for UNLV, football wise, would be a move to the Big 12 that sees UNLV sometimes compete for the conference title after a few years of building their program at the P4 level. The ACC would also suffice, but the location would certainly be less ideal.
Bringing the Runnin' Rebels basketball brand to a major conference would surely be beneficial in terms of recruiting as well, although their acclimation would presumably take a little longer.
Chances are, UNLV's location and the fact that it plays in one of the world’s premier stadiums will probably land it in a power conference sooner or later. Whether or not it can reach the tier that Utah and TCU have reached in the years following that endeavor would be the other question.
That would require some optimism, but you need optimism to survive in Las Vegas.