LAS VEGAS — So far, so good.
UNLV football coach Barry Odom said his team needs to take the next logical step following a highly successful first year at the helm which saw the Rebels go 9-5 and to a bowl game. That step? Win the Mountain West and try and earn a spot in the expanded college football playoff.
Saturday’s 72-14 trouncing of FCS Utah Tech at Allegiant Stadium doesn’t get Odom’s team any closer to either goal. But at 2-0, what it has done is create some enthusiasm about college football here in Las Vegas and it lays the foundation for what could be meaningful football in late December.
The rout attracted a nice crowd of 24,512, including over 7,000 students. It was also a record day as the UNLV offense had 695 total yards and the 72 points were the second-most in school history.
But before we get ahead of ourselves and start saving dates or booking flights and hotels, it’s a long way between now and December. A lot can happen. Challenging games lay ahead, beginning Friday in Kansas City vs. Kansas, the team which beat the Rebels in last year’s Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix.
UNLV also has home games vs. Syracuse and Boise State and road games at Utah State and Oregon State as well as at Hawaii. Time will tell if the stated goals are still in play.
For now, if you’re a UNLV football fan, enjoy what you’re watching. You’ve suffered plenty over the decades with only brief respites of success, such as 2023.
The Rebels have been able to turn things around under Odom by keeping his staff relatively intact and using the transfer portal to identify players from winning programs who understand to assimilate themselves in a culture of success.
“Excited to see the progress from where we were to where we are today,” Odom said at his weekly press conference Monday at the Fertitta Football Complex. “There’s always going to be areas where you want to get better during the course of the season. That never changes.
“You don’t go a day without working on that,” he added in addressing the program’s culture. “It’s a relentless path.”
UNLV brought more than 50 new faces into its program, many through he transfer portal. Odom was looking for talent obviously. Bu he also wanted guys who understood winning an he process by which you achieve success.
To that end, he adopted a slogan — “Hard. Smart. Tough.” It’s the mantra for the program as it attempts to take the next step.
Jackson Woodard, UNLV’s standout senior linebacker, said the returning players had set the example for the newcomers.
“We know the standard starts with daily habits,” Woodard said. “The new guys have bought in and the leaders are showing the way. That makes it easier.”
Usually, when you change cultures, you don’t want to look back. But perhaps a peek or two from the 49-36 loss to Kansas is in order as the Rebels prepare to face the Big 12 school.
All-America receiver Ricky White played vs. the Jayhawks last year and he’s looking forward to the rematch, which will be televised nationally on ESPN.
“The whole country will get to watch us,” said White, who had three touchdown receptions and blocked a punt, all in the first half, against Utah Tech. “That’s going to be exciting being on the national stage.”
UNLV’s visions of grandeur — more road wins, saying undefeated, ring to make it into the top-25 polls — are loftier with the success the program has achieved in Odom’s brief time in charge. A win Friday gets them closer to achieving those goals.
“Keep winning and we’ll end up there,” he said about cracking the Top 25.
Keep winning and the other aspirations may follow suit.