Dan Mullen says UNLV will be ready for Idaho State

LAS VEGAS — For UNLV football fans, fingers, legs and toes are crossed.

In the wake of arguably the most successful season in the school’s history — at least as an FBS program — looms a very large question: can Dan Mullen continue what Barry Odom accomplished in his two-year tenure with the Rebels, perhaps exceed it?

We’ll get an idea Saturday at Allegiant Saturday when Idaho State comes to town to kick off the 2025 season. Granted, it won’t be the same barometer to measure against as it will come Sept. 6 when UCLA of the Big Ten (boy, that’s still weird to write!) is the opponent at Allegiant. Or even next week when the Rebels travel to Houston to face Sam Houston. But trust me, Mullen who coached for years in the Southeastern Conference and faced Alabama, Georgia, Auburn and LSU when he was at Mississippi State and Florida, isn’t going to be intimidated or overwhelmed facing the Bruins.

“It’s been a couple of years for me since it’s been game week,” Mullen said Monday at his weekly news conference at UNLV’s Fertitta Football Complex. “I’m fired up. We’re gonna have some fun."

But first things first. He has to have his team ready for the boys from Pocatello. It’s a game that in the not so recent past UNLV would find a way to lose.

I’d like to think that Mullen has used the nine months since Erick Harper hired him to be prepared for the Bengals, who went 5-7 last year and are opening 2025 with three straight road games, including next week at Southern Utah and Sept. 6 at New Mexico.  

He has put together a staff that has had success at the game’s highest levels. Yes, he lost a good chunk of Odom’s team which went 11-3 and came within a win of going to the College Football Playoff. But he retained some of those experienced players from last year and he was busy in the transfer portal replenishing the roster. The three years working at ESPN didn't seem to cramp his style.

One of those experienced Rebels, junior running back Jai’Den “Jett” Daniels, said the transition from Odom to Mullen hasn’t been hard, even if the offensive schemes are vastly different.

“Mainly, it’s just adapting to the way Coach Mullen and the staff do things,” said Daniels, who rushed for 918 yards, seven touchdowns and averaged 8.3 yards per carry. “It hasn’t been hard at all.”

Mullen has had a lot of new faces to figure out playing time for and you can expect him to play a lot of people on Saturday. UBNLV did not issue a two-deep roster for Idaho State so we’ll see who starts at quarterback, whether it’s Michigan transfer Alex Orji or former Virginia QB Anthony Colandrea. Both will likely see the field and whether either claims the starting spot going forward remains to be seen.

But Mullen said he has been pleased with the competition for playing time, going back to spring practice and through fall camp.

“When you have a lot of depth, hopefully the competition creates that depth,” he said.

Mullen said the mindset of not taking days off, of competing daily, helps create the culture that ultimately leads to success.

“It’s certainly about the competition on the field,” he said. “It’s ‘How can you help the team?’ How you buy in?

“It’s a long season. We’re hoping to play a lot of people.”

And while he has a sense of what his team is capable of doing, it’ll be interesting to see how they respond and adjust against an Idaho State team that will be looking to move the ball through the air and is used to playing in high-scoring affairs.

“I have a pretty good feel for what our guys can do,” he said. “I have pretty high expectations. I want our student body to have the experience of big-time college football.”

Allegiant Stadium isn’t “The Swamp” in Gainesville. It usually has more empty seats than filled ones for UNLV football home games. But the school is pushing the UCLA game hard in the community and has opened up the 300 level for ticket-buyers.

Saturday? I haven’t seen any billboards promoting Idaho State around town. Of course, the game was originally scheduled for Sept. 13 but was moved to accommodate the world championship fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford. Perhaps there was nothing available in the promotion budget to get the word out about Idaho State.

Nonetheless, there should be a decent-sized crowd of curious onlookers who want to see if Harper made the right call in replacing Odom with Mullen.

Mullen? Saturday can’t get here fast enough for him.

“We’re ready,” he said. “Game week. Let’s go.”