The Mountain West Conference has not yet announced its conference schedule, however, the University of Las Vegas Nevada does know who they will be playing out of the conference in their first four games of the season. Let’s take a look at those four matchups. 

They open up the season road in Huntsville, Texas on August 30 to take on the Sam Houston Bearkats. We aren’t completely sure why they spell their team name like that, but from the looks of it, the football coaches are significantly better than their English professors. The “Kats”, as they call themselves, finished third in Conference USA in 2024 with an overall record of 10-3 with a 4-1 record at home in Bowers Stadium. The Rebels should still be the better team, but they will face a legitimate test in Game 1. 

Their second test will come against a D-1 opponent at home in Allegiant Stadium on September 6, which means the crowd will be wild. UNLV will host the UCLA Bruins who finished 14th in the B1G last season. When moving up to face a D-1 team it’s always a challenge, nevertheless, this is a very winnable game for this squad, especially, at home. Despite UCLA not exactly being a high-end D-1 program at this point in time, this would still be a big win that could go a long way for UNLV. 

Game 3 will take place on September 13 in Allegiant Stadium against the Idaho State Bengals. You always want to respect your opponent, but if they lose this game the season may not be trending in the direction that were all expecting it to. Idaho State finished ninth in the Big Sky Conference and should be significantly overmatched by the Rebels. 

On September 20, they hit the road to take on Miami University. Not to be confused with the much better University of Miami. UNLV will travel to Oxford, Ohio to take on the Miami (OH) Redhawks. They are a quality team and finished second in the MAC in 2024. The Redhawks also went 5-1 at home. This will be a strong test for the Rebels and should get them prepared for Mountain West Conference play. 

There is no reason that the Rebels shouldn’t be able to go at least 3-1 with this schedule. If they plan on being serious contenders in the Mountain West they’ll need to be able to knock off teams of this quality. No doubt, there are some tough tests here, but they should be able to answer the bell.  

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