A loss in a football game rarely comes down to one thing or one moment, and that was certainly the case for UNLV in its 27-21 season-opening defeat at the hands of Memphis at Allegiant Stadium.
The biggest sequence may have come around halftime. The Rebels had first-and-goal at the Memphis 4 with a chance to take a 21-7 lead into the locker room, but moved backward 11 yards and ultimately missed a 32-yard field goal. Less than two minutes into the second half, Memphis struck for a 48-yard touchdown pass.
UNLV answered that score, but Memphis offensive coordinator Kevin Decker made numerous adjustments and UNLV defensive coordiantor Paul Guenther didn’t make enough of them. The Rebels were outscored 17-7 in the third quarter and 20-7 in the second half overall.
The injury suffered by Austin Boyd was another major turning point. As Adam Hill noted, the Rebels had 12 plays for minus-14 yards, including four sacks, after Boyd’s exit. Unfortunately, Boyd is out this week.
Hawaii is also looking to bounce back after a Week 0 loss, as the Rainbow Warriors fell 37-27 to Stanford in Palo Alto. The final score was a little misleading, though, as Hawaii scored 20 of its points in the fourth quarter after quarterback Micah Alejado and the offense took a while to get going.
Without wide receiverr Pofele Ashlock, the Rainbows punted on six of their seven first-half possessions. They did eventually find some rhythm and had a chance to tie or win the game late, but a 31-yard scoop-and-score on the final drive ended those hopes.
In other words, both teams had some major mistakes and were impacted by key absences en route to starting the 2026 season 0-1. One will get back to .500 this week and one will not, as UNLV heads to Honolulu as a field-goal favorite. More importantly, one of these teams will begin Mountain West Conference play at 1-0.
Jackson Arnold’s stat line against Memphis looked pretty impressive on the surface, as he threw for 291 yards on 25-of-37 passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions. But he was also sacked six times and officially had 21 carries for 54 yards. His longest run went for 54 yards, meaning his other 20 carries resulted in a net of 0 yards.
Jai’Den Thomas had 12 carries for just 44 yards, while backup QB Alex Orji only got one carry for 2 yards. Thomas did lead the team with six catches for 54 yards, but the reality is that Arnold held on to the ball too long and UNLV didn’t get enough of a push at the line of scrimmage.
Boyd’s absence certainly won’t help, though it should be easier to adjust with a full week of practice than it was trying to scramble for solutions during the Memphis game. The concern is that UNLV wasn’t running the ball particularly well even before Boyd went out, and the pass protection completely fell apart after he was sidelined.
It is easy to harp on the pre-Boyd and post-Boyd play-by-play from the Memphis game, but Hawaii failed to record a sack against Stanford and allowed 173 rushing yards. That makes Boyd’s absence a little tougher to quantify in this particular matchup.
The good news for the Rebs is that Hawaii didn’t exactly dominate the trenches against Stanford. The Rainbow Warriors averaged just 2.1 yards per carry, while Alejado needed 51 pass attempts to throw for 272 yards.
Hawaii finished at only 4.75 yards per play and was outgained by more than two yards per play. Frankly, the Rainbow Warriors were fortunate to still have a chance to tie or win the game on the final drive because they were pretty badly outplayed in the box score.
On the other hand, Hawaii presents a different challenge for the UNLV defense. Alejado threw for more than 3,100 yards last season at Hawaii, while Memphis quarterback Marcus Stokes was playing at West Florida. This is a step up in class at quarterback for a Rebels defense that started well against Memphis, forcing three straight punts, but then allowed points on five of the Tigers’ next seven possessions.
Ultimately, this is a tough handicap because there are legitimate questions on both sides. UNLV has to figure out how to protect Arnold and generate more on the ground without Boyd, while Hawaii has to prove that the fourth-quarter offensive surge against Stanford was more representative than the first three quarters.
Much like Week 0, though, it’s the over that has my attention at 55.5. Points were left on the field by both teams in that Memphis-UNLV game, and the slow offensive start kept the final score down as well.
With Alejado capable of testing the UNLV secondary and Arnold showing some playmaking ability of his own, I’m expecting some offensive fireworks in Honolulu.
