In the midst of its first bye week of the 2026 season, the UNLV football program sits with a 1-2 record through three games, including a blowout 44-6 loss at North Texas in the Rebels’ last game.
While UNLV is currently undefeated in Mountain West play, there are areas Dan Mullen’s squad will need to repair before taking on the Akron Zips on Saturday.
Here are three things that we’ve learned about UNLV through the first three game of the college football season:
QB situation is still murky
Jackson Arnold has been the primary quarterback for UNLV, and while he completed 67 percent of his passes and threw for 291 yards and two touchdowns against Memphis in the season opener, his play in the other two games has been anything but consistent.
The Rebels defeated Hawaii, but it was primarily done through the run game as Arnold completed just 8 of 18 pass attempts for 116 yards, and in Denton, Texas, against the Mean Green, he threw for under 200 yards and failed to record a touchdown.
While Arnold has not thrown an interception this season, he has not registered a passing touchdown in over nine quarters of play. But the solution may not be at the backup position, either.
Alex Orji, who battled with Arnold for the starting quarterback job, had an opportunity on the Rebels’ final drive against North Texas to lead the UNLV offense. He completed just 1 of 5 pass attempts and capped off the drive with an interception.
O-line needs to clean things up
While losing starting center Austin Boyd before most programs had opened up their season during Week 0 wasn’t anticipated, the offensive line has struggled to generate much in the trenches.
Arnold has been sacked 11 times through three games, including six times against the Tigers, which was bolstered following Boyd’s exit in the second half.
However, it hasn’t just been the passing game that has felt the impact. Running the football has seemed difficult for the Rebels at times, as Jai’Den Thomas and Jaylon Glover have struggled to find running lanes outside of Thomas’s 50-yard rushing touchdown against Hawaii.
So far this season, Arnold is averaging nearly 3 more yards per carry than the lead backs due to both designed runs and pressure from the opposing defensive line forcing him outside of the pocket.
With no clear sign of when Boyd will return, the Rebels will need to find a way to generate more consistency up front with the pieces currently available.
Defense remains work in progress
The Rebels defense has shown flashes of being a strong unit, but it has struggled to maintain that level of play.
UNLV opened the season allowing seven points through the first half against Memphis before allowing 20 in the second half en route to a season-opening 27-21 loss.
Following that performance, the Rebels traveled to Hawaii and allowed six total points and no touchdowns against the Rainbow Warriors.
But the tide began to shift again against North Texas as Paul Guenther’s defense surrendered a season-high 44 points to the Mean Green on 444 total yards.
In 2025, the defense was one of the biggest points of concern for the program, allowing an average of 419 yards and 28 points per game, which ranked 89th out of 136 programs nationally.
This season, the Rebels have allowed an average of 385 yards and 25.7 points per game. While both numbers are improvements from last season, UNLV opened last year 6-0 compared to this season’s slow start.
With the bulk of Mountain West play still ahead, UNLV will need to find more consistency on the defensive side of the ball if the Rebels want to make a run at the program’s first Mountain West championship.
Contact Donovan Hicks at dhicks@reviewjournal.com. Follow @HicksSports on X.
