Also from a pure excitement standpoint and attracting talent, I'd rather our team be out there challenging itself on National TV then playing Sunbelt teams for Ws... what good does it do to fool ourselves with an early 4-0 record vs bad teams to then get up against a good team in conference and get boat raced like our basketball team did last year... the new format will definitely make it more favorable to a team that plays a tough non-conference and then wins their conference Championship at say 9-3 or 10-3 over teams that played no one and went 12-0...
2024 Schedule
- Thread starter Rebelsss
- Start date
If we are using this year's schedule as a measuring stick or example..
10-2 might get in over a 12-0 Liberty type schedule, but I think you need to go 2-1 vs Kansas, Houston and Syracuse. Your conference loss would need to be a close road loss against another top team in conference.
Win the conference title against another top 30ish MWC team would likely seal the deal.
We have three difficult road games out of conference. 1-2 might be most realistic, I would be very happy with 2-1 though.
It is difficult to do since these games are booked pretty far in advance, but scheduling a team like Liberty would be good. Try to beat the biggest G6 competitors for that playoff spot during the season.
Oregon St, Houston, Syracuse, Kansas, Utah Tech. That's a pretty good ooc schedule.
Do we play at Hawaii next year? If so any possiblilty of adding one more ooc game? If so i wouldnt mind a lower lever D1 opponent.
But with the 5 ooc games we have If we went 3-2 I would be very happy.
Utah Tech should be an easy win but the other 4 will all be tough. Splitting 2-2 with those 4 in my opinion would be impressive.
Then it looks like we are going to have one of the more difficult schedules in the MWC next year. Dropping to 6-7 wins wouldn't surprise me. Hopefully it is better especially if we might be looking for a new coach next year.
Do we play at Hawaii next year? If so any possiblilty of adding one more ooc game? If so i wouldnt mind a lower lever D1 opponent.
But with the 5 ooc games we have If we went 3-2 I would be very happy.
Utah Tech should be an easy win but the other 4 will all be tough. Splitting 2-2 with those 4 in my opinion would be impressive.
Then it looks like we are going to have one of the more difficult schedules in the MWC next year. Dropping to 6-7 wins wouldn't surprise me. Hopefully it is better especially if we might be looking for a new coach next year.
I just dont see how that would be possible knowing a few years in advance how good teams will or wont be. They go through a hiring cycle and theyre not a good team all over again type of deal... Also we would probably be paying them to come play rather than the paydays were going to get from P5 teams..
Thatvis the good part of the schedule. Kansas on the road likely the toughest. Oregon state may be in the running. No idea how they respond to losing their coach and I assume a bunch of their best players
There's no Michigan this year or 'guaranteed' loss.
But Kansas would be a big upset if Rebs pull it off.
Houston on the road is tougher than Utep
Syracuse better than Vandy based on transfers they brought in.
Brant/Utah Tech a wash.
Need to go 3-1 or 2-2 minimum in first four.
Conference schedule tougher as well in my opinion.
Conference schedule is only tougher if the new staffs can put together good results in their first years. Lots of turnover in coaches in MWC. Theres no guarantee the Boise coach lives up to last years "win it for me" interim bounce, UNM, Cowboys, SDSU, SJSU. Fresno all have question marks with new staffs either bringing in new culture or trying to sustain one... There was a lot of turnover around the conference. Some programs will get better, but is that enough to overcome where we have gotten better?
Don't know to be honest.
No UNM this year.
Boise is Boise they will be tough.
SJSU might regress but it's on the road.
Hawaii can be tricky game at on the road. SDSU can't be as bad as they were this season (I mean I hope they are).
Fresno here is a plus..
It's a tougher schedule at first glance but like you said a lot of question marks around the conference as well.
Surpassing 9-3 won't be easy. OOC is definitely tougher than last year. Houston was down but it was their 1st year in Big12. And it's on the road. Kansas really tough game. Syracuse had a solid class and is another P4 team.
Basically traded AF for Boise.
UNM for SDSU
Wyoming for Oregon State basically.
Again on paper looks tougher.
Last season it looked like we were going to have a super easy conference schedule by avoiding Sdsu and Boise and even USU. SdSU was garbage and Boise wasn't that good until the end of the season Utah Sate was a jelkyl and Hyde team but underwhelmed
We ended up playing all of the best teams with FSU, AFA, SJSU, Wyoming, and then eventually Boise of course right when they were hitting their stride.
Lots of turnover and Coaching changes for sure. With a tough noncon, it would be nice to have UNM as they will likely not have the one year turnaround that we did. Hard to say what SJSU will be. Even SDSU.
But yes initial glance it does look tough.
I'm still in the mold of being extremely happy if we get bowl eligible.
What do you think the degree of difficulty for each OOC teams including OSU?
My thinking is: KU>OSU>SU>UH>UT
That seems about right but Syracuse and Oregon State might be flopped. Oregon State lost a lot players with the coaching change.
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Who knows how that plays out but I had read that Houston had one of the best portal recruiting classes in the country. Like 10th or so.
They took their lumps last year. They'll be better this year.
Could see that scenario if/when they start ranking Ps&Gs separately so that the G teams are ranked more appropriate. As we all know the hottest G teams get ranked higher in the current system. Hence Liberty. Not saying it's fair, but that's the system we have to work with.
Definite possibility. Not crazy about where and how all this could all potentially shake out long term.
SU have the QB from Ohio State. The reason why I put OSU ahead of SU is the time zone. The travel can be a killer. OSU is very familiar with Vegas.
The equitable solution I can see is to rank Ps & Gs separtely and officially and use those rankings to determine which are the best Gs to get into playoff slots. Right now it's all about 'who's unbeaten'.
I think that's probably where this is headed, but in the past the reason for ranking a undefeated G5 was to justify claims they were being equitable in their big bowl game payouts... with the new system guaranteeing 2 G5s a spot, they'll want to see best product on field, which might mean a 12-0 Swac team doesn't make it over a 9-3 MWC team that played a really tough schedule, kind of like how they justify a 11-2 SEC team over a 12-1 Big 10 with a single loss to say the #1 overall... it might take a few years to establish that but then again it might all become irrelevant with realignment again, lol
Tough schedule.
Think our roster has upgraded, but we’re getting 6-8 wins this year.
Think our roster has upgraded, but we’re getting 6-8 wins this year.
Every game is an expected "win". So 6 wins equates to 6 losses...would be terrible for me. 8 wins have 4 losses, still sucks as shit.
I don’t think at Houston, at Kansas, Syracuse, Boise St and at Oregon St. are expected wins.
We had a cupcake schedule last year.
Love the enthusiasm from unlv fans, but we’re also not going to be taken lightly this year.
Repeating last years 9-3 will be really difficult.
It's possible if..
Sluka gives Marion's offense another gear.
And
The Rebs get into the top 50 vs the bottom 50 of total defense. Then 9-3 even 10-2 can happen..
But that's a lot of ifs..
Our defense is going to surprise vs last year and given the newcomers on offense, I fully expect it to reach another gear compared to last year...
We got a ton of good high end talent on defense that transfered in.
We got a ton of good high end talent on defense that transfered in.
On paper it looks a lot better.
For it to get us to replicate or exceed last years 9-3
Force turnovers at a similiar rate as last season.
After a good start pass rush fell off around midway point. Finished with 26 which is ok but that was with 14 games so less than 2 per game. Need to be closer to 2.5 to 3.
Shave just 5 ppg against off and they would jump from like 80s to in the 40s.
Do that with what I think the offense is capable of 9-3 (hopefully better) is a possibility.
A good way to look at the transfer portal is that UNLV is ranked around 5th in the conference for recruiting without the transfer portal recruits included, but when they are recruited UNLV moves as high as first in the conference on some ranking systems. Without questions UNLV has some high level (4 star) recruits on both offense and defense. When UNLV was able to flip a CB from Michigan to UNLV. UNLV currently has two transfers from Arkansas (mid level 3 stars); one from Texas A&M, a 4 star from Jackson State; two from Texas (high level 3 stars); one from North Carolina State (low level 4 star); one from Yale (high level 3 star); and Sluka who is also a high level 3 star.
The transfer portal more than offsets any players that are currently in the transfer portal leaving UNLV, and should be a huge boost for the secondary, as well as a running back, wide receiver, and QB that have the potential to move up a level from last season, if Sluka can fit into the offensive scheme as well or better than Maiava.
I hate that @Houston and @Kansas are so early in the season. Wish Utah Tech was our opener instead of Houston. Then again, they're probably wishing the same thing.
I don't do Twitter/X. Were they chuckling over the two new teams on the right?
That they were. Both sides were having a laugh. Ex-Pac12 team fans also joined in.
