Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Why an eight-game Mountain West schedule will benefit UNLV football

Allegiant Stadium, UNLV layout

UNLV Athletics / Twitter image

A look inside Allegiant Stadium for a UNLV football game day. It’s a new day for the college program.

The Mountain West’s resurrected 2020 football season now has a schedule, as the league announced an eight-game slate on Thursday.

Play will begin on Oct. 24 and run through Dec. 12, with no bye weeks for any team. The league championship game will follow on Dec. 19, to be played at the home venue of the team with the best regular-season record.

UNLV isn’t expected to be in the championship mix this season, but there’s a chance the team could be better than expected.

A look at the UNLV schedule:

Oct. 24 — at San Diego State

Oct. 31 — vs. UNR

Nov. 7 — vs. Fresno State

Nov. 14 — at San Jose State

Nov. 21 — at Colorado State

Nov. 28 — vs. Wyoming

Dec. 5 — vs. Boise State

Dec. 12 — at Hawaii

There are some quirks on the docket, most notably the UNR game on Nevada Day. That is usually the season finale for both teams, but now it will serve as UNLV’s home opener and the school’s first game at Allegiant Stadium.

State money helped fund the nearly $2 billion venue, so it seems only fitting that the state’s two universities open the facility on the state’s birthday. They usually play over Thanksgiving weekend.

And, in COVID-19 times, it’s best to get the Fremont Cannon game played — no matter what happens after, both fan bases will have some satisfaction from the season.

The home game against Boise State on Dec. 5 is an unlucky break.

UNLV hosted Boise State last season — a 38-13 loss — and was supposed to travel to Idaho for the 2020 matchup. If this year’s meeting goes the same way, it will be a wasted home date for UNLV and put pressure on the scarlet and grey to win each of their remaining three games at Allegiant. UNLV is petitioning the county to have 6,500 fans — the maximum capacity allowed by the state in its reopening standards — in attendance.

Some metrics have ranked UNLV at the bottom of the league heading into 2020, but the team’s offseason coaching change could give them a leg up on the competition, at least early in the year. It all comes down to the element of surprise.

Simply put, there isn’t any tape of Marcus Arroyo as a head coach. He has served as an offensive coordinator at San Jose State and Oregon, but as of now there’s no way to tell what his offense (and to a lesser extent, his defense) will look like from an X’s and O’s standpoint now that he’s the man in charge.

In a normal year, UNLV would play four non-conference games to start the season, giving the rest of the Mountain West plenty of game tape to study before the beginning of league play. That won’t be the case in 2020. When UNLV lines up at San Diego State on Oct. 24, that will be the first time anyone sees what an Arroyo game plan looks like.

Other Mountain West teams brought in new coaches in the offseason, but SDSU’s Brady Hoke, Colorado State’s Steve Addazio and Hawaii’s Todd

Graham have previous head-coaching experience, making it easier for opponents to break down tendencies and traits. With Arroyo, a first-time head coach, that will all be guess work.

With no non-conference play, it’s a real opportunity for Arroyo and UNLV to jump on opponents in the early part of the season and take advantage of those unknowns.