UNLV Rebels football
| UNLV Rebels football | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The UNLV Rebels football program is a National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). The program, which began on September 14, 1968, plays its home games at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada .
HistoryEarly historyIn 1967, Nevada Southern University announced that they would field a collegiate football program beginning on September 14, 1968, and announced that the team would be a Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA), ultimately losing 7–27. On October 23, 1971, the Rebels opened their new home, Las Vegas Stadium, against Weber State , losing 17–30. At the end of the 1972 season with a disappointing 1–10 record, Ireland announced he was stepping down, leaving the Rebels with a 26–23–1 record.
.jpg) Ireland was replaced by All-American, running back Mike Thomas, who ran for the Division II national rushing title with 1,741 and setting nine school records in the process. The Rebels' success continued in 1974 with the only undefeated season in school history, finishing 11–0 and ranking second in the national Division II polls, the highest any Rebels football team has ever placed. The Rebels embarked on their first post-season journey in a national quarterfinal against Alcorn State, defeating the Braves 35–22 in Las Vegas. The Rebels memorable season ended in the national semifinals in the Grantland Rice Bowl, losing to Delaware 11–49. Meyer left the program in 1976 to take the head coaching position at collegiate powerhouse SMU .
The move to Division IFormer Yokohama, Japan, to compete against college football powerhouse Brigham Young, losing 28–24. Even with the hard end to the season, the Rebels still produced a memorable year, going 7–4 in their first campaign at the Division I level. The 1981 season proved to be the last in Knap's tenure at UNLV, as he retired from coaching after a year of accomplishments, including the Rebels' first appearance in the ABC's Regional Game of the Week (a 21–45 loss at Wyoming), a 45–41 upset of 8th-ranked BYU in Provo, Utah, and securing the programs 100th win (27–20 at UTEP) in El Paso, Texas .
The 1982 season was a big year in UNLV football history as the program hired its fourth head coach, Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA). The Rebels' first PCAA game was a 27–29 loss to Pacific on October 2. It took the entire season before the Rebels won their first conference game, a 42–23 victory against Cal State Fullerton on November 27. The Rebels won their first conference championship in 1984 as the Randall Cunningham-led Rebels finished 11–2, including the program's first trip to a bowl game, a 30–13 victory over Toledo in the California Bowl in Fresno, California. Hyde stepped down after the 1985 season and a 5–5–1 record when the NCAA discovered that several players on the 1983 and 1984 Rebels were ineligible. The Rebels were forced to forfeit their entire 1983 and 1984 seasons, including the California Bowl.[2]
Wayne Nunnely became the program's fifth head coach on September 20, 1986, and he coached the Rebels to a 17–7 victory over Wisconsin in front of the first sellout crowd in Silver Bowl Stadium history, a then record 32,207 fans. One of Nunnely's key players was Elbert "Ickey" Woods, the first Rebel and PCAA running back to win the national Division I rushing title, as he rushed for 1,658 yards and was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1988 NFL draft. 1994 was another memorable season for the Rebels, as wide receiver Randy Gatewood set two single-game receiving records in a 38–48 loss to Idaho on September 17. The Rebels then stunned the heavily favored Nevada, 32–27 to win a share of the Big West Conference championship, the program's second title (but the first one they were allowed to keep). The Rebels then defeated Central Michigan 52–24 in the Las Vegas Bowl on their home field. In 1996, the Rebels along with punter Joe Kristosik, who averaged a nationally best 46.2 yard per punt average.
1999–presentIn 1999, the Rebels made headlines, first by leaving the WAC with seven other schools to form the Hawaii to clinch their third berth in a bowl game. The Rebels were chosen as the Mountain West representative for the Las Vegas Bowl on December 20.[4] The Rebels would continue their undefeated streak in bowl games as they defeated Arkansas 31–14 in front of a Las Vegas Bowl record 29,113 fans.[5] They finished the season 8–5.
Before the start of the 2001 season, the Rebels garnered national accolades as the team was ranked No. 25 in Sports Illustrated's preseason Top 25 and No. 24 in Football Digest's rankings. Quarterback Jason Thomas was named a candidate for the Heisman Trophy, ranking as high as No. 7. Although the Rebels seemed good on paper, the team did not gel and ended the season a disappointing 4–7. On October 5, 2002, the Rebels defeated rival Nevada 21–17 for Robinson's 200th career coaching victory. Robinson retired after the 2004 season, having led the Rebels to a bowl game and five consecutive victories over rival Nevada. On December 6, 2004, the Rebels hired Utah assistant coach .The Rebels finished the 2008 season with a 5–7 record after starting the season 3–1. This was the best win–loss record UNLV had since going 6–6 in 2003. It also marked the first time UNLV did not finish last in their division since 2004. Their 23–20 victory over No. 15 Arizona State was the first time the Rebels had beaten a ranked opponent since 2003. The 2009 season was a disappointment and it led to Sanford's dismissal as coach. UNLV was picked to finish fifth in the conference, but the team began to fall apart after a surprising loss at Wyoming. That was followed by losses at Nevada, against Brigham Young and Utah, and at Texas Christian and the Air Force Academy — games in which UNLV was outscored 243–81. They rebounded toward the end of the season and finished 5–7. After the Air Force loss on November 14, the school announced Sanford's last game as coach would be the season finale against San Diego State. Former Montana head coach Bobby Hauck was named as the 10th head coach on December 21, 2009. Former TCU, Alabama and Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione was also interviewed for the position.[7] Before the 2014 Nevada Wolf Pack game, Bobby Hauck announced that he would be stepping down following the conclusion of the 2014 season. On December 10, 2014, the school announced that Tony Sanchez of Bishop Gorman High School would succeed Hauck as the 11th head coach of UNLV. Sanchez announced his completed staff at UNLV on December 22, 2014, which would feature staff members from Nebraska, Colorado, Oregon State, USC, Houston, Georgia State and Bishop Gorman.[8] In 2016, a new domed stadium was proposed and approved for Las Vegas that would be the home to the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) after the team relocated to Las Vegas from Oakland and the Rebels accomplishing UNLV's goal of replacing Sam Boyd Stadium.[9] UNLV had been trying to get Sam Boyd Stadium replaced with a new facility since 2011 but had not found the funding to do so.[10] On September 2, 2017, the UNLV Rebels lost to the NFL star Cam Newton. As of September 2017, due to high off-shore point spread numbers, Howard's victory against UNLV is the biggest point spread upset in college football history.[11][12]
On November 23, 2019, the UNLV Rebels defeated the San Jose State Spartans in their final home game at Sam Boyd Stadium, 38–35, in front of 17,373 fans in attendance.[13] On November 25, 2019, Tony Sanchez and UNLV agreed to part ways, taking effect after the team's final regular season game.[14] He was replaced by Oregon offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo who was announced as the new head coach of the Rebel football program on December 11, 2019.[15] On October 31, 2020, the Rebels opened their new home, Allegiant Stadium, against Nevada, losing 37–19.[16] Conference affiliations
Conference championshipsUNLV has won two conference championships, with one forfeit. Their 1984 Big West Conference title was forfeited due to using ineligible players.
† Forfeited due to ineligible players. Bowl gamesUNLV has played in seven officially sanctioned bowl games, with six of them being in Division I (FBS) and one being in Division II. The Rebels have an official bowl record of 3–4.
† UNLV forfeited the original 30–13 win due to NCAA sanctions on ineligible players.[2] UNLV traveled to Yokohama, Japan, and played in front of 27,500 spectators at Yokohama Stadium in the 1978 Nikkan Yokohama Bowl on December 2, 1978, against the BYU Cougars in a game that is not offially recognized as an NCAA bowl game.[17]
Playoff appearancesNCAA Division IIThe Rebels made two appearances in the NCAA Division II playoffs. They had a combined record of 1–2.
Head coachesUNLV has had 13 head coaches in 50 years of college football.
RivalriesNevadaThe Battle for Nevada Nevada leads the series 28–21 as of the conclusion of the 2023 season.[19] Hawai'iNinth Island Showdown Beginning in 2017, the annual game between Las Vegas, Nevada, has long been a popular destination for Hawaiians for both pleasure and relocation, so much so that it has been dubbed "the Ninth Island", with the Cal Hotel in particular aggressively marketing itself to Hawaiian tourists. Hawai'i is one of UNLV's two protected Mountain West Conference rivalries (along with Nevada) when the conference shifts to one division in 2023, meaning they will play every year. The 'Bows lead the all-time series between the two schools 19–14 as of 2023.[17]
San Jose StateThe Friendly Rivalry San Jose State leads the series 20-7-1 as of conclusion of the 2023 season.[20] The rivalry stems back to the days when both the San Jose State Spartans and the UNLV Rebels athletics programs were both in the Big West Conference, in the 1980s. In the mid-1990's the Spartans and Rebels were both a part of WAC, Western Athletic Conference, and are division rivals in the Mountain West today. Recently dubbed 'A Friendly Rivalry' by some media in 2022 for the close friendly relationship ex-Rebels Head Coach Marcus Arroyo and Spartans Head Coach Brent Brennan have.[21]
Retired numbersThe Rebels has only retired one single number.
College Football Hall of Fame
John Robinson is mostly known for his 6 Rose Bowl victories and 4 National Championships while at USC. In 1999 Robinson was hired to coach football at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. After a 2–0 start in 1999, the second win coming at Baylor, Robinson's first UNLV team finished only 3–8. The Rebels rebounded to win eight games in 2000, including a 31–14 victory over Arkansas in the Las Vegas Bowl, Robinson's only bowl appearance with the Running Rebels. In 2002, Robinson was chosen as the university's athletic director, but he stepped down from that position a year later to concentrate on the coaching position. In 2003, he was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.[25]
punter. In 1984, his senior year, he led the Rebels to an 11–2 season (adjusted to 0–13 when it was found out several players were ineligible).[26]
National and Conference AwardsNationalHERO Sports G5 Special Teams Player of the Year
College Football Network Freshman Specialist of the Year
ConferencePacific Coast Athletic Association
Mountain West Conference 25th Anniversary Team
All-AmericansUNLV has had 2- Consensus 1st Team All-American, 10- 1st Team, 9- 2nd Team, 5- 3rd Team, 1- 4th Team, 3- Honorable Mention, 1- Academic All-American and 6- Freshman All-American, in program history as of the end of the 2024 season.[24]
Individual school records
Source:[18] Rushing records
Passing records
Receiving records
Rebels in the pros
Future non-conference opponentsAnnounced schedules as of August 11, 2024.[38]
References
External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to UNLV Rebels football. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
