UNLV Football Is Crushing The Results Of Prior Seasons
Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium, the Rebels wiped the floor with University Of Nevada Reno for a 38-14 victory, retaining the cannon and bragging rights. The game was a necessary step to get to the likely result, but it wasn’t long ago that the UNLV football program wasn’t such a sure thing.
With the exception of last season where UNLV finished with an overall record of 9 wins and 5 losses, UNLV’s football program hadn’t finished over .500 overall since 2013. The last winning season before that? The year 2000. 1994 before that. As a matter of fact, the UNLV Football program has been so poor since 1968 that they have over 100 more losses than they do wins.
The Difference Maker In The UNLV Football Program Is Barry Odom
So what changed? How can a program that was 0-6 in an abridged COVID year, 2-10 after that in 2021, finish first in the Mountain West Conference last year with an even more dominant season this year?
Two words: Barry Odom.
The results since Odom took over the reigns of the UNLV football program have been nothing short of night and day. When Barry took over the program, it was fresh off the three year reign of head coach Marcus Arroyo. Arroyo had a pretty miserable three seasons, from 0-6 to 2-10 to 5-7. Sure, trending the right direction but not fast enough.
The former middle linebacker out of Missouri took over the program and things have been outstanding for two seasons now. 9-5 last season, 10-2 so far this season with only one in-conference loss. The fandom of UNLV football is now at a fever pitch and opening up the second deck of Allegiant Stadium will no longer be surprising. This is their time.
Now it is onto the Mountain West Championship Game, something they had failed to reach for decades but have now reached for the second year in a row. On the road against the Boise State Broncos, the only team that has beaten them in-conference this season with a 29-24 loss on October 25th, their biggest loss of the season. A team that UNLV hasn’t beaten since 1976.
But it is time to believe in Barry and the boys. This year is different. Go Rebels.
