UNLV Football's strong start to the season had a lot of people, myself included, excited.
Unfortunately, that feels like a million years ago at this point.
Six straight losses followed the 4–1 start to the season. The most recent embarrassment was the 25–31 loss to a struggling Hawaii team.
At 4–7, 2–5 in the conference, the Rebels will end the season without a bowl game. That means that even if they beat Nevada, the season will go down as a disappointment.
How did we get here?
At 4–1, you would expect to see the end of a long bowl drought. That won't happen, but it's not all bad. This was still a more competitive UNLV team than we have seen in recent years.
Losing three straight one-score games hurts because things were close to being different.
Injuries certainly didn't help. When they played, Brumfield and Robbins were a dangerous combo, but they both missed several games.
But injuries are no excuse; every team deals with them on some level.
What does this mean for the future?
As bad as missing a bowl game feels, it probably doesn't mean much for the future.
UNLV has discovered the wonders of the transfer portal, and there is no going back now. Las Vegas is a great city to call home in the NIL age of college football.
NIL opportunities combined with the relatively weak Moutain West Conference are attractive for big school guys looking for more playing time.
With those natural advantages, I expect UNLV to find itself in plenty of bowl games in the near future.
Comments / 12