LAS VEGAS — UNLV did not crack the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll, but the Rebels received more support than any other team in the new Mountain West.
UNLV received 17 votes in the poll released Tuesday, the 13th-highest total among teams outside the Top 25. New Mexico received four votes and Hawai‘i received one, while none of the Mountain West’s other seven football members appeared on a ballot. No team from the conference made the preseason Top 25, which opened with Ohio State at No. 1, followed by Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Notre Dame.
Boise State received 24 votes and San Diego State received two, but neither program is part of the Mountain West’s 2026 football membership. Among the teams competing for the conference championship this season, UNLV finished comfortably ahead of the rest of the league in preseason voting.
That recognition follows three seasons in which the Rebels won 30 games and reached the Mountain West championship game each year. UNLV finished the 2025 regular season 10-2 and now enters Dan Mullen’s second year trying to maintain that position as the conference begins a new era around it.
The poll does not place UNLV particularly close to a national ranking. Missouri claimed the final Top 25 position with 158 points, while Louisville led the receiving-votes group with 153. The Rebels’ 17 votes leave them well behind the programs closest to entering the poll, but the total shows that UNLV’s recent run continues to carry weight before the Rebels resolve several important fall-camp questions.
Mullen has not named a starting quarterback, and UNLV is still evaluating how its offensive line and several defensive position groups will fit together. The Rebels return running back Jai’Den “Jet” Thomas and defensive lineman Lucas Conti, while quarterback Jackson Arnold and several other players have received preseason conference or national award recognition.
UNLV’s support is tied as much to the standard established over the past three seasons as it is to a finished picture of the current roster. The Rebels are no longer entering August simply trying to become bowl eligible. They are expected to remain part of the conference-title race even after another offseason of coaching, personnel and roster changes.
New Mexico received the second-most votes among current Mountain West teams. The Lobos earned four after winning nine games and sharing the conference regular-season title during Jason Eck’s first season, with quarterback Jack Layne returning in 2026. Hawai‘i received one vote after a nine-win season, with Mountain West Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Micah Alejado returning at quarterback.
Air Force, Nevada, Northern Illinois, North Dakota State, San José State, UTEP and Wyoming did not receive any votes. That left UNLV, New Mexico and Hawai‘i as the only members of the Mountain West’s 2026 football lineup to appear anywhere in the preseason poll.
The schedule will give UNLV several opportunities to move closer to the rankings. Memphis, which visits Allegiant Stadium for the Aug. 29 opener, received nine votes. Cal received one before its Oct. 3 trip to Las Vegas. The Rebels will also play both of the other Mountain West teams that appeared on a ballot, traveling to New Mexico before closing the regular season at Hawai‘i.
Those games will determine whether UNLV’s preseason support develops into a national ranking or remains another sign of respect for what the program accomplished over the previous three years. The Rebels have earned a different place in the conference than the one they held before their current run began, but the 2026 team still has to establish what it will become.
UNLV will open the season outside the Top 25 and well behind the teams closest to moving into it. Within the new Mountain West, however, no program enters August with more support from the coaches voting in the preseason poll.