LAS VEGAS — UNLV has changed coaches, quarterbacks and offensive systems over the last three seasons, but the scoring has barely changed. The Rebels averaged 34.4 points in 2023, set a school record at 35.4 in 2024 and averaged 34.1 during Dan Mullen’s first season in 2025. They reached the Mountain West championship game all three years while rebuilding important parts of the offense each offseason.
Another rebuild begins Saturday against Memphis. Anthony Colandrea is gone after becoming the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year, along with the four receivers who supplied most of last season’s passing production. Austin Boyd moved to center, and Mullen spent camp deciding how Jackson Arnold and Alex Orji fit together. UNLV has to replace the players without surrendering the production.
The last three seasons suggest there is more than one way for the Rebels to get there. UNLV averaged 412.7 yards per game in 2023, with 173.5 coming on the ground and 239.2 through the air. The 2024 offense changed dramatically, running for 243.5 yards per game while passing for only 172.6, yet increased its scoring to a school-record 35.4 points per game. Mullen’s first offense swung the balance back in the other direction last season, averaging 195.5 rushing yards and 250.9 passing yards while producing 446.4 yards per game.
UNLV enters the opener having scored at least 20 points in 34 consecutive regular-season games. The streak began after a 35-7 loss at eventual national champion Michigan in September 2023 and continued through coaching changes, quarterback changes and different offensive identities. The Rebels have also rushed for a touchdown in 27 consecutive games entering 2026.
Those streaks have survived almost constant turnover. Jayden Maiava took over after the 2023 season began and helped Brennan Marion’s offense average 34.4 points. The following year started with Matthew Sluka at quarterback before Hajj-Malik Williams took over. UNLV still scored 495 points and broke the school record at 35.4 per game.
Mullen brought another offense in 2025 and used both quarterbacks from the opener. Orji took the first snap against Idaho State, but Colandrea handled most of the passing work from the start. A knee injury ended Orji’s year in the third game, and Colandrea went on to become the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year.
The Rebels finished with 6,249 yards and 477 points. They averaged 446.4 yards per game and 6.8 yards per play while scoring at least 30 points in a school-record 11 games, including each of the first nine. UNLV rushed for 2,737 yards and 33 touchdowns while throwing for 3,512 yards and 24 scores.
The efficiency extended beyond raw yardage. UNLV converted 77 of 169 third downs, a 45.56% rate, and scored 42 touchdowns on 60 red-zone possessions. The offense also allowed 25 sacks across 14 games.
The regular-season qualifier on the scoring streak deserves attention. UNLV scored 21 points against Boise State in the conference championship game and 10 against Ohio in the Frisco Bowl. Those games did not break the streak, but they exposed its limits as a forecast. The Rebels have built an offense that can produce across a season without proving that the same production will arrive in every postseason matchup.
Against Ohio, the problems were spread across the team. UNLV turned the ball over twice, had a punt partially blocked and lost a touchdown to a penalty before halftime. The Rebels were scoreless at the break and trailed 14-0 after Ohio’s opening possession of the third quarter. Colandrea eventually scored on fourth-and-goal, but UNLV never got another possession to chase the tying touchdown.
That is the standard Arnold and Orji are being asked to preserve. Colandrea completed a school-record 65.9% of his passes while throwing for 3,459 yards, 23 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He added 649 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns, giving UNLV 4,108 yards and 33 touchdowns of individual offense from its quarterback.
Mullen is not asking one player to replace all of it. He confirmed this week that Arnold and Orji will both play against Memphis, although he has not disclosed who will take the first snap or how the work will be divided. The plan gives UNLV two quarterbacks with different strengths instead of trying to make either one reproduce Colandrea’s season by himself.
Arnold brings 18 career starts between Oklahoma and Auburn and has generally looked at his best when he identifies the first read, plays on time and gets the ball out quickly. Orji gives UNLV a different physical problem with his size and running ability while still keeping enough of the passing game available that defenses cannot simply treat his entrance as a designed-run alert.
That can make UNLV more difficult to prepare for, but it can also become a problem if changing quarterbacks disrupts the rest of the offense. The protection still has to be communicated. Receivers still have to operate on the correct timing. The offensive line cannot need several snaps to adjust to a different cadence, and Mullen cannot allow each quarterback’s role to become so predictable that Memphis knows what part of the playbook is coming based on who enters the game.
Boyd has spent the offseason working through that from his new position at center. Arnold and Orji use slightly different cadences and rhythms, leading both quarterbacks to work with Boyd before and after practice. Boyd now has to handle the snap, identify fronts and get a rebuilt line on the same page regardless of who is behind him.
The most established part of the offense is behind the rebuilt line. Jai’Den “Jet” Thomas rushed for 1,036 yards and 12 touchdowns on 148 carries last season, averaging 7 yards per attempt. He added 39 receptions for 237 yards and another touchdown. Jaylon Glover supplied another 384 rushing yards on 64 attempts, averaging 6 yards per carry.
Together, Thomas and Glover averaged 6.7 yards per carry on their 212 combined attempts. That gives Mullen a foundation that does not require the quarterback plan or rebuilt passing game to carry the offense immediately. If UNLV can run the ball efficiently, Memphis cannot spend the entire night dictating obvious passing situations and attacking a line that is still establishing its best combination.
The perimeter is where UNLV has the least proven production. Jaden Bradley, Troy Omeire, Daejon Reynolds and JoJo Earle combined for 144 receptions, 2,174 yards and 14 touchdowns last season.
Taeshaun Lyons returns with big-play production: 16 catches for 241 yards and three touchdowns, an average of 15.1 yards per catch. DeAngelo Irvin Jr. caught 18 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown. Beyond them, Mullen has spent camp sorting through transfers, returning role players and freshmen who have little game evidence in the roles UNLV may need them to fill.
Former UNLV receiver and Scarlet Standard contributor Ed Gentry watched two practices late in camp and came away believing the receiver room has legitimate depth. He viewed Lyons as the best receiver he saw, while freshman Vincent Carner stood out for his route running and Peyton Zachary for his effort, hands and willingness to work through traffic.
Mullen expects to use a large receiving rotation against Memphis. Camp cannot tell him which players will keep executing once a new defense changes the coverage and tests their timing.
“We’ll probably play a lot of receivers in the first game,” Mullen said during camp.
Enough of them have to contribute to prevent Memphis from collapsing its defense around Thomas, the quarterbacks and the middle of the field. If the Tigers can crowd the box without being punished outside, UNLV’s strongest returning offensive piece becomes easier to defend.
The offensive line controls whether any of it gets enough time to develop. Boyd started 13 games last season but will make his first start at center for UNLV. Will Thomas gives the Rebels returning experience at tackle, while Jackson Brown arrived with experience from Cal and Pittsburgh. Offensive line coach Louie Addazio spent fall camp moving players between spots while searching for the best five rather than locking the line into one combination early.
The group inherits an offense that averaged 5.5 yards per rushing attempt and 6.8 yards on every offensive play last season. The rebuilt line does not have to dominate every snap for the offense to work, but it has to keep Mullen from shrinking the plan because Arnold or Orji does not have enough time to reach the parts of the field UNLV wants to attack.
Now Thomas can give the next offense a running start, but the new line has to open the hole and the new receivers have to keep Memphis from crowding it. Three seasons of production have raised the expectation. The players taking the field Saturday still have to meet it.
UNLV and Memphis will kick off at 7:10 p.m. Saturday at Allegiant Stadium. The game will be televised nationally on Fox.
