LAS VEGAS — The final score in Bloomington is probably the least useful place to begin with North Texas. Indiana beat the Mean Green 52-16 last Saturday, but North Texas finished with 367 yards to Indiana’s 365, ran 67 offensive plays to the Hoosiers’ 46, held the football for 37 minutes, 22 seconds and produced 19 first downs. The Mean Green were still within 31-16 before Indiana scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, and North Texas converted six of 15 third downs while scoring on all three of its red-zone possessions, though only one became a touchdown. Dan Mullen was more interested in the experience on North Texas’ roster than the 36-point final. Neal Brown rebuilt much of the team with older transfers, and Mullen repeatedly pointed to the number of veterans UNLV will see Saturday. “They are a tough, physical football team,” Mullen said Thursday on his coaches show. “They got really good players, a lot of skill, a lot of speed.”
UNLV has gained 824 yards on 140 offensive plays through two games, produced 41 first downs, held the football for 63 minutes, 4 seconds and has yet to commit a turnover. Jackson Arnold has accounted for 550 yards of total offense by himself, yet UNLV has punted 12 times, converted 10 of 30 third downs, gone two of seven on fourth down and reached the red zone only six times. Memphis showed one version of the problem when six second-half sacks turned an offense that had moved the ball well into one increasingly dependent on Arnold. Hawai‘i showed the response, with Corey Dennis and Mullen cutting Arnold’s pass attempts from 37 to 18, giving Jai’Den Thomas 20 carries, using more 12 and 13 personnel and rushing for 248 yards in a 21-6 win. Through two weeks, UNLV has not struggled to create favorable situations as much as it has struggled to preserve them.
Anthony Colandrea accounted for 560 yards of offense through his first two games at UNLV. Arnold has 550. Colandrea completed 34 of 44 passes for 444 yards, three touchdowns and an interception against Idaho State and Sam Houston, while Arnold is 33 of 55 for 407 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Arnold has made up much of the passing difference with his legs, carrying 37 times for 143 net yards and three touchdowns, with six Memphis sacks charged against that rushing line. UNLV averaged about 7.5 yards per play through two games last season and is at about 5.9 this year, while the 2025 offense reached the red zone 11 times through two games compared with six this season. Arnold has nearly matched Colandrea’s individual output, but the offense has needed more plays to produce fewer scoring opportunities.
Hawai‘i showed why Mullen is not asking Arnold to reproduce Colandrea’s weekly box score. UNLV’s first touchdown drive mixed Thomas, two-tight-end personnel, a 25-yard completion to Keyan Burnett and Arnold’s legs before the quarterback scored from seven. The second followed a similar path, with Thomas gaining 12 yards on the opening snap, Arnold converting third-and-8 with a run and then finding Kayden McGee for 44 yards to the Hawai‘i 8 before scoring from the 2. Arnold attempted only 18 passes, but UNLV did not need him to turn the afternoon into a passing contest because the ground game kept giving the offense what it wanted. “We really wanted to run the football,” Mullen said. “I didn’t think we ran the ball efficiently enough against Memphis in game one.” Mullen said Arnold’s responsibility is understanding what a particular game requires rather than chasing the same statistical line each week. “What does the situation call for?” Mullen said. “What do I need to do?” Arnold converted third downs with his legs, protected the football and stayed within the plan. “He cared less what the numbers look like,” Mullen said. “The numbers that were important for us to win the game were good.”
North Texas will play without cornerbacks Caden Jenkins, Zach Johnson and Chase Canada, with BJ Allen Jr. moving outside after working at safety and nickel. Indiana did not need a high-volume passing game to attack the secondary, as Josh Hoover completed 13 of 16 passes for 231 yards and four touchdowns. That does not mean UNLV should abandon Thomas and ask Arnold to throw 40 times. Bring another safety toward the box and the matchup gets better behind him. Keep another defender deep to protect replacement corners and Thomas and Arnold get a lighter structure to run against. Burnett makes that choice more difficult because UNLV can stay in heavier personnel without announcing the run before the snap. He caught three passes for 55 yards in Honolulu, including a 25-yard gain on UNLV’s first touchdown drive, giving the Rebels a way to keep the tight ends on the field, force the defense to respect the run and still create a favorable passing matchup without substituting.
UNLV is averaging 5.87 yards per first-down rushing attempt through two games, slightly better than the 5.77 it averaged over the entire 2025 season. Against Hawai‘i, The Scarlet Standard charted UNLV at 245 yards on 27 first-down plays, and even after removing Thomas’ 50-yard touchdown, the Rebels averaged 7.5 yards on the other 26. One third-quarter possession in Honolulu showed how quickly that advantage can disappear. Thomas followed a Hawai‘i pass-interference penalty with an eight-yard run that should have created second-and-2, but holding erased it and left UNLV with first-and-20. An incomplete pass followed, another productive run disappeared because of offsetting penalties and Arnold eventually faced third-and-14 before the Rebels punted.
Memphis produced the same problem through negative plays. Jaylon Glover gained four yards and then broke a 44-yard run to the Memphis 27, only for Arnold to be sacked for a six-yard loss on the next snap. UNLV eventually completed a fourth-down pass to McGee for 15 yards when it needed 16. Two Glover carries had produced 48 yards and put the offense in position to score. One sack changed everything that followed.
Austin Boyd will remain out for another couple of weeks, leaving Griffin Scroggs and BJ Tolo to handle center again. The loss goes beyond what Boyd provides as a blocker because he normally handles much of the communication before the snap. “One of the biggest things you lose with Austin Boyd being out is not just a great football player, but the communication, the veteran experience, the starter, the guy that makes all the calls at the center spot,” Mullen said. “That communication is so big.” Scroggs handled most of the position against Hawai‘i and earned praise from Mullen for getting UNLV into the proper checks, but North Texas should make those decisions more difficult. Defensive coordinator Matt Powledge can show pressure before the snap and alter the picture afterward, forcing the center and guards to sort through the movement. Arnold noticed the physicality immediately on film. “I thought they played extremely hard, extremely physical, brought a ton of pressure,” he said. “So that’s something to look out for this week.”
UNLV does not need to eliminate every pressure. It needs to stay out of enough obvious passing downs that North Texas cannot forget about Thomas and Arnold as runners and spend the afternoon attacking the pocket. Memphis eventually put UNLV in situations where the Tigers could attack Arnold without respecting the rest of the call sheet. Hawai‘i never forced the Rebels to live there for long.
Tayven Jackson completed 22 of 28 passes for 192 yards against Indiana, while North Texas rushed 38 times for 152. Jahiem White carried 14 times for 61 yards and a touchdown and caught seven passes for another 36 in his first game in 364 days after a knee injury ended his 2025 season. Mullen called White a “special, special player,” but his larger concern with Jackson was what the quarterback can do once he leaves the pocket. Mullen pointed to Jackson’s ability to extend passing plays and become part of the designed running game, giving Brown another answer when a defense begins attacking the pocket. North Texas used both against Indiana, with White working underneath and Jackson’s legs supplying another way to keep the offense out of obvious passing situations. Indiana blitzed Jackson on more than half of his dropbacks and recorded one sack. Guenther does not necessarily need another rusher. He needs Jackson to hold the football long enough for the rush to get there.
Hawai‘i initially handled several of Guenther’s pressure looks by getting the football out quickly, but UNLV continued changing the picture and eventually finished with five sacks, seven tackles for loss, seven pass breakups, two forced fumbles and a late Quandarius Keyes interception. The Rainbow Warriors still ran 76 plays and produced 20 first downs, but they scored six points. UNLV repeatedly forced Hawai‘i to drive most of the field, including possessions that began at the Rainbow Warriors’ 5, 11, 15 and 20, and Mullen said the offense and special teams were part of that defensive performance. “You play great defense other ways,” Mullen said. “The offense can play great defense by getting a couple of first downs and punt and flipping field position, protecting the football. Special teams by flipping the field position.” North Texas is willing to take the short completion, hand the ball to White and use Jackson’s legs rather than chase an explosive on every snap. The Mean Green will probably make some first downs. UNLV has to keep making them earn the next one.
North Texas reached the red zone three times against Indiana and scored one touchdown. Indiana reached it four times and scored four. UNLV saw the other side of that equation against Memphis, outgaining the Tigers 460-418 and losing 27-21. The Rebels scored touchdowns on two of four red-zone trips, missed a field goal and came away empty on another fourth-down opportunity, while Memphis scored on all three of its red-zone possessions. “The game came down to red-zone scoring, which is a huge part of playing to win,” Mullen said afterward. UNLV scored touchdowns on both red-zone possessions at Hawai‘i, but through two games the Rebels have reached the 20 only six times. They do not have a red-zone touchdown problem yet. They have spent too many possessions failing to reach the red zone in the first place.
North Texas’ depleted secondary gives UNLV opportunities if the Rebels keep the entire offense available long enough to attack it. Memphis showed how quickly sacks can turn a productive drive into a long-yardage problem, while Hawai‘i showed the Rebels can change the structure, lean on Thomas and the tight ends and ask Arnold to make only the throws the game requires. North Texas brings enough pressure up front to punish the first problem, enough offensive balance with Jackson and White to test Guenther’s patience and enough uncertainty at corner to give UNLV opportunities when the Rebels stay ahead of the chains.
UNLV does not need to invent another version of its offense in Denton. It needs the version it already has to survive long enough to finish the drive.