LAS VEGAS — A year ago today, I asked Dan Mullen a question he should not still be answering.
“What’s the disconnect between what’s being taught and what’s happening on Saturdays?”
It was Nov. 1, 2025. UNLV had returned from a bye week and lost 40-35 to New Mexico. The Rebels surrendered 532 yards, fell behind 21-0 and finally took a fourth-quarter lead, only to watch the Lobos drive 75 yards for the winning touchdown. Mullen had spent the extra preparation time talking about simpler defensive rules, communication and getting all 11 players on the same page. Those problems were still visible when the game started.
“That’s a good question,” he said. “Some of it’s processing. We practice certain looks, but every week you get new wrinkles. You have your base rules that should handle it, but we’re not processing and adjusting quickly enough on the field. That’s something I’ve got to fix.”
He also said his defense had become predictable, allowing offenses to recognize what UNLV was doing before the snap. The issue was whether his players were prepared to handle a game that refused to follow the script.
One year later, Northern Illinois arrived at Allegiant Stadium without a victory. Mullen had another bye week, this one after a 41-31 loss at Air Force. UNLV won 31-24 on Saturday, yet afterward its coach was again explaining why the performance fell short of what he expected from practice.
“I don’t know if we played real hard,” Mullen said. “And that’s really disappointing. That’s on me.”
He clarified that he was talking about strain, physicality and urgency, especially from the defense in the first half. But he had just watched an 0-7 opponent move the ball for most of the night. Whatever the distinction between effort and execution, Mullen was asking questions the extra week was supposed to answer.
UNLV gave Northern Illinois a reason to fold on the first snap. Jackson Arnold escaped the pocket and found Kayden McGee for a 75-yard touchdown. Eleven seconds into the game, the Rebels led 7-0. The Huskies responded by marching 75 yards in 10 plays, converting third-and-11 when Taron Dickens found DeAree Rogers at the sideline. Telly Johnson Jr. later turned third-and-1 into a 20-yard touchdown run, using his strength to get outside and finish the play.
That drive exposed two problems at once. UNLV could not finish a third-and-long possession and could not keep a runner from turning the yard needed for a first down into 20. On NIU’s next touchdown drive, George Dimopoulos gained 33 yards on a catch-and-run, and Rogers scored from 12 yards after getting through contact near the goal line. These were plays UNLV could have stopped after the catch. The receivers kept finding space and staying on their feet when the defense needed a tackle.
The most damaging example came after halftime. Jai’Den Thomas had raced 60 yards for a touchdown to give UNLV a 31-17 lead. Less than two minutes later, NIU faced third-and-8 at its own 39. Dickens found Dimopoulos over the middle. He caught the ball at the NIU 47, eight yards beyond the line of scrimmage, and ran the remaining 53 yards for a touchdown.
The NIU radio broadcasters called it a slant that left Dimopoulos with open field once he made the catch. They did not identify the coverage call or which Rebel had responsibility for stopping him. That is Guenther’s job to establish from the film. What is beyond dispute is that a third-and-8 completion became a 61-yard touchdown without UNLV getting a defender in position to end the play. The Rebels had two weeks to prepare to get off the field. On one of the game’s most important third downs, they failed.
Northern Illinois finished with 493 yards, including 240 rushing, converted nine of 17 third downs and held the ball for 35:09. Elijah Porter rushed for 113 yards, Johnson added 72, and Dickens made UNLV account for him both as a passer and a runner. NIU entered averaging approximately 100 rushing yards a game. It more than doubled that total against a team coming off an open date.
“We’re missing tackles, missing gaps, not getting off blocks,” Mullen said. He recognized that those mistakes improved somewhat after halftime. He credited Avery Helm and Denver Harris for pass breakups and Mumu Bin-Wahad for intercepting Dickens at the UNLV 10 and returning the ball 53 yards. Bin-Wahad said NIU ran a route he had practiced during the week. The recognition was real, and so was its value to the victory.
Mullen was careful not to oversell the improvement. “I don’t think we played very well defensively,” he said, particularly in the first half. He wasn’t convinced the second half was especially good either; the defense had simply made the stops it needed. NIU had reached the UNLV 27 in the fourth quarter before a holding penalty erased a fourth-down conversion and a 54-yard field-goal attempt missed. The Rebels deserved credit for surviving. The Huskies also helped them survive.
In fairness to Paul Guenther, the breakdowns do not all have the same explanation. Air Force’s option offense is not NIU’s running game. Mullen pointed to injuries on defense and the absence of players the staff expected to have available. Those circumstances affect what Guenther can call and how much punishment a unit can absorb. They do not eliminate the need to tackle, fit gaps or recognize what an opponent is attacking.
The staff did make changes after last November. Guenther took over late in the spring of 2025, following Zach Arnett’s departure. He now has another offseason behind him. Mike Scherer, who coordinated UNLV’s defense under Barry Odom, returned this season to coach linebackers and relay calls during games. Defensive lineman Lucas Conti identified communication as a major problem last year and welcomed Scherer’s return as part of the solution.
The defense has given Mullen reasons to believe in that decision. It held Hawai‘i to six points and North Dakota State to seven. Against the Bison, the Rebels intercepted three passes and carried an offense that managed just 13 points. A defense capable of winning that sort of game has shown more than occasional talent. It has shown it can recognize assignments and execute them against a serious opponent.
Those results should raise expectations. If communication was the principal problem, Scherer’s return should help Guenther separate a missed call from a missed tackle. If personnel losses force different alignments, the staff has to decide which jobs the replacements can handle. And if players know their assignments but do not finish blocks or tackles, Guenther owns the job of correcting the technique. Mullen cannot keep citing those mistakes as though they happened beyond his staff’s control.
The offense gives Corey Dennis no shelter. UNLV scored 31 points, but 14 came on the 75-yard touchdown to McGee and Thomas’ 60-yard run. Arnold also directed an impressive late first-half drive for a touchdown, and his legs helped the Rebels finish the game. Those are strengths Dennis should be able to build around. They should not be the entire answer against a winless opponent that arrived allowing nearly 39 points a game.
After halftime, UNLV passed for just 46 yards, went 0-for-4 on third down and never scored after Thomas’ run. Its six penalties, all in the second half, cost 75 official yards. Mullen suggested the actual damage was closer to 200 when he counted the gains erased. A fourth-quarter holding penalty wiped out Arnold’s scramble for a first down on fourth-and-5 after Bin-Wahad’s interception had given the offense the ball in NIU territory. Another penalty erased a 16-yard completion to Matt Byrnes. UNLV had chances to build a two-possession lead and repeatedly gave the ball back.
Mullen wasn’t passive. He attempted an onside kick to open the second half, but a face-mask penalty wiped it out. Later, with UNLV ahead by seven, a fake punt on fourth-and-4 from its own 31 gained seven yards. The drive ended when Arnold threw an interception near the NIU goal line. Those calls showed a coach willing to seek an extra possession. They also left him still relying on his defense to hold a lead his offense could not extend.
Mullen praised how his players managed the final minutes. He had grounds to. The defense prevented another score, and Arnold, Byrnes and Thomas collected the first downs that kept NIU from getting the ball again. The problem is how many emergencies a heavily favored team needed before those final plays became necessary.
Before the game, NIU interim coach Rob Harley explained that he had replaced a scout-team period with more first-team offense-versus-defense work. He wanted players to make decisions at game speed after repeated breakdowns earlier in the season. That adjustment preceded a 56-21 loss to Hawai‘i, so it would be wrong to claim that one change produced Saturday’s improvement. But after losing in Las Vegas, Harley could point to the work his players had put in, describing their competitive performance as “born in practice.”
The comparison should bother Mullen. A winless team with a shorter preparation window arrived ready to challenge his defensive front and force his offense to execute. Harley could explain an adjustment his staff had made and point to a team that competed throughout the game. Mullen, meanwhile, won and was left questioning whether his team played hard enough.
Guenther coordinates the defense. Dennis coordinates the offense. Mullen hired them, approves the plans and decides what changes when the same errors return. He does not have to fire somebody to demonstrate accountability, but keeping both coordinators is itself a decision he must answer for.
Mullen’s name has appeared in discussions of the Maryland and NC State openings. There is no confirmed job offer in those reports, and he has said he enjoys coaching at UNLV. But a Power Four athletic director considering Mullen would be evaluating more than his offensive playbook. His ability to recognize weaknesses, choose assistants and demand solutions is part of his candidacy. If he keeps trusting coordinators who leave him answering the same questions, that loyalty could undermine the opportunity to return to a bigger job.
UNLV is 5-3, 3-1 in the Mountain West, and its championship goals remain alive. Wyoming visits next Saturday, with a trip to New Mexico following Nov. 14. Those games could change the direction of this conversation. They will not change what Mullen told me last November or what he admitted after Northern Illinois.
I asked him that question a year ago because the loss to New Mexico made the divide between practice and Saturdays impossible to ignore. I’m asking it again because beating NIU did not make it disappear.
What is happening between Monday and Friday that keeps showing up differently on Saturday?
He told me last November that he needed to fix it. He does not owe me a better quote a year later. He owes his players a better-prepared football team.
See something that needs correcting? Report a correction.