This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/usffan on 2025-06-28 15:52:22+00:00.

The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here.

Up until now, the only rankings that have impacted this countdown have been the ones that ranked all 136 teams that I could freely access (looking at YOU, Phil Steele), but I’ve also been tracking lots of other rankings to generate the aggregated list. Today, that includes USA Today’s preseason top 25, which is a huge outlier for today’s team. In fact, barring any new rankings coming out, it’s going to be 3 more weeks before these other rankings start to impact the aggregate again, which tells you how far of an outlier Paul Myerberg was.

UNLV (high = 23, low = 75) is the second highest MWC team (and the highest of the teams staying in the MWC), coming in at #56. Barry Odom did such a fantastic job of lifting the Rebels from an extended nadir (only 5 winning seasons in the last 40 years) that he was hired away to try to perform a similar magic trick at Purdue. But not before guiding UNLV to their first back to back winning seasons (that weren’t wiped away by the NCAA) since the 1970s and their first double digit winning season since they were only 7 years removed from being Nevada Southern University. The Rebels will try to replace Odom with another former SEC coach, Dan Mullen.

Roster outlook

UNLV will definitely be an unknown entity in 2025. The Rebels rank 8th from last in terms of returning production, including 121st on offense and 128th on defense. The portal struck early for UNLV last season when Matthew Sluka either held out for what he was promised or attempted to extort more money out of UNLV and their boosters after leading them to wins at Houston and Kansas. Turns out the team rallied around backup Hajj-Malik Williams, but now both are gone (Sluka to an apparent back-up role at James Madison, Williams to the Raiders practice squad). Gone too are leading WRs Rickey White, III (Seahawks) and Jacob De Jesus (Cal), the only receivers to have more than 200 yards on the season. They do get starting RB Jai’Den Thomas and his 918 yards back, but Mullen is going to try to rebuild on the fly with the top ranked portal class in the MWC (71st overall) and the 42 incoming players that account for 17 of the 22 projected starters and 28 players on the two deep. The biggest name on there is former Michigan QB Alex Orji (so many jokes, so little time!), who will be looking to spread it around to guys like former Arizona State WR Troy Omeire and former TCU WR JoJo Earle. The only defender back of note is LB Marsel McDuffie, and the portal brought in a group of guys who are on their third or fourth school (including all name contending DE Chief Borders), so this side of the ball will be a big question mark at the start of the season. Good thing Mullen is a defensive mastermind who’s been honing his skills for the last few years. Oh, wait…

Schedule and outlook

Unlike last year, when the Rebels had multiple P4 teams to help beef up their credibility, this year their OOC is Idaho State (in a new Week Zero tune-up), road games at (could be tricky) Sam Houston and Miami (OH) and a home tilt against “the worst P4 coach” DeShaun Foster and UCLA. The Rebels should be favored in each of those games. The conference slate avoids the projected #3 (San Jose State) and #4 (Fresno State) teams in the MWC, so for UNLV the season could come down to their game on the smurf turf on October 18. For sure it looks like the Rebels should be bowling for their 3rd consecutive season, an achievement they’ve never accomplished before. And with potentially two cracks at Boise State (including in the championship game), you can’t rule out a CFP bid if they run the table. But they really don’t have much room for error if that’s the goal.