UNLV Football: First Look at the 2020 Schedule

The first year of the Marcus Arroyo era won’t be an easy one for the Rebels.

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Year one has some tall orders.

The Tony Sanchez experiment is over and the new man to lead UNLV football is Marcus Arroyo who came over from Oregon where he was the teams offensive coordinator.

He gets a new shiny store stadium to use (most of the time) which is nice but getting this team competitive will be tough in his first year.

Here’s the week-by-week schedule with preseason SP+ and ESPN FPI rankings in parentheses (note: UNLV is ranked 121st and 117th, respectively, by the two metrics):

August 29 — vs. California (SP+: 52 | FPI: 30)
September 5 — vs. Louisiana Tech (SP+: 92 | FPI: 105)
September 12 — vs. Arizona State (SP+: 40 | FPI: 41)
September 19 — at Iowa State (SP+: 30 | FPI: 31)
October 3 — at San Diego State (SP+: 74 | FPI: 88)
October 10 — vs. Wyoming (SP+: 90 | FPI: 77)
October 17 — at San Jose State (SP+: 108 | FPI: 108)
October 24 — vs. Colorado State (SP+: 79 | 96)
October 31 — at Boise State (SP+: 38 | FPI: 51)
November 7 — vs. Fresno State (SP+: 94 | FPI: 93)
November 14 — at Hawaii (SP+: 99 | FPI: 119)
November 28 — vs. Nevada (SP+: 110 | FPI: 98)

What are the big takeaways from a first look at the 2020 schedule?

1. A big-time non-conference slate… but probably some big-time losses.

While we still don’t know 100% where all of UNLV’s home games will be played in 2020, it’ll be a pretty fascinating test case for how long it takes the novelty of a new stadium to wear off because finding early wins is… tough.

2. Actually, finding any surefire wins at all is tough.

If the above tweet didn’t make it clear, SP+ doesn’t favor UNLV in any games at all this season. Opening conference play in San Diego, of all places, is a pretty tough draw, and the Rebels might be staring at 0-6 before heading to San Jose for, at least by the numbers, their first reasonable chance at a W.

3. There aren’t any gimmes.

Spoiler from below but there are zero games that can be seen as sure-fire wins.

Home games vs. Louisiana Tech and Nevada might be the easiest of the bunch but even those are toss ups. Throw in SJSU which has to replace QB Josh Love. Year One for Arroyo will be tough.

Hardest stretch: Arizona State, at Iowa State, at San Diego State

Easiest stretch: Wyoming, at San Jose State, Colorado State

Guaranteed wins: none

Guaranteed losses: California, Arizona State, at Iowa State, at San Diego State, at Boise State

Worse than 50/50 games: Wyoming, at San Jose State, Colorado State, Fresno State, at Hawaii

50/50 games: Louisiana Tech, Nevada

Better than 50/50 games: none

Preliminary projected record: 2-10