Las Vegas’ Turnaround Darlings: UNLV Football Makes Emotional Connection To Vegas That F1 Can Only Dream About
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Shop at Jay’s Market at 190 East Flamingo Road at the Koval Lane intersection east of the Strip.
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by Hugh Byrne
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Erick Harper has walked through the airport in Las Vegas for a dozen years but it was only recently when a parking attendant recognized the UNLV athletic director and told him he’s going to attend tonight’s UNLV vs Nevada, Reno football game.
So much was at stake for a college football program that averaged a mere three wins a season for so long.
UNLV whipped Nevada, 38-14, at Allegiant Stadium tonight and has a Mountain West Conference championship game date with conference bully and longtime power Boise State Friday. The winner of the game punches a ticket to college football’s inaugural 12-team national championship tournament.
Yes, UNLV football and national championship in the same sentence.
Seems strange, no? A friend called it, “insane.”
I asked Harper, how does he mentally put his arm around the fact that a much-ridiculed college football program is a win away from competing for a national championship?
The former Kansas State cornerback who played under legendary KSU head coach Bill Snyder smiled and could only utter, “It’s hard.”
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The UNLV football brand has come a long way.
On the last day of November, the UNLV Rebels have their championship destiny in their hands.
But it’s more than just a downtrodden team that won nine games in 2023 and has racked up ten victories in 2024.
UNLV football has won its games in a market dominated by big spectacle sports events like a Formula 1 race on the Strip and teams like the NFL Raiders and in doing so has connected the sports world to the local Las Vegas world that only the Vegas Golden Knights have done since the Vegas sports industry revolution in the last decade.
And much of it comes down to a lunch bucket, throwback football guy named Barry Odom, who choked up after UNLV’s decisive win over the Wolfpack when he added one final thought at his postgame presser to recall that today was the five-year anniversary of his firing as head coach at Missouri.
In much the same way Odom turned around an often-ridiculed football program, UNLV helped Odom pivot his life from a fired head coach to a coach a mere win away from competing for a college football national championship.
You can tell how much UNLV’s success meant to him after Odom recalled his Missouri firing for the media.
There were several seconds of choked-up silence that spoke volumes of how Odom made his comeback by turning around a UNLV football program that has now become relevant.
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In a season where the other football team in town — the NFL Raiders — have lost eight games in a row and have won twice out of 12 games, UNLV can win a national college football title if it just wins, baby.
UNLV had hired all types of coaches. Mega names like former USC and NFL Rams coach John Robinson. Small school coaches like former Montana coach Bobby Hauck. A local high school coach, former Bishop Gorman coach Tony Sanchez. And hot shot coordinators like former Oregon offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo and his lavish sneaker collection.
Then Odom came to town.
And in 2024, the perfect harmonic convergence of Odom, a straight-talking linebacker personality who lives and breathes football 24/7; the debut of the 12-team national college football playoff championship; and NIL’s Wild West of talented college kids dispersed across the land have put UNLV on the doorstep of making the title tourney if the Rebs can can defeat Boise State in six days in Boise.
The Mountain West Championship game is now set with UNLV’s dismantling of in-state rival Nevada at Allegiant Stadium Saturday.
The Rebels led the Nevada Wolfpack, 10-7, in the second period when Nevada quarterback Brendon Lewis was hit and fumbled near his goal line. And UNLV’s everywhere linebacker, Jackson Woodard, jumped on the ball in the end zone for a touchdown.
Here’s the sequence of photos thanks to LVSportsBiz.com photographer by Hugh Byrne.
UNLV tacked on another score before the half and held a 24-7 lead after 30 minutes.
The second half was mostly garbage time as the Rebels salted away a 38-14 win and qualified to play Boise State in the conference title game on the blue turf in Idaho Friday.
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The new relevance of UNLV football flourishes against a backdrop of a market obsessed with major league sports (Raiders) and major league stadiums (public subsidies for Raiders and A’s stadiums) and major league events like the recent Formula 1 race that took over the Strip and the Strip corridor.
The difference is that UNLV’s football program is homegrown and organic, while the Raiders, F1 and A’s are outsiders that have taken advantage of public subsidies and bedazzled county officials to cash in on Las Vegas.
The contrast between UNLV football and F1 could not be more stark: humble, community-based sports on a campus surrounded by local commercial roads and an airport against the elitist, arrogant persona of F1, which jets from continent to continent putting on big sports gatherings for the affluent and celebrities.
Saturday’s game was filled with kids and families. F1 was adults for a sports event a week ago that started 10 PM to serve the TV crowd back in Europe.
UNLV is Las Vegas.
F1 and the Raiders are big events that are staged in Las Vegas for tourists.
Years and years of horrid and mediocre play by UNLV football meant meager crowds. So, the team’s ascent under Odom in 2023 and 2024 has meant bigger crowds, but not 60,000 plus fans packing Allegiant Stadium.
UNLV announced attendance of 40,122 was the second biggest UNLV crowd at Allegiant Stadium. Rebels fans went to social media to voice how much the atmosphere and vibe rocked.
In a town with so many phony run-and-gunners looking to make a quick buck, UNLV has always been the one stabilizing institution with some history to the place.
Now with a winning team, the AD is trying to monetize UNLV’s 19 wins in two seasons.
Harper told LVSportsBiz.com that ticket revenue went from $1.1 million in 2023 to about $2 million in 2024.
But Harper then made an important observation.
He talked about the community spirit that UNLV football has produced.
And how do you put a price tag on that?
That’s the real power of sports.
