A meeting between a team with a 3-0 record and a team with an 0-2 record won’t draw much national attention, but Saturday’s contest between the Miami RedHawks and UNLV Rebels deserves a much closer look. Both teams finished as the runner-up in their respective conferences in 2024. Miami fell to rival Ohio in the 2024 MAC Championship game, a year after bringing home the trophy in 2023. Meanwhile, UNLV was a victim of Boise State’s run to the College Football Playoff, losing on the Smurf Turf in the Mountain West Championship.

 

Miami might be 0-2, but that’s because they’ve had to make two road trips to play Big Ten opponents. Per College Football Reference, the RedHawks currently possess the 30th-most difficult strength of schedule out of 136 FBS teams. The offense that is breaking in several new skill position players has only posted 17 points to this point, but the RedHawks will finally get to play a home game in week four of the college football season.

 

UNLV is 3-0, but per College Football Reference, they’ve faced the easiest schedule of all 136 FBS teams with their opponents a combined 0-9. It’s worth noting that the Rebels did defeat a Big Ten school in UCLA, but the Bruins have had a disastrous start to the season and have already fired their head coach. UNLV’s offense has hummed along to the tune of 35.3 points per game in Dan Mullen’s first year as head coach of the Rebels.

 

There are a number of eye-catching factors that make the first-ever matchup between Miami and UNLV so intriguing.

 

Expectations

 

There hasn't been a team in the Mid-American Conference to make three straight appearances to Detroit for the MAC Championship game since Bowling Green and Northern Illinois played what eventually became a best-of-three series from 2013-2015. The RedHawks have their eyes set on Detroit yet again with three title game appearances in the last six years. This matchup against UNLV won’t have any bearing on the conference record, but it provides an opportunity to build major momentum heading into MAC play. Like this season, in 2024, the RedHawks faced an uphill battle in non-conference play but turned a 1-4 start into a seven-game win streak. Knocking off one of the top teams in the group of five may very well kick start another win streak.

 

UNLV also has a lot to play for. Last year, the Rebels’ three losses came against Boise State (twice) and a three-point overtime loss to Syracuse. The two losses in the regular season came by a combined eight points. Translation? The Rebels weren’t that far from taking a College Football Playoff automatic bid. There’s a lot of roster turnover from the 11-win team of 2024, but the expectations aren’t diminished. With Boise State already taking a sound defeat, the Mountain West is up for the taking. A win against the RedHawks would give UNLV a perfect 4-0 record out of the non-conference slate.

 

Coaching

 

Chuck Martin has guided the RedHawks to 20 wins in the last two seasons. The last two-year span with that number of victories came nearly 50 years ago. He’s the all-time winningest coach in Miami history, a program that has seen several Hall of Fame coaches walk through the doors in Oxford. Those coaches are immortalized in the “Cradle of Coaches” display at the south end of Yager Stadium.

 

Dan Mullen needs no introduction. He spent over a decade as a head coach in the SEC with 93 wins to his name. Candidly, Florida probably wishes he was still running the show in Gainesville considering what has transpired since he was let go. After a handful of years working for ESPN as an analyst, Mullen is back on the sidelines and leading a program that has taken a massive step forward since an 0-6 campaign in 2020.

 

Quarterback Play

 

Brett Gabbert finished his Miami career with 10,184 yards - good for third all-time in program history, just behind Ben Roethlisberger (10,829 yards). To find his replacement, the RedHawks have brought in a MAC superstar in his own right. Dequan Finn led the Toledo Rockets to the 2022 MAC title and faced off against his new team in the 2023 championship. After a brief year away in Waco, the RedHawks are hopeful he can steer the offense forward in 2025. It hasn’t been an easy start against two very physical Big Ten defenses, but Finn leads the team in both passing (334 yards) and rushing (98 yards) which matches his dual threat skill set.

 

On the other side is another dynamic dual-threat quarterback. Anthony Colandrea is far more athletic than he gets credit for, and his season is off to a strong start with 647 passing yards at a 75.4% completion percentage with 6 touchdowns. He has added 175 yards on the ground at a clip of 5.8 yards per carry. UNLV was planning on utilizing Michigan transfer Alex Orji along with Colandrea, but Orji suffered a season-ending hamstring injury, so the offense is fully in Colandrea’s hands. A dual between Finn and Colandrea will be must-see television (and an absolute headache for opposing defenses).

 

"Strength on Strength"

 

Miami has demonstrated that the “defense wins championship” adage still rings true. The RedHawks held opponents to just 15.9 points per game in 2023 and they posted another sub-20 season in 2024. Their leader Matt Salopek may be gone (517 career tackles), but defense should still be the strength of the team. Chuck Martin won’t force any fourth down conversions on offense, he’ll happily kick field goals with a Lou Groza-caliber kicker and play the field position game.

 

Meanwhile, UNLV’s high flying offense will move with tempo, throw the ball around the yard, and utilize Colandrea as a runner. The Rebels have wracked up the points the past two seasons with 34.4 per game in 2023 and 35.4 in 2024. They are currently on pace to meet or exceed that number in 2025. 

 

Who will win the battle between the UNLV offense and the Miami defense? Deep threat receiver Jaden Bradley (13 receptions, 262 yards) will test senior safeties Eli Blakey and Silas Walters, who make up one of the best secondaries in the MAC.

 

The first ever meeting between the Rebels and RedHawks should be an awesome showdown between two programs who have each won 20 games in the past two seasons. For what it’s worth, Vegas believes that this game will be close, with UNLV opening as 3.5-point favorites. Could a noon kick give Miami a slight edge? ESPNU will be the home for this group of five showdown, one that will be worth your time.