UNLV Football: Rebels To Face Kansas In Guaranteed Rate Bowl

The Rebels fell short in their quest for a conference title, but they can end one of their best years ever with a win against the Jayhawks.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01g3929z3xrgcfk7jg player_id=none image=https://mwwire.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

UNLV Football: Rebels To Face Kansas In Guaranteed Rate Bowl

The Rebels came up short in their quest for a conference title, but they can still end one of their best seasons ever with a win against the Jayhawks.

Contact/Follow @MattK_FS & @MWCwire

The Rebels are bowling for the first time in a while.

Generally speaking, not much was expected of the UNLV Rebels this fall, but the program defied expectations and will head to their first bowl since 2013 when they square off with the Big 12’s Kansas Jayhawks in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.

UNLV had high internal expectations for itself, however, dismissing former head coach Marcus Arroyo last off-season and bringing in Barry Odom to replace him. In Odom’s first year at the helm, the Rebels posted a 9-4 record, the first time the program had won that many games since winning 11 in 1984, and reached the Mountain West championship game for the first time. Though they fell short on Saturday against Boise State, UNLV still has a chance to reach double-digit wins for the first time in 40 years.

Kansas, meanwhile, continued their renaissance under head coach Lance Leipold and won eight games for the first time since 2008. The highwater mark came in defeating Oklahoma at home back in late October, though they’ll have the rare opportunity to defeat both teams from the Silver State having beaten Nevada on the road in non-conference play.

This year’s Guaranteed Rate Bowl is set for Tuesday, December 26. It will be broadcast on ESPN, kicking off at 6:00 PM Pacific/7:00 PM Mountain.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1360]

[protected-iframe id=”f7652191f99ba13728097498e8a79cd8-137729785-123448869″ info=”https://open.spotify.com/embed-podcast/show/48681pqFq0kB9dhrtPPoNd” width=”100%” height=”232″ frameborder=”0″]