Where UNLV has an edge is continuity everywhere else. Running back Jai'den Thomas is back after topping 1,000 yards and Dan Mullen's staff added four transfer offensive linemen from Power 4 programs to protect whoever wins the quarterback job. That's the kind of infrastructure a first-year Memphis staff simply doesn't have yet, no matter how well-regarded Huff is after five straight bowl trips at his previous stops.
Memphis isn't walking in overmatched on name value — the Tigers were 8-1 and in the Playoff conversation last season before a three-game skid to close it out, and Huff's track record (a Sun Belt title at Marshall, bowl eligibility every year he's been a head coach) suggests he knows how to win quickly. But that was under a different staff and a different quarterback room. Whoever wins the Memphis job in fall camp will be doing it with almost no institutional continuity behind him.
UNLV also has more preseason buzz than a typical Group of 5 side — five Rebels made the preseason All-Mountain West team, a league high, and both major outlets ranking non-Power 4 teams have UNLV rated ahead of Memphis nationally. None of that guarantees Jackson Arnold looks comfortable in Week 1, but it's a program that knows how to win in this building and has stacked talent around a new quarterback rather than replaced almost everything at once.
Kickoff is set for 9:00 PM ET on Saturday, August 29 — a late-night opener that'll be one of the last games of the night for both fan bases to check in on. With two new starting quarterbacks, a new coaching staff on one sideline, and a home crowd on the other, don't expect a clean, high-scoring track meet. This has the feel of a game that gets decided by whichever offensive line finds its footing first.