A Mountain West Championship contender takes a Friday-night road trip to a MAC program that just got banned from its own postseason. On paper, this one isn't close.
Bush’s Picks
UNLVAKR
UNLVAKR
OverUnder
Best BetUNLV
UNLV brings a Mountain West title-game roster and an offense that led the league in yards and scoring a year ago into a building where the home team still hasn't settled on a starting quarterback. This is the kind of gap where the moneyline should be backed even at a short price, because Akron's floor looks lower than usual after a losing season and a postseason ban. Fade Akron here until Moorhead's group proves it can hang with real competition.
UNLV
+Went 10-4, reached 2025 Mountain West title game
+Led MW in total offense and scoring last year
+Mike Scherer returning to boost the defense
−New starting QB unproven in this offense
−Lost key defensive piece Tunmise Adeleye to portal
Akron
+Eight players named Preseason All-MAC
+Returning receivers bring real game experience
−Finished 5-7 in 2025, missed postseason via APR ban
−No settled starting quarterback entering the season
UNLV enters 2026 as the clear favorite to run the new-look Mountain West after going 10-4 and reaching last year's title game under Dan Mullen. The Rebels lost starting QB Anthony Colandrea to Nebraska in the portal, but they didn't exactly downgrade, bringing in Jackson Arnold, a former five-star recruit who started at both Oklahoma and Auburn, to battle returner Alex Orji for QB1. Whoever wins that job inherits an offense that led the entire conference in yards and points a year ago.
Akron is coming off a 5-7 season that ended without even a shot at a bowl game — the Zips were hit with a postseason ban over Academic Progress Rate issues, the first FBS program to catch that penalty since 2014 Idaho. Joe Moorhead is now in year 4 with the seat getting warmer, and Akron still doesn't have a settled starting quarterback, with transfer Reese Poffenbarger, who threw for over 6,000 yards at Albany, in the mix after backing up the last two seasons.
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AKR Akron
The lone bright spot for the Zips is a receiver room that returns real game experience, and eight Akron players landed on Phil Steele's Preseason All-MAC team, so this isn't a program devoid of talent. It's just a program trying to find stability at the sport's most important position while a Mountain West heavyweight comes to town.
UNLV Rebels
Sep 12?@ North Texas—
Sep 5?@ Hawai'i—
Aug 29?vs Memphis—
Akron Zips
Sep 19?@ Minnesota—
Sep 12?vs Robert Morris—
Sep 3?@ Wake Forest—
Recent form.
UNLV's defense also gets a boost with linebackers coach Mike Scherer back in the building — he ran the Rebels' defense the last two seasons before a stint at Purdue, and players have already pointed to his return as a difference-maker. Pair that with an offense that isn't losing much beyond Colandrea, and Akron's shaky QB picture becomes an even bigger problem heading into late September.
This is about as lopsided a Friday-night MACtion matchup as the schedule offers this season — a team with College Football Playoff aspirations against a team still figuring out who's taking the first snap. UNLV should have the horses to make this look easy, but young quarterbacks and early-season MAC road trips have humbled favorites before.
