October 9, 2026 - 3:48 pm

He has felt this way since his days as an assistant coach. He always thought it ultra important to win a football season’s first conference game.

Always believed it set the tone for what was to come.

Dan Mullen watched his UNLV team open Mountain West play with a 21-6 victory at Hawaii on Sept. 5.

Watched it set that tone for league play.

Now, things only get tougher.

The Rebels (3-2, 1-0) return to Mountain West competition at 4 p.m. on Saturday against North Dakota State (5-0, 2-0) at Allegiant Stadium. Return against the conference’s hottest team that will arrive in Las Vegas as a road favorite.

It has been a while since UNLV prepared for a Mountain West game, and the Rebels over that span offered some very good football at times and some of the very bad variety at others.

They finished the non-league portion of their schedule 2-2 with victories against Akron and Cal and losses to Memphis and North Texas. Highs and lows, ups and downs, memorable and forgettable results.

But awaiting them now are seven straight league games to see whether UNLV can qualify for a fourth straight conference championship game.

“We know it’s a great conference,” Mullen said. “I think one thing is that some of the Group of 6 teams that have gotten to the playoffs didn’t go through the rigor of what our conference is. A lot of them didn’t play Power 4 teams while our league had Power 4 wins.

“I just think the toughness of our conference from top to bottom makes it so difficult. If you look at last year, the top five teams in our league could have played with teams that made the playoffs on a week-to-week basis.”

Jake Pope is a senior safety whose earlier career stops were at Alabama and Georgia. He knows all about a tough conference having existed within the SEC.

But this is his second year in the Mountain West and Pope is adamant the league can stand up to others.

“You know, there’s not much difference any more with things like NIL and players scattered around the country,” he said. “I love the competition in this conference. It was great last year with a team like Boise State (now in the Pac-12) and now this year with a team like North Dakota State.

“We get to play a great schedule and there are great players throughout the league. I never look too far ahead at (standings). I just know North Dakota State has been a storied program (in the FCS) with great tradition and have had players drafted frequently. I think this is a great opportunity to be out there on the field with them and to compete against them.”

Confidence. It matters. North Dakota State has it. It is accustomed to winning championships. Elevating to the FBS certainly hasn’t slowed the belief in itself and shouldn’t.

You need it to win any conference.

Mullen is also big on confidence and has been around teams defined by it. He points to a 2004 Utah side when he was on the staff of Urban Meyer. He remembers those press conferences when questions were asked about a season’s expectations.

About the answers from Utah being it was only about the final score and if the Utes were going undefeated.

“Team confidence is such a huge deal on any team and any roster,” Mullen said. “It comes from expecting to win football games. Confident players make plays. That’s where the (North Dakota State) confidence comes from.”

So the Rebels are here now, about to reset and re-enter conference play, about to put those non-league results behind them and know the Hawaii win got things off to a successful start in the most important part of any season.

“To get to 1-0 in league is a big deal as the rest of a long conference year plays out,” Mullen said. “But no game is bigger or smaller than all of them. This is just the next conference game, which means it’s a big one. It’s huge any time you win a game in this league. It’s a two-game swing. All conference games become important that way.”

Now, things only get tougher.

Now, here comes the Bison.

Contact Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.