LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — To cap off a historically successful season, UNLV Football will play in their first college football bowl game in a decade — and it's a big one.
The Rebels were selected for the Guaranteed Rate Bowl on Dec. 26 vs. the Kansas Jayhawks of the Big 12 Conference.
🏈🌵 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐃:
— Guaranteed Rate Bowl (@RateBowl) December 3, 2023
It will be @ku_football and @unlvfootball in the 2023 @GuaranteedRate Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 26!
Get your tickets now for a night of "guaranteed" fun inside the home of the Arizona @Dbacks.
🎟️ https://t.co/TXp2CpfWah#RockChalk #BEaREBEL pic.twitter.com/Fa9s1AkJyK
UNLV finished the 2023-24 season with a 9-4 record (6-2 in Mountain West Conference play) — its best since 1984.
The Rebels finished conference play tied for first with two other teams in the Mountain West — Boise State and San Jose State. Falling to Boise State in the conference championship on Saturday meant the Rebels wouldn't appear in the Gronk LA Bowl vs. a Pac-12 opponent.
The Mountain West Conference has five bowl tie-ins: the LA Bowl, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl, the Arizona Bowl and the Hawai'i Bowl.
But the conference also has an affiliation to fill, if needed in a given season, for the Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs. a Big Ten or Big 12 opponent.
UNLV's selection for that game is a testament to what the team has been able to accomplish in the first season under head coach Barry Odom, earning its winningest record in decades and several top honors in the conference.
UNLV's last bowl appearance was in 2014 at the Heart of Dallas Bowl, where the Rebels lost to North Texas. The Scarlet and Gray have not won a bowl game since the 2000 Las Vegas Bowl under head coach John Robinson.
The Guaranteed Rate Bowl kicks off at 6 p.m. PT on Tuesday, Dec. 26 at Chase Field in Phoenix. Tickets starting at $70 are on sale at fiestabowl.com/sports/rate.
