New solutions and old problems emerge for UNLV in season opener loss.

LAS VEGAS—All eyes were on the UNLV Rebels, who came out the other side of conference realignment in a position of menace for a College Football Playoff spot. With the Mountain West no longer loaded with the traditional boogeymen for the Rebels such as Boise State, UNLV has an opportunity to make a statement of their own.

With another high-profile transfer at quarterback in Jackson Arnold and a defense hoping for improvement in defensive coordinator Paul Guenther's second year, the Rebels clearly have such designs in mind for themselves. On Saturday, however, all of those hopes suffered a massive dent with a 27-21 loss at Allegiant Stadium.

Arnold did not get out to the fastest start, engineering a couple of drives that did little in terms of progress during a scoreless first quarter for both teams. However, Arnold came alive in the second, growing more confident with his deep passing and eventually finding redshirt freshman Tavian McNair to kickstart the scoring.

From there, Arnold was not afraid to make plays with both his arm and his legs. By the time the first half was over, Arnold had already gone 17-for-21 for 203 yards, as well as leading the Rebels with 40 rushing yards.