Column: UNLV isn’t going anywhere soon, and that is a good thing for UH

So often our blessings are also our curses, and vice versa.

To illustrate this in the wake of the University of Hawaii football team’s 38-10 loss at UNLV on Friday, the most famous one-liner from the king of them comes to mind.

With apologies to the late, great Henny Youngman, a Vegas headliner who was way before even my time : Take UNLV football … please.

If you are a UH football fan still enduring a two-day hangover this morning, that might very well be a prevailing thought. But, like it or not, these programs are married.

Why, you ask, could the Rebels have not joined that exodus to the new and not improved Pac-12 along with Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State, Colorado State and Utah State ?

There are many thoughts on that. But as difficult as it may be to swallow after such a decisive blowout in the biggest game of the year for UH, the proper emotion as we approach Thanksgiving is gratitude.

It doesn’t matter if UNLV is staying in the Mountain West to serve as flagship of a fleet of tugboats, due to financial realities, because it is playing the long game with hopes of an eventual Power 4 invitation, or all of the above.

While it might not seem like it right now for Hawaii fans, UNLV staying put for however long is good for the Mountain West, and good for UH.

As we are often told, no relationship is ever completely even, but this one is fairly equitable—at least when viewed via the bottom line of wins and losses. They have split the past eight meetings.

Future UH teams need a rival on the schedule, and UNLV is a good prospect. Maybe you fear that the Rebels’ advantages are too daunting, that they can build an unassailable foundation. But don’t forget that every college football team rents its talent now, and every player is a free agent, every year.

As for this game, and this season, specifically : If we’ve learned anything about the 2025 Warriors, it is that no assumptions can be made from game to game (well, except perhaps for the dependability of Kansei Matsuzawa, who is now 23-for-23 on field goals ).

Yes, there was that nice midseason roll that included two conference road wins. But how do you go from 38 Special—as in 38-6 over previously unbeaten San Diego State—to the wrong end of 38-10 ? And, before the San Diego State win there was the 45-38 loss at San Jose State (which is now 3-8 ).

There’s more fodder for any numerologists out there. Oddly enough, this was the fourth game for UNLV where one of the teams scored 38, and the Rebels won them all.

Friday’s game was also strangely opposite of the San Diego State meeting in another way. The losing team started very well, but then after one stumble never regained momentum and got steamrolled.

Outcomes often hinge on turnovers—but more often because forced turnovers are capitalized on. The Warriors were still in the game when they recovered a UNLV fumble, but then failed to get any points out of it. And all those self-inflicted wounds like dropped passes and triple-digit penalty yards did not help.

One major challenge for UH in this series moving forward, especially when it comes to recruiting and retention, is that UNLV plays its home games at a state-of-the-art NFL facility. Meanwhile, Hawaii hosts at a venue better suited for big high school games, like Friday’s state championship.

Attendance at Allegiant Stadium was announced at 37, 106. It was the largest home crowd of the year for UNLV—and, as we know, a good chunk of those were UH fans.

Sadly, the attendance was more than twice as many as the capacity of 15, 194 at Hawaii’s on-campus Clarence T.C. Ching Complex.

The Warriors can still finish 9-4 with a senior night win against Wyoming and then victory in the Hawaii Bowl—both at home. That should help recruit and retain some free-agent-student-athletes.

And Ching Field does have one advantage over Allegiant Stadium.

It is a lot easier to fill.