UNLV vs Akron: NCAA Football - Week 4 - 2026 | Rebels Get Back on Track

For a half, UNLV had to really work for it. Then the Rebels took over.

AKRON, Ohio After trading blows with Akron through the opening two quarters, UNLV came out of halftime with a different energy and turned a four-point game into a runaway. The Rebels scored 24 unanswered points after the break, shutting out the Zips on their way to a 38-10 victory Saturday at InfoCision Stadium.

It was the kind of response UNLV needed after last week.

Coming off a heart-wrenching 44-6 loss to North Texas, the Rebels traveled across the country looking for something to build back on. They found it here in Akron, particularly on the defense side of the ball, where the Rebels settled in after allowing the Zips to move the ball early.

“We were playing good defense, and yet no one was making a play,” UNLV head coach Dan Mullen said afterward. “But we had the defensive front come in the second half, getting home and creating pressure.”

That pressure changed everything.

Game Summary: UNLV Rebels vs Akron Zips

Akron opened the afternoon with a whopping 75-yard touchdown drive, and for a second there had UNLV on its heels. But the Rebels answered that call almost immediately. Quarterback Jackson Arnold found Jai’Den “Jet” Thomas for a 40-yard touchdown, tying the game at 7-7 and giving the UNLV offense its first sign of life.

Thomas wasn’t finished.

The star running back caught another touchdown pass in the second quarter, this one from two yards out, giving the Rebels a 14-7 lead. Akron trimmed the deficit to 14-10 before going into halftime, but UNLV had already established the rhythm the Rebels would need to pull away. And once the third quarter began, there was nothing Akron could do about it.

Thomas opened the second half barreling down the field and scoring a 16-yard touchdown run, giving himself a three-touchdown day and pushing his career touchdown total to 38. Thomas finished with 113 rushing yards on 15 carries and added another 54 yards receiving, showing the versatility from the Jet.

It was the kind of performance UNLV expects from its veteran playmaker,r but the Rebels also got a much-needed spark from the passing game.

Arnold was efficient and consistent when UNLV needed him to be, finishing 17 of his 29 passes and did so for 290 yards and three touchdowns without throwing a single interception.

His most memorable throw of the afternoon came late in the third quarter.

With the Rebels already pulling away, leading 24-10, Arnold dropped back and found Taz Reddicks streaking downfield. That led to a 59-yard touchdown that effectively broke the game open and slammed the door shut for the Zips and any hopes they had of coming back.

Reddicks finished with four catches for 116 yards, becoming UNLV’s first 100-yard receiver of the season.

From there, the Rebels’ defense put the game away.

Akron turned the ball over three times, and UNLV made the Zips pay for two of them with touchdowns. Mumu Bin-Wahad delivered the final nail in the coffin when he intercepted Akron quarterback Brayden Roggow and returned the pick 35 yards for a touchdown with only 7:19 left in the game.

Just like that, a game that had been a nail-biter at halftime had become a 28-point UNLV victory.

The numbers tell the story of the second half, but they don’t capture the massive shift in momentum. Akron finished the game with 301 total yards and was held scoreless after halftime. UNLV finished with 493 yards of offense, the most offensive output the Rebels have had this season, and also never turned the ball over.

For a team that needed an immediate response after last week, they did just that.

The Rebels didn’t just survive a road game. They found a way to take control of one.

UNLV now returns home at 2-2 overall this year and 1-0 in Mountain West play, carrying with it something it didn’t have coming into Saturday: momentum.

The season is still young, and there is still lots left to clean up. But after that night against North Texas, the Rebels showed exactly the kind of answer they can give.

A slow start didn’t sink them.

A close halftime score didn’t rattle them.

Instead, UNLV came out of the locker room, slammed the door, and left Akron with a 38-10 win and maybe even a little bit of its swagger back.

Post-Game

“I think we were able to put guys in position to succeed,” Mullen told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We did that a little better today. There’s a lot to get better at. We really had some guys come out and step it up in the second half.”

On the bye week: “I guess it was a good time,” Mullen said. “We had such a bad taste from (North Texas), but this today was also our fourth game in four time zones and not the one right next to us. The bye allowed our guys to take a breath,h and we became a fresher football team. We need to as coaches, keep building on what we saw here.”

“Jet had a big game, which we rely on,” Mullen said. “It was good to see our wideouts make plays down the field. They’re a talented group, but they’re really young. As they grow and mature, hopefully that confidence builds to make plays I know they can make.”

Thomas put North Texas behind him. “What happened at (North Texas) happened,” Thomas said. “We’re not worried about that anymore. I just needed to be more detailed on my runs and pass protection. I really needed to get back to my game and play football.”

“We got through this one, but there is still a lot of push left in us,” Thomas said. “It’s a great win for us, but I believe we can do much more. We’re a better team than we even showed today. I’m not satisfied at all. I want more.”

Linebacker Cam Santee, who had 10 tackles and an interception, called the bye a turning point. “After that North Texas loss, we really needed to take the time and look at what we were doing,” Santee said. “Are we going to come together or fall apart? We came together and had a new edge about us. We came out of it a brand new team.”

TOP PERFORMERS

TEAM STATS

Second Half 24-0 | Total Yards 493 | Turnovers Forced 3 | Sacks 3 | Attendance 5,607

Next up: UNLV Rebels vs. California Golden Bears, Saturday, October 3, 2026, 12:30 p.m. PT, Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, CBS Sports Network

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