Everyone’s talking about Boise. There’s no argument UNLV’s trip to the blue turf on October 18 is a massive game. It’s a revenge spot. It’s a possible title preview. It’s national TV. But if you zoom out and look at what will decide whether the Rebels break through and win the Mountain West in 2025, it’s not that one.
It’s the road trips to Wyoming and Colorado State.
October 4 – at Wyoming
UNLV hasn’t won in Laramie since 2003, when they knocked off the Cowboys 35–24. That’s more than two decades of frustration at 7,220 feet. Since then, they’ve lost six straight in War Memorial Stadium — in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015, and 2019 — often in brutal fashion.
Wyoming doesn’t need to be a juggernaut to be dangerous. They’re physical, disciplined, and tough to beat at home, especially when the weather turns and the oxygen thins. This is a tone-setter. A trap. A toughness test. Last year, UNLV missed the trip to Laramie. This year, there’s no dodging it.
Survive Laramie, and you stay in the hunt. Slip up, and your margin vanishes before Boise.
November 8 – at Colorado State
Then comes Fort Collins — a place where UNLV hasn’t won since 2002. Read that again. A program that’s been to back-to-back Mountain West title games still hasn’t solved Colorado State on the road in over 20 years.
College Football News called this the key game of the season, and they might be right. “Going to Wyoming is difficult, and the trip to Boise State is rough,” they wrote. “But just about everything else is winnable in Mountain West play. The trip to Colorado State is the only time the Rebels leave Nevada over the last five games. They haven’t won in Fort Collins since 2002.”
It’s more than just a scheduling quirk this is the final road game before a potential championship push. It’s the only time UNLV leaves the state in the last month. And it comes against a CSU team that’s heading to the Pac-12, trying to assert superiority on their way out the door. If UNLV wants to be taken seriously as the new face of the Mountain West, this is a statement opportunity.
Go win in Fort Collins. In the cold. In a place you haven’t won since the early 2000s. Beat the team that’s leaving you behind and prove you should be the one everyone’s chasing.
More Than Revenge
The Boise game matters. It always will. But if UNLV is going to finally finish the job in 2025, they’ll need to do more than hang with the big boys. They’ll need to handle the historically tricky ones. The cold ones. The ones where past Rebel teams folded.
Laramie and Fort Collins. That’s the road.
You want the Mountain West title? It runs through those two stadiums.