photo by: AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

UNLV head coach Barry Odom reacts to his defense during the second half of the Guaranteed Rate Bowl NCAA college football game against Kansas Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023, in Phoenix. Kansas won 49-36.

The selection of UNLV for last season’s Guaranteed Rate Bowl came out of nowhere.

Weeks of bowl projections had pitted Kansas against Big Ten Conference opponents like Northwestern and Maryland — understandable, given that the game’s conference tie-ins are with the Big Ten and Big 12.

Instead, the pick went to the Las Vegas-based Rebels out of the Mountain West, not too far away from Phoenix. With 2024 scheduling already decided, the result was a scenario in which KU and UNLV would face off two times in a four-game span — albeit with an offseason in the interim — first on Dec. 26, then on Sept. 13 for the third week of the following season.

After the Jayhawks won that bowl game 49-36, claiming their first postseason victory in 15 seasons, the time has come for the rematch, on Friday night at Children’s Mercy Park. Much like KU’s recent vanquisher Illinois — a team of which KU running back Devin Neal said, “Obviously, they had a fire lit under them from last year, and I don’t think we matched their intensity” — UNLV will be looking for a chance at redemption.

Make no mistake, though: These will not be the same Rebels. Barry Odom’s team has a new quarterback, many new running backs and, like so many schools in the 12-team era, dreams of making the College Football Playoff.

“I think we go out and go undefeated, do what we should do, it’s a very good chance we get in there,” said quarterback Matt Sluka, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Obviously it’ll come down to the Mountain West championship. We hope to get in there to win that and hopefully get the bid. … I think it’s a real attainable goal for us.”

So far, so good for UNLV, which easily handled Big 12 foe and upcoming KU opponent Houston 27-7 in its opener and then routed FCS Utah Tech 72-14 on Saturday. After the second week of action had concluded, three of ESPN’s 13 experts predicted that the Rebels will be the Group of Five representative in the playoff.

They will have to take on two more power-conference teams in KU and Syracuse, plus the whole Mountain West, before getting there.

One of the big storylines around the Guaranteed Rate Bowl last season was the future of then-UNLV freshman quarterback Jayden Maiava. On3 had reported early in December that he was expected to enter the transfer portal, which Maiava refuted before the bowl game, only to go into the portal shortly afterward, commit to Georgia and then flip to USC.

The eventual result was that the Rebels needed another quarterback, as former starter Doug Brumfield also medically retired. After entering late into a three-way competition, the hard-running Holy Cross transfer Sluka won the job, and he really didn’t need to do much (71 passing yards on six completions, 59 rushing yards on 11 carries) against Houston, before tossing three touchdowns and running for one more against Utah Tech.

Sluka dominated at the FCS level, earning Patriot League offensive player of the year honors in 2023; the past two seasons he combined for 2,481 rushing yards with 20 touchdowns and 4,215 passing yards to go with 46 more scores to just nine interceptions.

It’s not all new on offense. UNLV still has players who gave KU trouble last year like wideouts Jacob De Jesus (135 offensive yards and a touchdown in the bowl game) and Ricky White III (97 receiving yards and a score). White, one of the best Group of Five wideouts in the country, caught all three of Sluka’s touchdown tosses against Utah Tech.

photo by: AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

UNLV wide receiver Ricky White (11) makes a catch between Kansas cornerback Cobee Bryant and safety O.J. Burroughs (5) during the second half of the Guaranteed Rate Bowl NCAA college football game Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023, in Phoenix. Kansas won 49-36.

photo by: AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

UNLV wide receiver Jacob De Jesus (21) runs the ball against Kansas during the first half of the Guaranteed Rate Bowl NCAA college football game Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023, in Phoenix.

Where the Rebels look different is in the backfield. Five running backs got carries for the Rebels between the first two games and four of them — NC State transfer Michael Allen, freshmen Greg Burrell and Devin Green and Central Arkansas transfer Kylin James — were newcomers. (The other was promising underclassman Jai’Den Thomas, the listed starter.) After running for just 16 yards at Houston, Burrell led the way with 101 in the game against Utah Tech. In all, through two games, UNLV’s rushing attack is No. 3 in the nation.

One of the Rebels’ biggest offseason moves was retaining offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, the architect of the much-discussed “Go-Go offense” with lots of two-back sets and triple-option concepts, who had reportedly interviewed for the San Diego State head coaching job. Marion hasn’t aired it out much yet at all with Sluka, but wide receiver Casey Cain, who had played under Marion at Texas, joined UNLV in the offseason, as did Marion’s former Pittsburgh wideout Jaden Bradley.

The other side of the ball features a couple players who are quite familiar with KU in one way or another. Linebacker Jackson Woodard, who had 11 tackles and three sacks for UNLV in its opener, will take on the Jayhawks for the third time after previously doing so under Odom at Arkansas in the 2022 Liberty Bowl and at UNLV in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. Safety Jalen Catalon, also a member of the Liberty Bowl team, played at Texas last season and forced a fumble by Jason Bean that Daniel Hishaw Jr. ran in for a score. He’s already having an impact for the Rebels, as he scored a defensive touchdown against Houston.

Other key offseason acquisitions on the defense include defensive end Antonio Doyle Jr., who played for Deion Sanders at Jackson State after beginning his career at Texas A&M; and a lot of the rest of the secondary alongside Catalon, including another former A&M player in Tony Grimes and another Arkansas convert in Malik Chavis.

photo by: AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

UNLV linebacker Jackson Woodard (7) during the first half of the Guaranteed Rate Bowl NCAA college football game against Kansas. Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023, in Phoenix.

photo by: AP Photo/Michael Woods

Arkansas defensive back Malik Chavis (4) against South Carolina during an NCAA football game on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, in Fayetteville, Ark.

photo by: AP Photo/Ben McKeown

North Carolina State’s Michael Allen (2) is tackled by Miami’s Wesley Bissainthe (31) during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023.

photo by: AP Photo/Eric Gay

Washington cornerback Mishael Powell (23) breaks up a pass intended for Texas wide receiver Casey Cain (88) during the first half of the Alamo Bowl NCAA college football game in San Antonio, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022.

photo by: AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

Pittsburgh wide receiver Jaden Bradley (7) makes a touchdown catch against Georgia Tech late in the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, in Pittsburgh. Georgia Tech won 26-21.