The Rebels played their first game of their inaugural season against the St. Mary's Gaels at Cashman Field in Las Vegas.

The Rebels continued their strong campaign, breaking the national Division II top-10 and announcing their first All-American, running back Mike Thomas, who ran for the Division II national rushing title with 1,741 and setting nine school records in the process.

The Rebels embarked on their first post-season journey in a national quarterfinal against Alcorn State, defeating the Braves 35–22 in Las Vegas.

The Rebels memorable season ended in the national semifinals in the Grantland Rice Bowl, losing to Delaware 11–49.

The Rebels defeated their first major college opponent away from Las Vegas, with a 33–6 victory over Colorado State in Fort Collins.

At the end of the season, the Rebels made a trip to Yokohama, Japan, to compete against college football powerhouse Brigham Young, losing 28–24.

The 1981 season proved to be the last in Knap's tenure at UNLV, as he retired from coaching after a year of accomplishments, including the Rebels' first appearance in the ABC's Regional Game of the Week (a 21–45 loss at Wyoming), a 45–41 upset of 8th-ranked BYU in Provo, Utah, and securing the programs 100th win (27–20 at UTEP) in El Paso, Texas.

It took the entire season before the Rebels won their first conference game, a 42–23 victory against Cal State Fullerton on November 27.

The Rebels then stunned the heavily favored Nevada, 32–27 to win a share of the Big West Conference championship, the program's second title (but the first one they were allowed to keep).

Despite a challenging 1999 season, UNLV experienced a notable moment in college football history during week two when they faced Baylor.

Trailing 24–21 with only ten seconds remaining and no timeouts left, Baylor opted to run the ball rather than take a knee.

The decision backfired as Baylor fumbled, allowing UNLV's Kevin Thomas to recover and return the ball 99 yards for a touchdown, resulting in a dramatic 27–24 Rebel victory.

As the year 2000 approached, hopes were high that UNLV football was on the brink of a turnaround, making significant strides towards competing for the Mountain West crown.

The season went down to the wire as the Rebels had to pull out a 34–32 victory on the road against Hawaii to clinch their third berth in a bowl game.

Robinson retired after the 2004 season, having led the Rebels to a bowl game and five consecutive victories over rival Nevada.

UNLV was picked to finish fifth in the conference, but the team began to fall apart after a surprising loss at Wyoming.

That was followed by losses at Nevada, against Brigham Young and Utah, and at Texas Christian and the Air Force Academy — games in which UNLV was outscored 243–81.

After the Air Force loss on November 14, the school announced Sanford's last game as coach would be the season finale against San Diego State.

[11][12] On November 23, 2019, the UNLV Rebels defeated the San Jose State Spartans in their final home game at Sam Boyd Stadium, 38–35, in front of 17,373 fans in attendance.

[13] On November 25, 2019, Tony Sanchez and UNLV agreed to part ways, taking effect after the team's final regular season game.

[14] He was replaced by Oregon offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo who was announced as the new head coach of the Rebel football program on December 11, 2019.

[18] Four of them (Harvey Hyde, Jeff Horton, John Robinson, and Barry Odom) have won Conference Coach of the Year awards.

[19] Ninth Island Showdown Beginning in 2017, the annual game between UNLV and Hawai'i, 'Ninth Island Showdown' or, 'The Battle for the Golden Pineapple' gained a rivalry trophy when the California Hotel and Casino donated the "Golden Pineapple" to the winner of the game.

[20] The rivalry stems back to the days when both the San Jose State Spartans and the UNLV Rebels athletics programs were both in the Big West Conference, in the 1980s.

In the mid-1990's the Spartans and Rebels were both a part of WAC, Western Athletic Conference, and are division rivals in the Mountain West today.