Rebels-Cowboys Preview - USA Today
FACTS & STATS: Site: War Memorial Stadium (29,181) -- Laramie, Wyoming. Television: The Mountain. Home Record: UNLV 1-1, Wyoming 2-1. Away Record: UNLV 0-3, Wyoming 1-1. Neutral Record: UNLV 0-0, Wyoming 0-0. Conference Record: UNLV 0-0, Wyoming 0-0. Series Record: UNLV leads, 10-9.
GAME NOTES: A couple of teams coming off disappointing outings last week try to get into gear on Saturday afternoon, as the UNLV Rebels and the Wyoming Cowboys kick off their respective Mountain West Conference schedules against each other at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie.
Wyoming, which started off the 2011 campaign with three straight wins over lesser opponents such as Weber State, Texas State and Bowling Green, went from being defeated by nationally-ranked Nebraska (38-14) in September to being blown away by Utah State last weekend in Logan, 63-19.
As for the Rebels, a team which is still seeking its first road win under second-year head coach Bobby Hauck, they've been a tough group to figure out this year. The team was crushed in back-to-back dates against Wisconsin (51-17) and Washington State (59-7), but then somehow found a way to topple Hawaii (40-20). Since the victory over the Warriors, UNLV has been dealt an embarrassing 41-16 setback by Southern Utah and an even more discouraging 37-0 shutout by in-state rival Nevada, the first time in that series that one team has ever come up empty.
Last season, Wyoming bowed in an awkward 42-16 final on the road versus UNLV, giving the Rebels a 10-9 advantage in the all-time series. UNLV's last road win in the series was a 35-24 decision back in 2003.
The UNLV offense was simply atrocious versus the Wolf Pack last weekend, the visitors to Reno managing a mere 110 yards of total offense. The biggest problem for the Rebels was Caleb Herring who completed just one of his 14 pass attempts, and that eight-yard connection didn't come until late in the fourth quarter. Herring, who was intercepted once, was sacked five times which brought the team's overall rushing total down to just 102 yards even as Dionza Bradford finished with a respectable 79 yards on 18 attempts. After going down behind the line of scrimmage so many times last week, it should come as no surprise that Herring has been targeted quite a bit by opposing defenses and after five games the UNLV offensive line ranks last in the MWC and 117th in the nation with 3.8 sacks allowed per contest. If not for the win over Hawaii in which the Rebels exploded for 40 points, the team would be worse off than it is right now, ranked 113th in the nation in scoring with a mere 16.0 ppg.
While the UNLV offense was limping along, so was the defense for the visitors as they allowed a pair of Nevada quarterbacks to throw for 459 yards and three touchdowns. Granted, the Rebels did manage to come up with interceptions by Quinton Pointer, Mike Clausen and Will Chandler, but it made no difference in the outcome. The defense up front permitted the Pack a hefty 240 yards and one TD on the ground as well, making it impossible for a weak UNLV offense to mount any sort of sustained scoring drive. The pass defense for this unit has been abysmal in 2011, currently ranked 118th in the country with a whopping 330 ypg allowed, but that's to be expected after losing by such large margins against Wisconsin and Washington State and also clashing with Hawaii which is notorious for throwing the ball and little else. If there is one positive to take away from this Rebels group, it is that they are tied for 29th in the country in turnover margin with a plus-0.60 per game right now.
Thanks to a Brett Smith two-yard touchdown run on the first possession of the game and a fumble recovery in the end zone by James Caraway shortly thereafter, the Cowboys enjoyed an early 12-0 lead over Utah State last Saturday, although failed conversions following both TDs should have been a harbinger of things to come for the Cowboys who ended up losing by 44 points on the road. Smith finished the meeting 28-of-46 for 265 yards and an interception, while the running game for the Pokes accounted for just 108 yards and a couple of scores in the rout. The rushing total fell far below the team's average of 189.2 ypg on the season, but in reality, that number has been drastically inflated due to the 382 yards charged against Texas State in a 35-point win earlier in the campaign. Smith, who has registered four of his team's 11 rushing TDs on the season, has completed close to 60 percent of his pass attempts for 245.6 ypg and seven TDs as he spreads the wealth among several receivers in order to keep defenses guessing.
Wyoming's defense had no chance of holding back the Utah State offense no matter how hard it tried, giving up not only 303 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, but also making Aggies quarterback Chuckie Keeton look like a seasoned veteran as the youngster converted 16-of-21 passes for 228 yards and a record-tying five touchdowns. Brian Hendricks and Tashaun Gipson did all they could to try and slow down the USU charge, delivering 12 and 11 tackles, respectively, but it was simply too much for the Pokes to handle. Hendricks leads the team in total tackles at this stage of the season with 42, although he's been credited with just 16 solo stops. Making even more of a significant impact is Korey Jones who has recorded 22 tackles over five games, of which four have come against the quarterback and 5.5 in the backfield overall to pace the squad in both categories. As a group, the Cowboys could use some extra practice when it comes to putting on pressure at the line of scrimmage, seeing as how they rank fifth in the conference and 87th nationally with just 5.0 TFLs per game right now.
Both of these teams need to bounce back in a big way, but at least the Cowboys don't have as far to go from an offensive standpoint and that might be the difference in this meeting.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Wyoming 27, UNLV 13
16 Oct, 2011--
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