Take 5: Rebels back home for battle between league’s bottom dwellers

By Taylor Bern

Friday, Oct. 31, 2014 | 2 a.m.

If you’re heading out to Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday for the UNLV-New Mexico game don’t be late for the 2:38 p.m. kickoff. With the way the Lobos run their offense this could be one of the quickest games of the season.

The game will air on ROOT Sports and also stream on the Mountain West Network.

The Rebels (2-6, 1-3) and Lobos (2-5, 0-3) are both mired in a mess, hoping to crawl their way closer to the middle with a win. And even though New Mexico hasn’t had much go right this year the Lobos have to be excited about the prospect of their league-leading rushing offense going up against the Mountain West’s worst rushing defense.

Turnovers might end up playing a larger role than New Mexico’s yardage but that rushing attack against UNLV’s front seven is clearly the biggest matchup of the game. Here are a few other things to consider heading into the Rebels’ fourth home game of the season:

1. Back home

Like a lot of people this preseason, I expected UNLV to finish in the 5-7 win range. And when I thought about what might cause the Rebels to finish short of that it wasn’t the quarterback or the defense. It was the road.

UNLV had gone years without a win away from home, piling up 23 straight road losses along the way. Last September’s trip to Albuquerque, a wildly-entertaining 56-42 victory against New Mexico, finally snapped that streak and the Rebels would go on to finish with a winning road record for the first time since 2003.

This year? Right back to a road unkind. UNLV is 0-5 away from home, losing those games by an average of 26.4 points per game.

The competition has certainly been easier at home, but getting blown out like this is very similar to coach Bobby Hauck’s first three years, when he started his tenure 0-20 on the road.

UNLV is back home for just the second time in seven weeks but the first of two straight. If the Rebels have any chance of reaching the bottom of that preseason win total prediction, these home games are critical.

2. What a difference a year makes

Do you remember how bonkers last year’s UNLV-New Mexico game was in Albuquerque? The teams combined for 749 yards and 70 points at halftime before the Rebels pulled away in the 56-42 win.

The game featured UNLV’s offensive three-headed monster in peak form: Caleb Herring was 24-of-34 for 293 yards and four touchdowns, three of those to Devante Davis, who hauled in 10 catches for 164 yards while Tim Cornett carved up the Lobos’ defense for 179 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries.

Both defenses are still capable of giving up those kinds of numbers but UNLV’s offense no longer appears capable of producing them. The Rebels rank last in the league in both scoring offense and rushing offense, although they did look improved in the last home game, a 30-27 victory against Fresno State.

Losing Herring, Cornett and then Davis to injury has obviously taken its toll. There might be no better example than looking at this matchup from last year to this year.

3. Winning record

This is an important game to win from the series perspective because New Mexico is the only current Mountain West program against which UNLV has a winning record. And it’s only by one game.

The Rebels have won five of the last six meetings and last year’s victory broke the 10-10 in the series. If UNLV loses it’s back to .500, with most of its other intraconference series records separated by at least five games. Here’s a look at UNLV’s all-time record against the other current Mountain West teams:

Air Force (6-13), Boise State (3-5), Colorado State (6-14-1), Fresno State (5-12), Hawaii (9-14), UNR (16-22), San Diego State (9-15), San Jose State (5-13-1), Utah State (7-15), Wyoming (10-11).

4. Will the Rebels be favored?

We’ve discussed for weeks that this looked like the only game in which the Rebels would the favorites. With the line starting at UNLV minus-1 it was hardly a guarantee it would stay on the home team’s side and some local sports books had it as a pick Thursday morning before moving it back to the Rebels.

Maybe it only feels extra insulting because we’re in Las Vegas, but it would be an extra little punch in a disappointing season to go the entire year without being favored against a Division I opponent.

5. Who does this weekend’s game tape help more: UNLV or Air Force?

Since it often seems that coaches like to have extra time to prepare for an option offense, it would seem convenient for the Rebels to have their option opponents lined up back-to-back at home.

This weekend it’s New Mexico and then in comes Air Force. The Falcons run a slightly more balanced (and better) system but there are certainly similarities in both the execution and the results. New Mexico leads the league in rushing offense and ranks last in passing offense; Air Force ranks second and second-to-last in those categories.

Asked if preparing for the first would help with the second, Hauck said he thought it would be more beneficial for Air Force because it could see how the Rebels defended the triple option.

There’s some truth there but to a degree the Falcons do what they’re going to do, no matter the opponent. Coaches often say there’s no substitute for game experience, so getting reps against New Mexico should be a net positive for the following week, no matter what the Falcons learn from the tape.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.