Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

UNLV football:

Not many positives for Rebels to build on entering Mountain West play

UNLV Football

Mikayla Whitmore

UNLV Rebels fans watch a game against the Northern Illinois Huskies on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014, at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. The Huskies won.

The Rebel Room

How Bad Will it Get for UNLV Football?

Las Vegas Sun sports writers Ray Brewer, Case Keefer and Taylor Bern get into some numbers behind UNLV's dreadful 1-3 start to the season and make predictions on what's still to come. Well, at least two of them do.

Rebels 0-4 vs. spread

UNLV is one of three teams nationally to fail covering the points spread in the initial four games of the season. And it hasn't been close. The Rebels are missing the betting number by an average of 21 points per game.. Utah State and UConn are also 0-4 against the spread. UNLV is a plus-16 underdog Saturday at San Diego State.

The UNLV football team's 1-3 record to start the season appears worse when you dig into the numbers.

The record itself isn’t too surprising. It’s the seemingly giant steps backward on multiple fronts that sound the alarms as the Rebels get ready for their Mountain West opener at 5 p.m. Saturday at San Diego State (1-2). The game will stream on ESPN3.

UNLV ranks second to last nationally in rushing defense, total defense and first-down defense, surrendering 1,221 rushing yards in four games and an average of 566 total yards a game.

The numbers don't improve offensively with UNLV averaging just 18.6 points per game. They are tied for last nationally in interceptions thrown with nine and rank in the bottom 15 in scoring, pass efficiency, scoring defense, punt returns, turnover margin, third-down defense and penalty yardage per game.

Consistency, discipline and execution have all been major issues. Coach Bobby Hauck feels he knows where things need to start changing.

“The head coach needs to do a better job,” Hauck said Monday at the Lied Athletic Complex.

It’s not all negative. The third quarter against Northern Illinois two weeks ago seemed like a possible breakout for the offense, and the first half against Houston, including a solid touchdown drive and multiple interceptions by the defense, was at least enough to be in the game. But average it out and the positives are getting swallowed up by the enormity of UNLV’s errors.

“We can’t play well for a quarter here or a quarter there; we’ve got to put a game together,” Hauck said. “If we play well for a couple of series here or there, or a quarter or half against San Diego State, we’re not going to beat them either.”

There is reason for optimism. First, this might be the worst the Mountain West has been in league history. League teams are 2-17 against Big 5 conferences and only Boise State (3-1) seems like an objectively above-average team.

And after watching the tape from a six-point halftime deficit that turned into a 33-point loss at Houston, Hauck said he felt the Rebels battled until the bitter end. That doesn’t mean they’ll suddenly be able to stop the run against an Aztecs team averaging 4.96 yards per carry, but at this point UNLV is looking for positives to build on and effort appears to be one.

“We’re going to do that for sure,” said safety Mike Horsey, “and if we continue to play hard, hopefully it will come together.”

It would also help if the Rebels could get healthy. Hauck said he couldn’t release an injury report Monday even if he wanted to because UNLV is still taking stock of everyone’s status.

Senior receivers Devante Davis and Marcus Sullivan will be monitored closely this week, and starters in pretty much every position group are dealing with one injury or another.

Last season things like injuries and penalties were generally on the Rebels’ side. Through the first third of 2014 those numbers are as bad as everything else, making it seem like UNLV must be perfect to snap out of this.

“I don’t feel like we’ve got a great margin for error in any week,” Hauck said. “We have to play really well and do everything right or we’re not going to win. That’s kind of where we’re at, that’s where we’ve been and probably where we’re going to be.”

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

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