UNLV football could come out throwing at Wyoming

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019 | 2 a.m.

As the Rebels prepare for Saturday’s critical road game at Wyoming, they are putting their faith in one of the least reliable aspects of their offense: the deep passing game.

UNLV goes into the contest sporting a 1-2 record and needing a victory to stay on track for a bowl berth at the end of the season, and though junior running back Charles Williams happens to rank No. 2 in the nation in rushing, head coach Tony Sanchez and quarterback Armani Rogers believe the Wyoming-specific game plan will dictate taking to the air.

“It’s going to be an interesting matchup,” Sanchez said. “They’re a team that’s very stingy against the run, we run the ball really well. They give up a lot of yards passing. We’ve got to find our way passing the ball a little bit better.”

That’s a strategy the Rebels have been unable to execute in recent seasons, including their Week 2 loss to Arkansas State. UNLV came out throwing in that game and lost 43-17, as Rogers completed just 8-of-23 passes for 42 yards.

The alternative would be pounding the rock against Wyoming’s defensive front, which has been among the nation’s best when it comes to stopping the run this season. The Cowboys have allowed just 2.3 yards per rush, which ranks 8^th in the nation, and opponents average just 7.2 first downs per game via the run.

Wyoming has accomplished that by stacking the line of scrimmage and playing risky man-to-man coverage on outside receivers — an alignment that invites deep balls. For the season, the Cowboys have allowed 13.2 yards per completion, which ranks 92^nd.

The question is whether Rogers and the UNLV receivers can execute a game plan that features deep passing routes. Rogers has struggled with his accuracy during his two-plus years as the starting quarterback and has especially had issues when throwing down the field, hitting on just 23-of-77 attempts when targeting receivers more than 10 yards downfield according to Tyler Bischoff of ESPN1100.

So far this season, Rogers has completed 53.0 percent overall (35-of-66) for 306 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions.

After using the bye week to study up on the Wyoming defense, Rogers thinks he and his pass-catchers can move the ball.

“I was watching film over the bye week just to understand what I’m going against,” Rogers said. “I feel like with them playing man-on-man with our receivers, I believe in our receivers 100 percent. And they’re a very aggressive team, so I feel like we can take shots.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.