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PROVO — The Rebels from UNLV are rolling into town this week to do what has happened only three other times in 18 attempts — beat BYU in football.
Surprisingly, all three of UNLV's wins over BYU happened in Provo. UNLV's victory in 1981 is called the greatest win in all time for the Rebels. BYU had won 17 games in a row, were ranked No. 8 in the nation and had a 14-point lead in the third quarter. Steve Young was filling in for an injured Jim McMahon. UNLV outscored BYU in the rest of the game to win by 45-41.
Here's what I'm saying: Even though UNLV has only two wins this year, stranger upsets have happened. BYU must be focused on its goal to win each game remaining this year and it starts Saturday. The players should know by now that they can't just show up for a game and automatically win. This game needs their full attention.
Watching UNLV play is kind of odd. The players do plenty of things right, they are normal size and speed as any opponent. They line up in the right places and usually work to do what they have been taught.
The Rebels have scored on the first possession of the game in seven of their 10 games so far. When you watch those drives, it makes you question what's wrong with these guys that they have only won twice this year? Then you watch the whole game and you see their downfall.
The Rebels have given up 17 interceptions this year and as games wear on, they become very inconsistent. For some reason they are quite sharp in the early parts of games, but seem to wear out and execution wanes. They won't quit, but they make a lot of mistakes going full-speed.
BYU needs to be ready at the start for the "good" UNLV, play well enough to take a lead, then force them into some blunders. Sometimes when teams start to make errors, those errors start to grow and grow and become too much to stop. Again, BYU has to play well enough to force those errors.
Related:
Stewart eager to lead Cougars to strong finish this season
With the taste of a win fresh in their mouths, the Cougars will get back at it this weekend with an old Mountain West Conference foe in UNLV. At this week's "BYU Football with Bronco Mendenhall," coach Mendenhall said that the win in Tennessee gave his team a new outlook on the season and that they're ready for whatever comes next.UNLV has some real strengths. It has a very good receiving group. In fact, UNLV is second in the nation in the total receptions returning category. These guys are big and fast and will make big plays.
BYU was very good at pressuring the Middle Tennessee quarterback last game into forcing many bad throws. To offset the good receivers making big plays, BYU must again pressure the QB.
The Rebels have given up a whopping 32 sacks this year. That's even more than BYU has given up. I believe the UNLV receivers are the best part of the UNLV offense and to counter that strength, BYU has to pressure the QB and keep the receivers in front of the secondary all game.
UNLV's rush game is average except for one thing. The running backs have not lost a fumble this year, it's been 256 carries since a running back has given up a fumble. That was in game 11 of last season. The Rebels top rusher has run for about 43 yards a game.
The concern BYU will have is that the QB is the second-leading rusher on the team. Mobile QBs are always a problem. BYU will need to contain the run inside, which it is good at, and make sure the QB can't escape with the ball on scrambles and keepers.
Again, BYU was good at that against Middle Tennessee. However, in games that have been trouble for BYU, the opponent had a mobile QB with big-time receivers getting behind the defense. I am excited to see if the fix that has been made in the BYU defense is long-term or just a Band-Aid. I am expecting a dominating defense again this week.
How about quarterback Christian Stewart? He has now thrown for more than 250 yards and over 60 percent completions in three games in a row. That's pretty good, that's really good.
He plays with confidence and in his play you feel like he will get the job done. The rush game makes first downs when needed and is a strong powerful set of backs. Losing Jamaal Williams is a big loss, but the remaining backs mix a good blend of quickness and power and blocking. The run game could be more important this week because the UNLV defense gives up nearly 280 yards a game on the ground — that's 123rd in the nation.
The running game should be a big part of the game plan for this week. UNLV is decent playing pass defense, giving up 225 yards a game. The Rebels like to play press man cover and try to be aggressive. Crossing routes and using backs as receivers help put UNLV in more difficult coverages for them.
The key for BYU's offense is to put points on the board. UNLV gives up way to many points to win games. Teams average 37 points a game against UNLV, and it's hard to win when your offense has to score nearly 40 to get a victory.
BYU needs to be patient, force some interceptions, get short fields and put points on the board. This game should go the Cougars' way. It should be a fun blackout Saturday.
