Behind Enemy Lines: UNLV
People still don't know a lot about this UNLV team here in 2017. They likely are not as bad as the team that got upset by Howard in week one but are they as good as the team that went into Idaho in week two and won by four scores on the road?
Neither of the past two games mean anything on Saturday when the Rebels come into Ohio Stadium. The Buckeyes have no margin for error this year and while nobody is expecting the Buckeyes to come up short against their visitors from the Mountain West conference, style points may matter when the CFP committee starts to meet in Grapevine (Texas) comparing 'one loss teams', if the Buckeyes can keep their resume clean the rest of the way.
But back to the game that matters this week. What do we know about UNLV? We are going behind enemy lines with Tom Parker at Rebel-Net.com to find out more about Ohio State's opponent.
BuckeyeGrove: What went wrong against Howard for this team and how did they rebound against Idaho for a relatively easy win? Is this team closer to the one that lost to Howard or the one that beat Idaho?
Tom Parker: After two games, I'm still not entirely sure where UNLV is at this season. And, quite frankly, I'm not sure that we'll know much more after this game with the Buckeyes. In the contest with Howard, the Rebels looked completely lost on defense - from a schematic standpoint and in execution. The Bison, behind Cam Newton's younger brother, Caylin, went up and down the field rushing for over 300 yards. UNLV was in position early in the game to put points on the scoreboard but continually settled. The Rebels kicked four field goals during a first half where they should've imposed their will on the visiting FCS program.
Fast-forward one week later and UNLV dominated an Idaho team on the road that many pundits feel will contend in the Sun Belt Conference. It was a much better defensive effort this time around, holding senior signal caller, Matt Linehan, to a 39 QB rating. Once the Rebels offense kicked it into gear in the second half the game was a blowout in a hurry.
To be safe, I'll just assume this UNLV club is somewhere in the middle. A potent offense with a suspect defense. That probably won't change all season.
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