Know Your Opponent: UCLA Football vs. UNLV Rebels

UNLV Defense

The Rebels run a 4-3 base defense. Last season they improved their defense in both rushing and passing yards allowed, though they were still in the bottom half of the Mountain West in passing, rushing and scoring defense.

Though they allowed 77 less yards per game than in 2014, they did not have the most potent pass rush as they only had nine sacks, the lowest in the FBS.

But how will they do this year? So far so good as the Rebels did a fine job of limiting Jackson State to 252 total yards.

UNLV held up Jackson State’s ground game, only allowing 108 rushing yards. The Rebels also did a fantastic job of protecting the sky as they only gave up 144 passing yards.

The Rebels have a couple of experienced defensive linemen in Jeremiah Valoaga and Mike Hughes who are still growing into their positions but will be key factors for the Rebel defense. They will be aided by LB Tau Lotulelei and S Troy Hawthorne who are decent tacklers in the open field.

That is all well and good, but UNLV has a different team to plan for that is not  Jackson State. What UNLV has to be worried about is the Bruin’s getting their act together. Josh Rosen and his crew will be motivated to play better than they did against Texas A&M and unfortunately for the Rebels, they will be the first team to take the brunt of that frustration on Saturday.

"Did You Know… The Rebels have only had five winning seasons since 1985. The most wins in any one season since then was an 8-5 year in 2000 under John Robinson."

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