Marion has basically decided to run the same 5 plays every game. Consisting of 3 draw plays. Except for the one time he decides to throw to Ballungay. It's a basic spread offense. And our RB group isn't anywhere near as good as Davis and Lester were.

We didn't lose this game because of bad calls. Boise State was a slightly better team last night. Rebs contained Jeanty for the most part. He got 128 yards but it took him 30+ carries to get there. (Yes the blindside block was awful)

Rebs struggled to get pressure on Madsen and he was able to make enough plays in big situations to bring home a win. And offense continues to struggle in the red zone settling for FGs too often.

UNLV is 8 points from being undefeated. Against probably the toughest schedule they've faced in a long time.

InZoneU said:

The ridiculous amount of meaningless draw plays worries me. We have playmakers all over the field. Use them.

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Where is this 3 headed Go-Go monster that we were expecting to see. The sidecar formation rarely gets used, we don't screen at all, we rarely run jet sweeps anymore, it's just Hajj hand-off or Hajj dive, deep shot, or Ricky 7-10 yards... it's predictable

unlove said:

I’d add play-calling to that list.

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The ridiculous amount of meaningless draw plays worries me. We have playmakers all over the field. Use them.

Zero points in the 2nd and 4th qtr… really can’t expect to win not scoring in those two qtrs. Proud of the defense, they played their asses off and really kept Jeanty in check esp with some of the positions they were put in by a sputtering offense. They didn’t get their takeaway though. Again inside the 10 yard line Marion gets so conservative, I really don’t understand. Again left too many points off the board. Think Boise schemed well for us. They blitzed all night and we didn’t have much of an answer. Still proud of this team, yes it sucks to be eliminated from the playoff, but winning brings expectations and I’ll always welcome those.

Taking a step back after another big game where we could've won...
The rematch in Boise could be very interesting.
Perfect world situation...
UNLV vs Boise in December in MWC title game- winner even as a 2 loss team could potentially be G5 bid to CFP
Navy currently losing to ND, a loss basically eliminating them from any conversation due to SOS not being there
Army also plays ND and both play conference championships and each other...
The conversation around a 2 loss G5 MWC team making the playoff over everyone else will be very good...

What if 3 and goal at 18 for boise hit for 16 score on 4th when CB looks at qb instead of following TE. After stupid trick play, BSU blitzes to right, what if RB goes left instead of the right. Little things like stupid penalties.

WarthogRebel said:

You can never know absolutely, but a case case can be made we are two plays away from being ranked at least in the top 15. The pick in this game and the 4th down missed tackle with a minute to go against Syracuse.

I don't know how CBO sleeps.

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You could be correct, but we’ll never know. It’s gutting. But.. the great teams seem to figure out ways to overcome it, be it in the next play, series, game, or season. They need to assume a crap call will occur and still have the doors blown off someone. It’s still a horrendous feeling..

Let’s hope BO and the boys don’t think about it much and get back to prep.

unlvlurker said:

They battled was a heck of a game UNLV closed the gap on Boise . But there is deficiencies on this team on both sides. #1 is discipline have to stop making clear cut stupid decisions. 2 this defense needs to get dawgs up front and put pressure on the others teams QB or they really won’t get much better. That’s the difference tonight discipline and Boise was all over hajj.

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I’d add play-calling to that list.

bcvegaspt2 said:

Don't know about Boise fans.

BYU were in the same league as UofA fans. They deserve each other! Yet they say that Utah fans are bad? Not even close! AFA fans are those I respect the most. Rarely any issues with them.

Boise was the better team overall. Nothing to be embarrassed about since we barely lost, but they were better.

If we go into a bowl game with 3 losses, I'd say that's still a massive win overall as a program. Two years ago at this time we were hoping and praying to get to 6-wins. Now we are complaining about 2 L's after being bowl eligible (I'm very happy that we are passionate about this team so that's not a knock on the complaints).

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Yeah if we have 3 losses and a season filled with games of importance, which we sure did, then it is hard to complain.

WarthogRebel said:

When you look at the annual coaching shuffle after the season is over there are only two or three G5 coaches that move up. ( 2022 had two and 2023 had two) The category most picked from are P 4 coordinators - not G5 coaches. Plus Barry has been there and he has to know that going to a P 4 bottom feeder could be the end of the road if he doesn't pull off a huge turnaround. And turnarounds seldom happen. If we pay him, I think we'll be able to keep him for at least a few more years.

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Arkansas potential opening is the one that scares me.

Our defense surprised me and although they couldn't get off the field at the end of the game they did play well enough to win. Killed by three things:

- Our offensive line was putrid. This isn't the first time we have had issues with pass protection this was just the worst of them.
- Hajj's free gift, he played really well the second half but after that opening drive and being up 4 vs down 3 is a big difference especially at the end where Boise would have been forced to score instead of run clock. Changes the whole game.
- Penalties, not a coincidence that in both losses we forced them to 4th down and a punt only to extend the drive with penalties and allow them to score. Two personal foul penalties inexcusable. That hold at the end was a killer especially since the damn ball wasn't even catchable.

I will add that it would have been nice to have a full set of timeouts at the end of the game. In a nip and tuck game unless absolutely necessary you have to save those timeouts.

This team is legitimately good on both sides of the ball, just not good enough to win even when they kill themselves with mistakes. This team should be undefeated but lost because of mistakes. So they are good, but not quite good enough. Loved to see 42K show up that is frigging awesome just wish they had shown up to see a win and keep the momentum going.

When you look at the annual coaching shuffle after the season is over there are only two or three G5 coaches that move up. ( 2022 had two and 2023 had two) The category most picked from are P 4 coordinators - not G5 coaches. Plus Barry has been there and he has to know that going to a P 4 bottom feeder could be the end of the road if he doesn't pull off a huge turnaround. And turnarounds seldom happen. If we pay him, I think we'll be able to keep him for at least a few more years.

InZoneU said:

He's a NFL TE and will be playing on Sundays. We throw to him 1x/game. It's absurd.

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We have gotten burned by TEs in every big game this year and Marion looks at him and goes, nah I'm good...

rebel5280 said:

Agreed!

He is trying to do it all and one needs to use Ballungay more!

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He's a NFL TE and will be playing on Sundays. We throw to him 1x/game. It's absurd.

Rosegreen1 said:

Scherer was offered jobs (Odom wouldn’t say specifics) last offseason. He turned them down to stay with UNLV. I wouldn’t think they were HC jobs, maybe MAC level HC jobs or DC somewhere else with better pay.

I’m not sure he does that again where he turns down a big paying job. I also think Marion is highly likely to leave as well given how many points unlv has put up this season.

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I'm not worried about either leaving. We'll be fine if they do. I'm kind of over a defense that can't get any pressure in a QB and sits in soft zones coverage 80% of the game

WarthogRebel said:

The Boise fans near me were pretty classy. You make hard to hate you. Not like the completely obnoxious BYU fans.

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Don't know about Boise fans.

BYU were in the same league as UofA fans. They deserve each other! Yet they say that Utah fans are bad? Not even close! AFA fans are those I respect the most. Rarely any issues with them.

Boise was the better team overall. Nothing to be embarrassed about since we barely lost, but they were better.

If we go into a bowl game with 3 losses, I'd say that's still a massive win overall as a program. Two years ago at this time we were hoping and praying to get to 6-wins. Now we are complaining about 2 L's after being bowl eligible (I'm very happy that we are passionate about this team so that's not a knock on the complaints).

Spudfan84 said:

Just wanted to stop by and congratulate you all on a great game and for getting all those fans out. You guys have a heck of a team and your defense had the answer for Jeanty tonight. Odom is a great coach and I hope you guys can keep him so he can continue to build your program. There is no doubt you guys deserve it. Much respect.

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The Boise fans near me were pretty classy. You make hard to hate you. Not like the completely obnoxious BYU fans.

Rosegreen1 said:

Scherer was offered jobs (Odom wouldn’t say specifics) last offseason. He turned them down to stay with UNLV. I wouldn’t think they were HC jobs, maybe MAC level HC jobs or DC somewhere else with better pay.

I’m not sure he does that again where he turns down a big paying job. I also think Marion is highly likely to leave as well given how many points unlv has put up this season.

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But if CBO stays I'm confident he can replace them in an instant with equally quality coaches.

RebNReno said:

Scherer has done a great job but he’s not ready for the Head job. 30 years old with very little coaching experience. He was a Grad Assistant/Defensive Analyst just a couple years ago. Way too risky of a hire.

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Scherer was offered jobs (Odom wouldn’t say specifics) last offseason. He turned them down to stay with UNLV. I wouldn’t think they were HC jobs, maybe MAC level HC jobs or DC somewhere else with better pay.

I’m not sure he does that again where he turns down a big paying job. I also think Marion is highly likely to leave as well given how many points unlv has put up this season.

Rebel_Luv said:

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I'm so tired of these type of penalties called against us.

jeff6382 said:

I'm sorry but coach needs to get himself a new defensive coordinator. This BS is unacceptable.

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I’m okay with the defensive coordinator because Odom is a defensive guy and the teams we have left are not Boise State, make adjustments and for crying out loud get rid of the 7 yard cushions!

Marion is wearing thin, the play calling is awful at times and we have become easy to defend!