It doesn’t mean UNLV isn’t real, but 3-0 UNLV won against teams that are 2-9
- Thread starter j. spilotro
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I thought after UH gave OU a really tough game and followed up beating Rice they might be ok.
Nope..
KU has lost 3 one score games. This is an example of it all went right (last season) to it's all going wrong (this year)..
I feel like Kansas will fix things, but yeah, overall, the wins aren't as impressive as originally thought. Even still, winning on the road is tough, so we'll take it. Really need a win vs Fresno next week at home though as the SJSU and Syracuse games are looking tougher than we thought before the season started
Even with Syracuse, Memphis and NIU losing today. I doubt we’ll be ranked in the AP Top 25 this week with both KU and Houston losing. I wouldn’t doubt it if we even lose a few votes. Those 2 wins just don’t look that impressive anymore.
Agreed. Its tough to move up in bye weeks, but you never know
Because of the number of teams ranked around UNLV that lost, I am not sure it will hurt UNLV too much. While BSU is playing a lower division team, that will be seen by the voters, and they could pass UNLV up, but there are a bunch of teams in the 20-35 range that either struggled or lost. It also helps that many of the teams that are competing for the group of 5 position also struggled. Liberty is in a close game with East Carolina, NIU lost to Buffalo, Memphis lost to Navy, and Toledo lost to Western Kentucky. Add in a few key loses like #22 Nebraksa, Michigan State losing to Boston College, California losing to Florida State (funny), Arizona State losing to Texas Tech, North Carolina losing to James Madison, Kansas State losing badly to BYU (but could end up giving BYU votes).
Also #25 Texas A&M struggling to win 26-20 over 1-2 Bowling Green could lose them some votes in the AP.
It is looking more and more like it could come down to BSU/UNLV. Keep winning and UNLV will go in as the group of 5 team.
Rebels actually moved up to #23 in the Coaches Poll this week.
They just need to stop giving up scores at the end of each half... they've lost 3 leads in the 4th and have given up TDs at end of both 1st halves in last 2 weeks...
I figured there was a chance Texas A&M would drop votes after the struggle to beat Bowling Green. Memphis and Nebraska dropped down, but Illinois and BYU passed UNLV. BYU looked good, so expected them to jump up above UNLV. It was nice that byu beat Kansas State bad enough that they dropped below UNLV, but in reality, I think they are a better team than their ranking.
Had to figure BYU and Illini would jump us and deservedly so. But with a lot of other losses us staying ranked not a surprise. I agree KSU is better but as we all know the rankings are never really the actual best 25 teams.
Boise getting into the AP poll at 2-1 looks ridiculous but that's how AP rolls I guess... personally that's going to be an excellent opportunity for College GameDay to come to Vegas in October when we both square off as ranked teams
They lost by 3 on a walk off field goal to the team #8. It's not ridiculous at all.
The loss column is exceptionally over valued in CFB rankings. They ran for almost 350 and passed for over 250 vs Portland State having 1 turnover, low penalties/yards, and 70% 3rd down conversion. They won by 42. They did what they needed to do. The beat GASO on the road in what was a game I think most of us would have assumed they rolled a little easier.
The loss column is exceptionally over valued in CFB rankings. They ran for almost 350 and passed for over 250 vs Portland State having 1 turnover, low penalties/yards, and 70% 3rd down conversion. They won by 42. They did what they needed to do. The beat GASO on the road in what was a game I think most of us would have assumed they rolled a little easier.
If you are going to take a 3 point loss as a positive point, you also need to look at the fact they struggled to beat a 2-2 Georgia Southern that lost by 39 to Ole Miss. I give them credit for playing Oregon close, but that was sandwiched between two other weak teams. As for Oregon, I think they are way over ranked and will end up losing to UCLA next week. I also understand that the huge negative for UNLV is that Houston looked bad this week, and Kansas found another way to lose in the 4th quarter, so UNLV needs to continue to win, and the BSU game may be for all the marbles next month.
We got 4 weeks before we get to Boise. One game at a time. None of those game are easy. We got Fresno coming follow by two away games at Utah State and Oregon State who are 3-1 just beat Purdue by double digits. One game at a time. We dont even have a passing game at this point.
I agree that Oregon is not the team I expected them to be so far in the year. That's why I specifically outlined it as "if you believe Oregon is..." framework. I don't think there's a prayer UCLA beats Oregon. Like, I don't think it's with 21. That's not me saying Oregon is great, I just think UCLA is doo doo.
As for BSU, what they have done outside of Oregon is unremarkable, agreed. They did what they should have done vs PSU, and probably underperformed against GASO, but got it done. Also, Ole Miss is *clearly* a better team than BSU or anyone in the G5. There were also first game of year, travel, etc factors in play.
All that to say, I could UNLV and Boise State basically being in the same place, just happens that this time BSU is ranked. And likely, as was mentioned, due to brand awareness and comfort. No debate there, I was just saying it isn't 'ridiculous' IMO that BSU is where they are, even if I don't necessarily agree
Yessir. That McCord is no joke at QB for Syracuse.
This year at Allegiant stadium we may witness the best QB (Syracuse) and RB (Boise) coming to play against UNLV this year. These guys are legit.
But their run game is non-existent and it took a 67 yard TD pass and 1 drive late in the 4th for him to have a halfway decent stat line against an average Stanford team... if you make a team 1 dimensional it's easy to pin your ears back...
I didn't picked Syracuse to beat UNLV but that QB is legit. He can make a lot of things look easy. Just be very careful with a team like this. He is no Tom Brady but Brady made a lot of coaches look good.
One quality loss does not exceed two quality wins.
Oh really? So 2-6 combined record with only FCS wins are quality?
Good for UNLV? Absolutely. Not the same as Oregon.
Edit: looks like rice was the Houston win.
Rice also got blown out by something called Sam Houston State
Sam Houston State happens to have the best football team of all the schools with “Sam Houston” in their name, so there’s that.
Probably the best team with Houston in its name.
Houston, Sam Houston, Houston Christian (formerly Houston Baptist)... is there a Houston State?
Also: this was a great response, so thanks for that 🤣
Yea two P4 wins beats a P4 loss with no P4 wins 100% of the time.
Meh. I think where our programs differ is that for us as UNLV fans, this is uncharted territory. For BSU, it isn't about knocking off average P4 teams. They historically have cashed in on bigger cash ins regularly for 15-20 years. I love that we cashed in twice this year. Keep doing it and leave no doubt.
I dont know if it was in this thread, but my point was it's not ridiculous for BSU to be ranked and UNLV not to be. 3 games in, both teams have clearly got stuff to work on. I'd rather UNLV be in the position we are than the position BSU is. By end of year, I expect Oregon to be in the playoff conversation and Kansas and Houston to be outside Big 12 championship contention, so there is an amount of impressiveness and "we can hang" with top dogs for BSU, even in a loss.
You got all of 'em.
Sam Houston is in Huntsville. Famous for its prison and "ol' sparky".
At the end of the day, winning is all that matters.
Being ranked, or just outside of being ranked, is amazing for our program. Never thought in a million years we would be in this position.
However, biggest focus for our team is beating Fresno on Saturday. It is imperative to start off conference play 1-0. The goal in front of us is to win a MWC championship. Do that, and the rest will take care of itself. Beat Fresno!
I think the positive outlook on this is typically these bigger conference schools absolutely dominate our O and D lines and that hasn’t been the case. They held up to a really good runner in Devin Neal. The defense being as stout as they have been against UH and KU gives me a lot of hope that they will hold serve against MW schools. Nervous about this week with Fresno, but two weeks prep should hopefully give us a decent edge and hopefully getting the offense sured up. Syracuse will be the litmus test IMO.
