Line ‘em up: Predictions and Game Thread UNLV at SJSU FOOTBALL

[j. spilotro]

May as well start a thread talking all things UNLV at SJSU. Suffice it to say, huge game, but they all are here until the end.

Haven’t seen the line yet, guessing UNLV will be around a 6 point favorite. There are no roll overs, won’t even be one for the UNR game. SJSU is going to go all out and they certainly CAN beat UNLV.

I think it’s going to be a really tough game.

 

[bcvegaspt2]

The game opened at UNLV -7.5 at William Hill.

 

[Boston Rebel 2]

This one makes me nervous. Does CSU play FSU before or after our game? Hopefully before because if they win, and we get upset, then the loss will hurt less.

 

[lvrebalum2012]

This one makes me nervous. Does CSU play FSU before or after our game? Hopefully before because if they win, and we get upset, then the loss will hurt less.

We play Friday, they play Saturday.

Take care of business against SJSU and then pressure stays on CSU.

 

[oneepstein]

Baby Jesus is back and I think helped get the offense back on track. Haven’t watched SJSU so I’m not gonna comment. I know they’re dangerous and was a game that a lot of us had circled as a danger game. We were 20 point favorites against SDSU and didn’t look past them… don’t think we’ll be looking past SJSU either.

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

Baby Jesus is back and I think helped get the offense back on track. Haven’t watched SJSU so I’m not gonna comment. I know they’re dangerous and was a game that a lot of us had circled as a danger game. We were 20 point favorites against SDSU and didn’t look past them… don’t think we’ll be looking past SJSU either.

SJSU is really good offensively at what we defend poorly which is the short passes. I am very concerned about this game. I believe that we will need to score TD's and not have to settle for FG's if we want to win.

 

[j. spilotro]

The game opened at UNLV -7.5 at William Hill.

Wow. Too much. Bad number imo.

 

[j. spilotro]

Baby Jesus is back and I think helped get the offense back on track. Haven’t watched SJSU so I’m not gonna comment. I know they’re dangerous and was a game that a lot of us had circled as a danger game. We were 20 point favorites against SDSU and didn’t look past them… don’t think we’ll be looking past SJSU either.

They’re not great but they’re capable. More capable than Oregon State, Hawaii, SDSU, Utah State and Fresno State.

They throw ALOT and they protected the QB very well against Boise. Nash is a stud receiver.

If both teams bring their A game, I think UNLV wins the game. So let’s just worry about bringing our A game.

 

[rebelzzz]

UNLV's defense depends on the pass rush. If they cant put pressure on the SJSU's qb it will be a long night. They play too far off which opens up the short passing game and not very good at defending the long throw. So if they cant get through the line and keep their qb on his heels the outcome might not be great.

 

[j. spilotro]

UNLV's defense depends on the pass rush. If they cant put pressure on the SJSU's qb it will be a long night. They play too far off which opens up the short passing game and not very good at defending the long throw. So if they cant get through the line and keep their qb on his heels the outcome might not be great.

Agreed. And we won’t bring enough with the front so we are going to have to bring backers. Have to disguise it, switch it up, surprise them. But we did that against other teams and some were able to pick us apart with the short game.

At some point, we have to gamble and play tighter shorter … those 5-6 yard easy ones are slow death.

 

[rebeltob]

I don’t think UNLV needs its A game as much as not having game turning calls by the officials or really dumb penalties by UNLV

 

[dcut03]

UNM is not slow growth that is for sure, perhaps even SJSU given what they lost, but they have been a winning program.
Again UNLV was coming off a 5-7 season and had 2 of the 3 years previous with top of the league recruiting classes.
UNM is having a good turnaround. But again they are fighting to barely make a bowl game.
So... it isn't an INSTANT turnaround.

 

[bcvegaspt2]

Wow. Too much. Bad number imo.

If I bet our games I would have taken San Jose +7.5.

 

[Boston Rebel 2]

We play Friday, they play Saturday.

Take care of business against SJSU and then pressure stays on CSU.

Yeah I guess we will have to look at it that way.

 

[dcut03]

I think the one player that is low key our best DB is Tony Grimes. You rarely notice him (at least on TV broadcasts) which is a good thing. QBs don't want to challenge him. We have gotten beat as a team in zone situations and Tony has been a victim of that, but you rarely see him challenged in man coverage. It reminds me of Eric Wright in that respect.
I think he can help this week, if there is one top WR that can burn us.

 

[lvrebalum2012]

I think the one player that is low key our best DB is Tony Grimes. You rarely notice him (at least on TV broadcasts) which is a good thing. QBs don't want to challenge him. We have gotten beat as a team in zone situations and Tony has been a victim of that, but you rarely see him challenged in man coverage. It reminds me of Eric Wright in that respect.
I think he can help this week, if there is one top WR that can burn us.

He can only help if he actually plays. Was dressed for the last game but never went in.

Hoping they were just saving him for the short week leading up to Friday.

 

[InZoneU]

He can only help if he actually plays. Was dressed for the last game but never went in.

Hoping they were just saving him for the short week leading up to Friday.

Yeah. Ware was in there and got burned for a TD. Hopefully Grimes can play next week.

 

[Meister_Rebel]

Yeah. Ware was in there and got burned for a TD. Hopefully Grimes can play next week.

Didn't Camac go out with what appeared to be ankle/foot injury? He seems like another silent assassin always in a bunch of defensive plays. I don't know how serious his injury is or if he will be back. Anyone heard more about this?

 

[dcut03]

Didn't Camac go out with what appeared to be ankle/foot injury? He seems like another silent assassin always in a bunch of defensive plays. I don't know how serious his injury is or if he will be back. Anyone heard more about this?

He came back into the game, I am pretty sure I saw him back out there.

 

[Meister_Rebel]

He came back into the game, I am pretty sure I saw him back out there.

That is great news. We need all hands on deck for SJSU. I remember watching SJSU first couple of games and I was blown away with how good they looked with a new coach and QB. We can win but it's not going to be easy.

 

[reagan21]

The game opened at UNLV -7.5 at William Hill.

If I were a betting man still, I'd take those points.

I was looking into traveling for this game, but it just a'int in the cards. At home on the couch with whatever food I want sounds like a good consolation prize.

 

[reagan21]

Rebel Girls & Co. - 31
Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri - 27

We can and should keep the ball on the ground. They are horrible against the run. We should be able to go over 200 yards against them. Control the TOP and keep Nash and Lockhart off the field as much as we can. They throw the ball on a higher percentage of plays than any other team in FBS, almost 67% of the time. That scares me, so limiting their play total is a good way to play defense.

 

[unlove]

Keeping our D-line fresh thru-out the game will be critical to maintaining pressure on their QB.

 

[dcut03]

Meet the Spartans 28
Meet the Best Rebel team in school history-33

 

[Masked_rebel]

I dont think we put a ton of pressure on the QB this game. I think we do press more on the line and keep things in front of us. When we blitz we put our DBs in bad 1 v 1 situations and we cant get to the QB fast enough. I watched the SJSU vs Boise game and SJSU gets the ball out so fast that its almost pointless to "press the pass rush". Id rather give them a shorter tighter cushion and keep the deep shots under control. Treat the passing game like the run game and limit opportunities to 2-3 yard picks ups and force incompletions. Not like vs Syracuse where we got burned for 60 passes, but keep the DBs tighter to the WRs. Boise has the best pass rush in the country and couldn't get to the QB vs SJSU.

 

[dcut03]

I dont think we put a ton of pressure on the QB this game. I think we do press more on the line and keep things in front of us. When we blitz we put our DBs in bad 1 v 1 situations and we cant get to the QB fast enough. I watched the SJSU vs Boise game and SJSU gets the ball out so fast that its almost pointless to "press the pass rush". Id rather give them a shorter tighter cushion and keep the deep shots under control. Treat the passing game like the run game and limit opportunities to 2-3 yard picks ups and force incompletions. Not like vs Syracuse where we got burned for 60 passes, but keep the DBs tighter to the WRs. Boise has the best pass rush in the country and couldn't get to the QB vs SJSU.

To be fair, the way Syracuse played us was the first time all year they tried so many quick passes, but yes we got too cute against Syracuse and their QB found the open man too easily.

We need to occasionally mix in some pressure, but we can't be as aggressive as we were against Hawaii and some of our other games.

 

[Masked_rebel]

To be fair, the way Syracuse played us was the first time all year they tried so many quick passes, but yes we got too cute against Syracuse and their QB found the open man too easily.

We need to occasionally mix in some pressure, but we can't be as aggressive as we were against Hawaii and some of our other games.

Yeah, I thought we were super aggressive vs Hawaii and at times it definitely worked, but then we got burned by underthrown passes that Catalon just didnt track well vs the Hawaii WR coming back for the ball. We got burnt like we havent all season. I expect we bracket Nash alot, he leads the team by almost 50% more receptions this season. They also dont use the TE the way Boise and Syracuse did to burn us. After Nash theres a real drop off on WR production across the board- like a lot. Nash has 14 TD receptions- the next guy has 4.. If we give him a big cushion, hes going to get like 14 receptions for 200 yards. Eget also throws alot of interceptions. Im really not sure how they has so much success against Boise other than the Boise corners are terrible and we shouldve been more aggressive against them than we were.

 

[dcut03]

Yeah, I thought we were super aggressive vs Hawaii and at times it definitely worked, but then we got burned by underthrown passes that Catalon just didnt track well vs the Hawaii WR coming back for the ball. We got burnt like we havent all season. I expect we bracket Nash alot, he leads the team by almost 50% more receptions this season. They also dont use the TE the way Boise and Syracuse did to burn us. After Nash theres a real drop off on WR production across the board- like a lot. Nash has 14 TD receptions- the next guy has 4.. If we give him a big cushion, hes going to get like 14 receptions for 200 yards. Eget also throws alot of interceptions. Im really not sure how they has so much success against Boise other than the Boise corners are terrible and we shouldve been more aggressive against them than we were.

I would say that our defense against Hawaii was an overall success.

They 14-35 on passing, we had 6 sacks, and 1 INT, with another pick 6 called back due to a horsesh!t call.

they were 3-14 on 3rd downs.

Those are excellent numbers.

Sure we got burned deep a few times. It is the flipside of the coin when you are aggressive. One of those throws was a fluke as you mentioned that is was so underthrown and we couldn't locate it. It is like banking in a 1/2 court shot. Sometimes dumb luck just screws you .

It was a close game because we some really bad calls take away touchdowns, some out of character missed FGs, and a sputtering offense for too much of the game.

 

[rebel5280]

I would say that our defense against Hawaii was an overall success.

They 14-35 on passing, we had 6 sacks, and 1 INT, with another pick 6 called back due to a horsesh!t call.

they were 3-14 on 3rd downs.

Those are excellent numbers.

Sure we got burned deep a few times. It is the flipside of the coin when you are aggressive. One of those throws was a fluke as you mentioned that is was so underthrown and we couldn't locate it. It is like banking in a 1/2 court shot. Sometimes dumb luck just screws you .

It was a close game because we some really bad calls take away touchdowns, some out of character missed FGs, and a sputtering offense for too much of the game.

SJSU is a much better offense!

Getting sacks would be nice but smaller cushions would work well too but the problem is we give 7+ yard cushions and make it easy for opposing QB’s and wonder why we lose these types of games!

 

[dcut03]

SJSU is a much better offense!

Getting sacks would be nice but smaller cushions would work well too but the problem is we give 7+ yard cushions and make it easy for opposing QB’s and wonder why we lose these types of games!

LIke I said, I wouldn't be as aggressive, but just stating that the approach against Hawaii was a success.

If we can hold SJSU to 40% completion percentage and 3/15 on 3rd down we will win.

 

[j. spilotro]

LIke I said, I wouldn't be as aggressive, but just stating that the approach against Hawaii was a success.

If we can hold SJSU to 40% completion percentage and 3/15 on 3rd down we will win.

If we hold them to that, we win by 20.

 

[Masked_rebel]

SJSU is a much better offense!

Getting sacks would be nice but smaller cushions would work well too but the problem is we give 7+ yard cushions and make it easy for opposing QB’s and wonder why we lose these types of games!

Their offenses are very similar. SJSU benched the better QB for Eget for some reason. They have a much better/talented WR. They played really well early vs Boise, but got worn down and made mistakes against better team. We are a better team.
They do some things well- Getting the ball to Nash- alot. but thats about it. they're very similar to Utah St. with a few better results. They're also around 80th in rush defense. They turn the ball over alot- 24 to be exact which is 131st in the nation. theyre middle of the road in sacks...
They dont run the ball well. Again, these middle tier MWC teams arent great at anything, they play well one week and not so good the next. Its all over the place so I dont expect SJSU to jump out the same way they did vs Boise. Plus the "Revenge tour" continues.

 

[unlvlurker]

Rebels 33
Spartans 23
UNLV wins the turn over battle