CATCH OF THE DAY:
Rebels need road win to save season

October 22, 2009 by Sage Sammons 

If the Rebels win this weekend, it will mean more than breaking their current losing streak

The UNLV Rebels need a win to turn around their record and possibly save the season.

This week, the Rebel football team faces off with the winless New Mexico Lobos. The Lobos are without head coach Mike Locksley and are still looking for their first win of the year. So on paper, it looks like an easy win for UNLV, but anything on paper is too simple for the Rebels.

Last time the Rebels faced a winless team, that team rocked them for more than 700 yards and 63 points.
This week is a little different. The Rebels face a team that hasn’t won six games, against terrible opponents.
New Mexico’s closest game was against Western Athletic Conference team New Mexico State, where the Lobos lost by a field goal. Other than that, the Lobos haven’t had a game within 20 points.

The Rebels are still looking for their first conference win of the year. Both of those streaks have a chance to be broken in Albuquerque, N.M. on Saturday, but this season has been more about losses and less about breaking streaks.

The Rebels had a chance to break the streak against the winless Nevada, Reno Wolf Pack, but that didn’t turn out too well. UNLV also had a chance to get their first win on the road in conference against Wyoming.
Again a failure.

So, this week is much less than guaranteed.

The Rebels have shown signs of greatness in their offense, ranking second in the conference in offensive production. But the defense has let the team down in a few games, more specifically the tackling.
Last week, the Rebels just turned the ball over too many times and the defense held their ground.

All the Rebels need to do is get on the same page and maybe they can match the outcome of week three, the last time the Rebels won.

Lost in all the mess of the game with New Mexico is the fact that wide receiver Ryan Wolfe has a good chance of breaking the MWC receptions record. Wolfe sits at 259 grabs and just needs four more to break the record. He also is 361 yards shy of breaking the MWC yardage record. The yardage record may not break on Saturday, but the receptions record is possible.

So how important is this game against a terrible New Mexico team?

It is the most important game of the year – and I am not trying to sound like a player giving a standard comment to the press.

If the Rebels lose this game, they will not only get another tally in the loss column, but a slap in the face by one of the worst teams in all of college football.

Omar Clayton needs to play smart with the ball and not turn it over. He needs to put points on the board and prove that the offense was just overwhelmed by a great Utah defense last week.

Channing Trotter also needs to have big day. It will be tough, as the Lobos have two sophomores that have been playing more like seniors.

Middle linebacker Carmen Messina leads the nation with 13.8 tackles per game. Defensive end Johnathan Rainey leads the MWC and is sixth in the nation in tackles for loss with 11.5. The defensive unit for New Mexico could give the Rebels fits.

The keys to victory for the Rebels are through the running game this week. The Lobos rank last in the MWC in rush yards allowed. They have allowed 238.5 yards per game.

But they also rank second in passing yards allowed with 152.5 per game.

This season the Rebels haven’t run the ball out of the backfield very well, but this week they will need to.

A win turns the season around and gets the Rebels back on track for a possible bowl game. A loss pretty much kills the Rebels’ season and possibly costs the head coach his job.