Saturday afternoon on the college gridiron and we will see a team from the Mountain West Conference square off with a team from the Independent ranks as the UNLV Rebels grapple with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. This contest will take place at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. UNLV is off to a surprising 4-3 start, but they did lose to Air Force at home last week by a score of 42-7. The Irish may be one of the biggest disappointments of the year as they come in at 3-3 and off of a 16-14 home loss to Stanford.
The Rebels went 2-10 last year and 0-6 back in 2020, so to see them sitting with a 4-3 overall record is a bit surprising. Still, the Rebels may be running out of gas right now as they have lost their last two games in a row and have been outscored 82-14 in the process. First was a 40-7 loss on the road to San Jose State and that was followed up last week with a 42-7 home loss to Air Force. Now the Rebels have to try and get back on track against a Notre Dame squad that has to be a bit pissed after a bad home loss last week.
A big issue for the Rebels this year has been an offense that ranks 96th in total yards, 86th in passing, and 85th in rushing. Yes, they have averaged 29.0 ppg, but that is still just 70th in the land. Their last two games have been particularly bad as the Rebels have put up a total of 392 yards, including 113 yards on the ground. It will not get much easier for them here against a tough Notre Dam e defense. The Rebels put up a total of 179 yards against Air force and Cameron Friel threw for 108 yards with a TD and an INT. UNLV is hoping to have Doug Brumfield, who was injured a couple of weeks ago against San Jose State. Brumfield has thrown for 1231 yards with 8 TDs and two INTs on the year.
The Defense has been average at best this year as it comes in ranked 66th in yards allowed, 49th against the pass, 89th against the run, and 74th in points allowed at 27.7 ppg. The run defense was shredded last week as they allowed the Falcons to run for 406 yards on them, so we note that UNLV has allowed just 120 ypg on the ground in their other six games. They will not be facing a good overall offense in this one, so the UNLV defense has a shot at a good showing.