5 Questions with UNLV’s Beat Writer
We asked the sports editor for the awesomely-named UNLV Rebel Yell five quick questions about the Sun Devils’ next opponent. Confidence does not seem the order of the day in Las Vegas.
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Leveraging the power of our new Facebook page, we asked UNLV Rebel Yell sports editor Matt Maxson five questions to acquaint us with this week’s opponent.
Q: Give us two guys we should know about for their football prowess.
A: Wide receiver Ryan Wolfe and running back Frank Summers. Wolfe has had touchdowns in both games this season and has more than 100 yards receiving in both those games. He is a favorite target for quarterback Omar Clayton. Summers is a former Pac-10 player from Cal and managed 80 yards rushing in the first half against Utah. Head coach Mike Sanford under utilizes him as a back though, so he won’t get the touches necessary to be effective.
Q: Give us one guy we should know about for something off the field.
A: Wide receiver Casey Flair, a former walk-on from Alaska. The fifth-year senior leader is probably one of the most consistent players in the country. In 37 consecutive games Flair has had a reception and is in the top five for career receptions as a Rebel.
Q: What’s the best case scenario for your squad this weekend?
A: Rudy Carpenter takes the Rebels a little too lightly and decides to go on a drinking binge in Mexico where he is held up at the border and unable to dress. In all honesty, we’re hoping to get out of this game injury free and with enough confidence to take on our upper-division Mountain West opponents.
Q: And the worst case?
A: We get blown out, our confidence is shot, we lose our starting quarterback, and we fail to win a game the rest of the season.
Q: OK, the Rebels are 23-point dogs. Who you got straight up? Who you got in Vegas?
A: Straight up, I’ll take ASU, but in Vegas, I’ll take the Rebels. Last week we held tight with the Utes. And although we lost key players, I think we have the potential to close the gap.
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Twenty-three is a hefty line, but I think this one’s probably going to get ugly. I’ll call it 45-13. Anyone else ready to commit prediction to cyber-paper?
38-10. I’m guessing Rudy will be out in the third quarter again. It’s probably not worth it to play Keegan, but hopefully we can rack up a ton of rushing yards in the second half. I want to see me some Ryan Bass action.
31-10. Rebels cover the spread, Devils cover their assets. No need to get all crazy in this one. Rest your boys, get the “W” and go hang out with pretty girls on Mill after the game.
I’m guessing something along the lines of the NAU game, but with ASU building a little more of a cushion before sending in the subs. 40-17 – Push.
“Rudy Carpenter takes the Rebels a little too lightly and decides to go on a drinking binge in Mexico.”
Who does he think Rudy is…. Tony Romo?
Considering we’re 0-for-2 with writers picking their hometown team to cover the spread, I’m gonna keep that funk alive with a 41-17. That ain’t much over the 23…. I better hurry to Vegas before that line moves to 24.5
Take it from a guy who lives in Las Vegas, UNLV is not a good football team! And I wish they were. I would go as far as to say they are my second favorite team since I live here now. But believe it or not, they still live in their basketball’s shadow in this town and in the region. Mike Sanford is a great guy, real friendly and a good football mind, but I’m not sure any coach can win here for a while. They just can’t get the players right now. Once a program is in a rut like this, its hard to convince any good players to come fix it. If you go to a UNLV practice, you can tell they are smaller and not as fast than ASU just by watching.
On an ironic side note, perhaps the Rebels’ best player last year, linebacker Beau Bell, was heavily recruited by ASU. I overheard a conversation he told a reporter last year that Tom Osborne and Brent Guy both were in his living room a few years back. Bell went on to say Osborne actually told him something to the effect of “we need players like you so I can feed my family.” At that point, Bell said he stopped considering ASU. Im not confirming any of this. Its an overheard conversation. But thought I’d share it for y’all because it was funny.
I think we take take the points and win.
Yes, our 3rd teamers will get a lot of 2nd half action, but this will be the last chance they get to show they deserver more minutes the rest of this year. I don’t think we’ll see late garbage time scores by the Rebels.
I’m saying 45-10.
Look for an Omar Bolden int this week.
I’ll go with 42-20. Rebels will make some hay after the 2nd teamers come in, but I don’t see them getting more than a couple of field goals while the 1st teamers are in.
Wow all these predictions were close huh? lol. I predicted ASU would win 52-17. Yeah that was bad
The proper thing to do is give UNLV their due respect. They didn’t just beat a team who took them lightly, they were the better team. Maybe people should start considering the fact that UNLV is much improved and actually a good team.