New Mexico Lobos @ UNLV Rebels: "You Could Call This One Either Way"

After a third bye week, it is finally game week again, and not a moment too soon. In Week 10, the UNLV Rebels will host the New Mexico Lobos. The early-week predictions are already beginning to roll in, and it looks like we're starting this week off with a good one from Sports Chat Place.

Sports Chat Place On The UNLV Rebels

"Over on the UNLV side, they opened the season on a tear. The Rebels won each of their first six outings, dispatching Idaho State, Sam Houston, UCLA, Miami-OH, Wyoming and Air Force in that time. Matched up against Air Force on October 11, UNLV scored points in every quarter—while also giving up points in every quarter—during a 51-48 win. The Rebels posted 597 yards on offense with 377 pass yards and 10.0 yards per play, but it was a shootout. UNLV gave up 603 yards on the other side, including 428 rush yards and 32 first downs.

In their latest outing versus Boise State on October 18, the Rebels fell back into the loss column. UNLV coughed up 28 points in the first half and 21 more in the third quarter during a 56-31 road defeat. QB Anthony Colandrea logged an 18-of-30 line for 215 yards, two scores and a pick while also scoring a rush TD. Jaylon Glover rushed six times for 112 yards as the team’s leading runner and DeAngelo Irvin had four catches for 90 yards to top the receivers in the defeat."

Sports Chat Place Prediction For New Mexico Lobos @ UNLV Rebels

"I’ll lean toward UNLV, but you could call this one either way. The Rebels gave up a ton of production to a good Boise State team in their last outing, including 558 total yards, 294 rush yards, 9.8 yards per play and 21 first downs. The offense generated 476 yards on the other side with 261 rush yards and 6.8 yards per play but wasn’t very good on third downs (4-of-13) and couldn’t keep up on the scoreboard. The good news is that the Rebels have at least 30 points in every game so far this year. They should score pretty well Saturday also.

As for New Mexico, they looked pretty good overall against a middling Utah State team last weekend. The Lobos did most of their damage on the ground with 224 rushing yards and 38:16 in time of possession. Defensively New Mexico held the opposition to just 15 first downs and 306 yards total. The Lobos have scored 24 or more points in seven straight games now, but they’re still giving up some decent points totals to good offenses. I think UNLV could take advantage of that in a fairly high-scoring finish this weekend.

Andrew's Free Pick: UNLV Rebels -4.5"

We are far from making our official prediction for the week, which we will release on Friday; however, we agree that the Rebels should bounce back and win this game by more than 4.5 points. While they did give up a ton of points against the Boise State Broncos on "the blue", the Lobos are not the Broncos, and this game is in Las Vegas, not Boise. This will be a get-right game for the Rebs.

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