LAS VEGAS — UNLV has spent most of Akron week talking about the problems exposed at North Texas. The offense has to protect Jackson Arnold better, the defense has to finish tackles and the Rebels have to stop allowing mistakes to compound.
There is another place where Akron has been giving opponents yards, and UNLV has barely participated in that part of the game all season.
Akron opponents have returned six punts for 124 yards through three games, an average of 20.7 yards per return. The Zips have a 33.7-yard net punting average despite Joseph Castle averaging 42 yards on 15 punts. UNLV, meanwhile, has returned two punts for one yard. DeAngelo Irvin Jr. owns both official returns.
That creates one of Saturday’s more unusual matchup contrasts. Akron has repeatedly lost field position after getting the punt away. UNLV has barely produced a return at all.
The problem for Akron has not been Castle. He averaged 44.8 yards on five punts at Wake Forest, including a 52-yarder, but Wake Forest returned two of them for 44 yards. One Castle punt traveled 39 yards and came back 18. Another traveled 52 and came back 26.
Minnesota followed with four punt returns for 80 yards. Castle was asked to punt nine times in the 41-7 loss and still averaged 42.1 yards while placing three inside the 20. The combination of Wake Forest and Minnesota accounts for all six opponent returns and all 124 yards Akron has allowed this season.
For UNLV, the opportunity arrives after three games that have produced almost no punt-return sample.
Irvin returned one punt for a yard against Memphis and another for no gain at Hawai‘i. North Texas punted three times without allowing an official return. The limited sample makes it difficult to describe UNLV’s return game as a weakness in the same way its protection or red-zone numbers can be evaluated. There simply has not been much of a return game to evaluate.
The Akron-week specialist chart lists freshman Peyton Zachary at punt returner with Irvin behind him. UNLV FB Game 4 at Akron.pdf Zachary has not recorded an official punt return through three games, while Irvin has accounted for both of UNLV’s attempts.
The field-position value is particularly useful for an offense averaging 16 points per game and converting four of nine red-zone trips into touchdowns. A punt return does not repair protection or fix a missed assignment, but 10 or 15 yards can reduce how much of the field Arnold and the offense have to navigate before one of those problems has a chance to surface.
UNLV does not need a return touchdown for the matchup to matter. Akron has already allowed enough return yardage for hidden field position to become part of its first three games, and the Rebels have spent the bye trying to keep manageable possessions from becoming difficult ones.
The contrast becomes sharper next to UNLV’s own punting operation. Matt Choules has averaged 43.1 yards on 16 punts, placed seven inside the 20 and hit four at least 50 yards. Opponents have returned four UNLV punts for 12 yards, an average of three yards per return. UNLV enters Saturday with a 41.1-yard net average.
Akron’s net average is 33.7.
The difference is more than seven yards per punt before either offense takes the field. Choules has consistently helped UNLV make opponents travel farther. Castle has produced comparable distance for Akron, but the coverage behind him has given too much of it back.
None of those yards are automatic Saturday. Punt returns require the blocking structure to hold long enough for a return to develop, and the returner still has to make the correct decision between fielding the ball, taking a fair catch or allowing it to go. Castle can flip the field on his own when the coverage arrives with him.
Akron’s first three games only establish that return space has existed.
UNLV still has to use it.
That opportunity could depend on how often the defense gets Castle onto the field. Akron has punted 15 times through three games, with nine coming at Minnesota. If UNLV can create third-down stops, the Rebels should have more chances to test the coverage than their two official returns through the first three weeks suggest.
That would give UNLV another way to make the game easier on Arnold without changing anything about the offense.
The Rebels have spent two weeks trying to remove difficult situations they create for themselves. Against Akron, some of those situations can disappear before the offense ever takes the field.
See something that needs correcting? Report a correction.