LAS VEGAS — UNLV spent the week trying to stabilize an offensive line without Austin Boyd, replace another piece of its defensive front and move on from a season-opening loss that exposed several problems without changing what remains in front of the Rebels.
The Mountain West’s 1:32 p.m. HT Game Day Report confirmed Austin Boyd, Cohen Fuller and Poe Purcell are out for the full game, with Avery Helm the only UNLV player still listed as questionable. Hawai‘i will be without Robert Haynes for the season and eight additional players for the full game; The Scarlet Standard’s full injury report has the complete update.
Hawai‘i arrives at the same point by a different route. The Rainbow Warriors struggled offensively for three quarters at Stanford before scoring touchdowns on three straight fourth-quarter possessions and taking a 27-23 lead with 4:06 remaining. Stanford answered with two late touchdowns to win 37-27, leaving both teams 0-1 entering Saturday’s Mountain West opener in Honolulu.
UNLV led Memphis 14-7 at halftime and went back ahead 21-14 in the third quarter before the game changed up front. Memphis scored the final 13 points, recorded all six of its sacks after halftime and handed the Rebels a 27-21 loss at Allegiant Stadium.
The Rebels have won the last three meetings with Hawai‘i, including a 38-10 win last season, but Saturday brings a different setting and a different set of problems. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. Hawai‘i time and 7 p.m. Pacific at Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.
Boyd’s absence puts UNLV’s protection under the microscope
The largest change for UNLV comes at center, where Boyd has been ruled out after suffering a leg injury against Memphis. BJ Tolo finished the opener after Boyd went down, while Griffin Scroggs and Joe Metzger have also worked at center and give offensive line coach Louie Addazio several combinations to consider.
The protection problems did not begin with Boyd’s injury. Memphis had already started winning individual matchups before he left, recording two sacks before the injury and four afterward. Arnold was sacked six times for 47 yards overall, and five of those sacks came on UNLV’s final 11 offensive plays.
That was a sharp change from the first half, when Arnold completed 17 of 21 passes for 203 yards and UNLV moved the ball without allowing a sack. The Rebels finished with 460 total yards but managed only 25 in the fourth quarter as the protection deteriorated and the offense repeatedly found itself in long-yardage situations.
Hawai‘i does not bring the same defensive front Memphis did, but Dan Mullen expects a quicker group that can create problems in different ways.
“They’re fast,” Mullen said. “They’re not quite as big, but they have quick guys all over. They have returning starters. They play really hard.”
Luther McCoy is one of the players UNLV will have to handle inside. PFF credited him with four pressures against Stanford on 22 pass-rush snaps, including two quarterback hits and two hurries. Hawai‘i did not consistently control Stanford’s offensive line, but the matchup becomes more interesting against a UNLV group that will be communicating with a different center.
Michael Lasquero of Hawai‘i Sports Radio expects the Rainbow Warriors’ defensive front to respond better at home after an uneven opener.
“I expect this defensive front to come out firing against UNLV this game,” Lasquero said on the Rebel Daily Drive. “The question mark to me will be what happens in the secondary with the cornerback positions.”
That secondary gives UNLV an opportunity if the protection holds. Stanford quarterback Davis Warren completed 22 of 34 passes for 310 yards against Hawai‘i, and the Cardinal averaged 6.7 yards per offensive play.
Arnold showed against Memphis that he can take advantage of those opportunities. He finished 25-of-37 for 291 yards and two touchdowns, ran for another score and did not turn the ball over. UNLV does not need a different version of Arnold in Honolulu as much as it needs to give him enough time to play the way he did before Memphis began taking over the line of scrimmage.
Hawai‘i’s quick passing game will test UNLV’s tackling
Alejado threw 50 passes against Stanford, but Hawai‘i did not build its offense around repeatedly pushing the ball downfield. The Rainbow Warriors were most effective when he could get the football out quickly, spread it among several receivers and allow them to create after the catch.
Alejado completed 30 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. Tama Uiliata caught eight passes for 62 yards, Kainoa “Kaikai” Carvalho had five for a team-high 72 and DeVon Rice added four catches out of the backfield. Eleven Hawai‘i players recorded at least one reception.
Lasquero expects much of that approach to continue while Alejado develops more timing with the deeper passing game after missing spring throwing work.
“I think for the early parts of the season, that’s going to be kind of what the offense is,” Lasquero said. “The chemistry with the deep ball is something that they need to kind of work through.”
The challenge for UNLV is what happens after those short completions. Hawai‘i finished with 132 yards after the catch against Stanford. Carvalho produced 46 of them, while Rice had 30 and turned a short throw into a 29-yard touchdown that gave the Rainbow Warriors the lead late in the fourth quarter.
That fits directly into one of the biggest problems from UNLV’s opener. Memphis produced 13 explosive plays, including a 48-yard touchdown pass to Stonka Burnside and a 32-yard completion to Jemyri Davis. Jake Pope, who led the Rebels with 12 tackles, pointed to those plays afterward.
“We let up some explosives,” Pope said. “That really is what it came down to, on the defensive side.”
Hawai‘i does not have to create them the same way. A pass can travel seven yards and still become a 25-yard gain if UNLV misses the first tackle. Pope and the rest of the secondary will have to close quickly enough to make the short passing game stay short.
UNLV has to disrupt Alejado before the throw
The Rebels will also be without Poe Purcell, removing another player from a defensive-line rotation that was already operating without Cohen Fuller. Lucas Conti, Kal-El Togafau and Mohamed Altayeb started against Memphis, while Purcell worked heavily enough in the rotation that his absence will require additional snaps from elsewhere.
Conti handled 26 pass-rush snaps against Memphis, Togafau had 23 and Purcell had 20. Elias Rudolph rushed the passer only nine times but produced a quarterback hit, giving UNLV another option if his role expands Saturday.
The complication is that Alejado may not give them enough time to win slowly. Much of Hawai‘i’s offense at Stanford came on throws designed to leave his hand quickly, and Chang has already spent the week preparing for the number of fronts Paul Guenther showed against Memphis.
“They threw a lot of different looks,” Chang said. “It was seven-man, it was six-man, it was three-man, it’s four-man. There’s a lot of different looks that they threw at us.”
Lasquero said Hawai‘i has spent considerable time trying to solve the pressure packages that bothered the Rainbow Warriors in last season’s meeting.
“I know this coaching staff, they like to collaborate, they like to troubleshoot,” Lasquero said. “I expect them to have an answer to that seven-man front that UNLV showed against Hawai‘i last season.”
UNLV recorded only one sack against Memphis, but the sack total is not the only way to judge the front Saturday. Conti and the rest of the group have to disrupt Alejado early enough in the play to make him move off his spot or come off his first read. Pressure that arrives after the football is gone will not help much.
Jai’Den Thomas needs to stay involved before UNLV falls behind the chains
UNLV also has to keep the offensive game from becoming as narrow as it did late against Memphis. Jai’Den Thomas finished with 44 rushing yards and another 54 receiving, but most of his production came before halftime.
Thomas had 12 touches for 81 yards in the first half and six touches for 17 in the second. Some of that came from Memphis taking away the run, and some came from UNLV repeatedly falling behind the chains and into situations where the offense had little choice but to throw.
The Rebels averaged more than 10 yards to go on third down and faced third-and-9 or longer eight times. That made it difficult to stay balanced and allowed Memphis to attack a line that was already beginning to lose individual matchups.
UNLV does not have to force 30 touches to Thomas to solve that problem. It needs to keep him involved early enough that Hawai‘i has to account for him as a runner and receiver before the down-and-distance takes those options away.
Jaylon Glover gives the Rebels another way to do it. He rushed for 49 yards on five carries against Memphis, including a 44-yard gain, and gives UNLV another back capable of producing something without Arnold having to hold the football.
DeVon Rice gives Hawai‘i another weapon out of the backfield
Hawai‘i entered the Stanford game with Cam Barfield at the front of its backfield and left it with more reason to use Rice.
Rice carried 11 times for 35 yards and scored Hawai‘i’s first touchdown on a 3-yard run. He also caught four passes for 25 yards, including the 29-yard touchdown that completed the Rainbow Warriors’ fourth-quarter comeback and gave them the lead.
Chang had seen flashes of that ability before the opener.
“We saw some of the things when he touched the ball, how dynamic he was,” Chang said. “You put the ball in his hands and he can do some special things.”
Rice also has a long history with Alejado from their time together at Bishop Gorman. Lasquero pointed to that connection when asked which Hawai‘i player UNLV fans should know before Saturday.
“He provides a little different element than Cam Barfield,” Lasquero said. “I think him being involved in the passing game, especially if Micah Alejado has to scramble and get loose, if he knows where his safety valve is in DeVon Rice or that checkdown is there, they’re going to have that chemistry back from high school.”
Hawai‘i rushed for only 46 yards against Stanford, so the ground game still has plenty to prove. Purcell being unavailable gives the Rainbow Warriors another reason to test UNLV inside and see how the defensive-line rotation responds.
Arnold can attack a Hawai‘i secondary still sorting through its rotation
Photo: Guy Curtright / The Scarlet StandardArnold’s opener was much better than the reaction to six sacks might suggest. He accounted for three touchdowns, did not turn the ball over and produced several of UNLV’s largest plays himself.
He found Tavian McNair for a 38-yard touchdown and Kayden McGee for a 22-yard score, while completing passes to 11 different players. Arnold also broke a 54-yard run and finished with 54 net rushing yards even after the sack yardage was deducted.
Hawai‘i rotated several players at corner against Stanford, and Lasquero identified that position as the biggest question on the defense. UNLV has enough receivers to test it without forcing the football to one player.
Taeshaun Lyons was quiet against Memphis, but McGee, Taz Reddicks, DeAngelo Irvin Jr. and McNair each made plays at different points. If Hawai‘i has to devote additional attention to Arnold’s legs or the run game, those matchups can become even more favorable.
Arnold still has to help the protection when the pocket breaks down. There were sacks against Memphis where pressure arrived immediately, but there were also plays where getting through the progression or throwing the football away sooner could have prevented a negative play. That was part of Arnold’s evaluation before he arrived at UNLV and remains part of it now.
The difference is that the opener also showed what the Rebels can get from him when the offense stays on schedule.
Hawai‘i wants to make UNLV chase the game
Photo: Guy Curtright / The Scarlet StandardHawai‘i spent most of its opener chasing Stanford before finally finding its offense in the fourth quarter. Lasquero believes the Rainbow Warriors need to avoid another slow start if they want to control the way Saturday is played.
“For Hawai‘i, what I need to see from them is they need to get off to an early lead,” Lasquero said. “If they can get off there early, that bodes well because I think that’s going to activate the defense.”
Playing ahead gives defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman more freedom to use his pressure packages on obvious passing downs. It would also allow Hawai‘i to keep the run-and-shoot balanced enough that UNLV cannot simply focus on Alejado throwing the ball 50 times.
UNLV saw the other side of that against Memphis. The Rebels played with a lead for much of the first three quarters, but once the offense stalled and the game shifted, Memphis was able to attack without worrying nearly as much about the run.
The environment adds another variable. Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex is smaller than most Football Bowl Subdivision stadiums, but the fans sit close to the field and the visiting setup is unusual compared with a traditional road venue.
“When that small, under-20,000-seat temporary stadium gets rocking, it does get pretty loud,” Lasquero said.
UNLV has been one of the better road teams in the Mountain West over the last several seasons. Saturday gives the Rebels another chance to lean on that experience before beginning the rest of a three-game road stretch.
UNLV has to clean up the problems that decided Memphis
The Rebels do not need to reinvent themselves after Memphis. They need to clean up the parts of the opener that prevented several good stretches from becoming a win.
UNLV gained 460 yards, possessed the ball for more than 35 minutes and held Memphis to 3-of-11 on third down. The Rebels also allowed six sacks, gave up too many explosive plays and went 3-of-15 on third down themselves.
Against Hawai‘i, that starts with giving Arnold enough protection to attack a secondary Stanford threw for 310 yards against. It continues with keeping Thomas involved before the offense falls behind the chains and making Alejado complete short throws into defenders who are ready to tackle.
Hawai‘i has its own corrections to make after allowing 483 yards and 6.7 yards per play at Stanford. The Rainbow Warriors also showed enough during their fourth-quarter rally to make Saturday more complicated than simply expecting the team UNLV beat by 28 points last season to show up again.
Both teams arrive in Honolulu with an 0-1 record. One of them will leave with its first win and an early Mountain West victory.
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