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UNLV faces step down in level, not competition

Pay no attention to the fact that UNLV will play a lower-level opponent Saturday.

Prairie View A&M, at least according to the early season evidence, is better than last week’s opponent, Texas-El Paso.

The Panthers (1-2) nearly beat an upper-level team in Rice, defeated North Carolina Central by 16 points and gave Football Championship Subdivision power Sam Houston State all it wanted 41-32 loss.

And now they play the Rebels (1-1) at 7 p.m. at Sam Boyd Stadium. The game will be streamed at unlvrebels.com.

UNLV coach Tony Sanchez was hesitant to say the Panthers are better than UTEP, which the Rebels routed 52-24, but said Prairie View was “more explosive.”

“They’re dangerous, and we can’t take them lightly,” he said. “I think you’re going to hear me say that and reiterate that every single week the entire season. There are going to be no gimmes on our schedule, so we’ve got to go out and play good football.”

UNLV needs the victory heading into next week’s challenging trip to Arkansas State that will conclude nonconference play. The Rebels need to be at least 2-2 after next weekend if they want to have a realistic shot at becoming bowl eligible.

They didn’t play down to their competition in UTEP, rolling to a 38-10 halftime lead and finishing with 414 yards rushing. It was the Miners’ 14th loss in a row, the longest skid in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Prairie View, at least on paper, is a tougher opponent. The Panthers feature running back Dawonya Tucker, who leads the FCS with 542 yards. He not only has rushed for more than 200 yards each of the past two games, Tucker averages 10.2 yards per carry.

Dual-threat quarterback Jalen Morton oversees an offense that averages 33.3 points. He has thrown six touchdown passes and just one interception, and averages 221.3 yards passing and 49.0 rushing.

UNLV allows 242.0 yards rushing per game and 6.5 per play. The Rebels also yield 202.5 yards passing per game, but have held quarterbacks to a 50 percent completions.

“I think we’re still getting better every game,” Rebels defensive end Jameer Outsey said. “I think we’re focusing right now on the details and trying to execute the game plan to the fullest that (defensive coordinator Tim Skipper) has for us.”

If the first two games are an indication, UNLV will come out looking to establish a strong running game. Even in the opener at traditional power Southern California, the Rebels rushed for 308 yards.

Prairie View gives up 203.3 yards rushing per game and 4.8 per carry, so there should be opportunities for Lexington Thomas and the other UNLV running backs to make plays. Another big performance on the ground, and UNLV should be looking at its first 2-1 start in nine years.

“With the run game being dynamic, it opens up the pass game,” Rebels quarterback Armani Rogers said. “When the pass game opens up, it opens up the run game as well.”

Hanging in the background is the memory of what happened last time an FCS school visited Sam Boyd. Just last year, Howard walked in and later exited with a 43-30 victory.

“The experience of the past definitely helps us,” Sanchez said. “I don’t think I need to bring it up. These guys know they need to go out and play good football. We know that we need to prepare as a staff and get our guys in position to be successful.”

More Rebels: Follow all of our UNLV coverage online at reviewjournal.com/Rebels and @RJ_Sports on Twitter.

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.

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