BYU football: Three things to know for the UNLV Rebels

BYU football travels to Las Vegas on Friday to take on the UNLV Rebels. At this point, the Cougars are playing for pride. Can they escape with a win?

BYU football has been battered, bruised and beaten down this season. At 2-8, the Cougars have a guaranteed losing season and will miss a bowl game. So the team is simply playing for pride.

Can BYU football march into Sin City and defeat the Rebels? Well, I suppose anything is possible. You push a team this far and you’d like to hope they respond.

At the same time, a lot of players took the “there’s way more to life than football” approach after the loss to  Fresno State. Are they right in thinking that? Absolutely. As a fan, do I want to hear that? No way. I want my players to be angry, to focus solely on football.

So who knows how the Cougars will respond on Friday? The trend this season tells us they’ll fold. But I have a hard time believing Kalani Sitake will let that continue.

Here’s what to know for the game.

The Runnin’ Rebels

While UNLV’s football program is just “the Rebels,” the team might as well borrow the moniker from the basketball team.

UNLV averages 252 rushing yards per game – good for 13th in the nation. The Rebels’ running game is paced by junior running back Lexington Thomas.

Thomas is averaging 118 rushing yards per game (16th in the country) and has a whopping 14 rushing touchdowns on the year.

This doesn’t bode well for BYU football, as the Cougars have had trouble slowing down the run this season.

LSU rushed for 296 yards against the Cougars. Wisconsin posted 235. Boise State ran for 158. Mississippi State had 240. Noticing a trend here?

If the Cougars want to win, they’ll have to find a remedy for their porous run defense.