New FSM Preview: Week 4 - UNLV Vs Vanderbilt - 2023

UNLV vs Vanderbilt | Franchise Sports Media

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New FSM Preview: Week 4 – UNLV vs Vanderbilt – 2023

UNLV is back home in Allegiant Stadium as the Rebels take on the SEC’s Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday evening.

UNLV vs Vanderbilt is taking place this Saturday.

Ladies and gentlemen, football fans of all ages, get ready for a showdown at Allegiant Stadium this evening! UNLV looks to improve to 2-1 on the season as they take on the Vanderbilt Commodores.

The Rebels will be looking to make a statement in this early-season matchup against the Commodores. UNLV will need to bring their A-game this week after a brutal 35-7 loss to Michigan last week at The Big House. In that game, the Rebels struggled early to get things going and made a slew of self-inflected mistakes. A positive note out of that game was UNLV coming out injury-free. In fact, the Rebels will get back the starting left side of the offensive line when tackle Jalen St. John and guard Alani Makihele return.

Conversely, the Commodores come into the matchup 2-1 with wins against Hawai’i in Week 0 and Alabama A&M in Week 1. Last week, Vanderbilt lost to Wake Forest 36-20. In that game, costly errors and a poor defensive performance proved too much to overcome as the Commodores fell to the Demon Deacons. Vanderbilt turned the ball over three times in the game and could not stop a Wake Forest rushing attack that accumulated 288 rushing yards on 6.8 yards per carry.

UNLV wants to bounce back with a win when they play Vanderbilt on Saturday.

UNLV head coach Barry Odom is facing a familiar opponent in Vanderbilt, one he has had success against in the past.

UNLV is looking to improve on some things as they take on Vanderbilt this week.

Barry Odom comes into Saturday with a 3-1 career record against Vanderbilt after facing the Commodores during each of his years leading Missouri (2016-19). The only time Coach Odom lost to Vanderbilt (21-14) was in 2019 when the Tigers were ranked.

“They played three games,” Coach Odom said, referring to the Commodores Week 0 matchup against Hawai’i. “That’s great for the breakdown, that’s great for tendencies, and obviously now they … self-scout, you change those tendencies up, but we’ll take all the information we can get.”

“I don’t like losing. Our team doesn’t like losing,” Coach Odom said during his Monday press conference. “We’re not going to get accustomed to losing. We’re not judged on effort alone. We’re judged on results.”

Coach Odom isn’t the only one familiar with Vanderbilt. First-year UNLV defensive line coach Ricky Logo coached the same position for the Commodores from 2007-10.

A key for the Rebels this week will be the play of their offensive line. UNLV, who has played a vanilla offense during their first two games of the season, will be looking to give Doug Brumfield more time to throw and establish their running game.

“It doesn’t have to be the power play for 25 snaps, but we’ve gotta be able to get a push,” Coach Odom said. “We gotta play physical, and if we can run the ball on offense, that opens everything else up.”

This matchup also completes a home-and-home series that began in 2019 when UNLV traveled to Nashville and came home with a 34-10 victory, the school’s first road win over an SEC program. The Commodores will become the second SEC team to play at UNLV’s Allegiant Stadium as Florida faced Oregon State in last year’s Las Vegas Bowl.

UNLV is looking to upset Vanderbilt.

5 Key Rebels to Watch

Five key players to watch for UNLV.

Here are five key Rebels to watch this week vs Vanderbilt:

Quarterback Doug Brumfield: The Rebels need their starting quarterback to break out finally. Brumfield hasn’t had time to throw, and when he does, he has been plagued with drops. But Brumfield also has to find consistency, something he hasn’t been able to do early in the season.
The Running Backs: UNLV needs their stable of talented running backs to break out in a big way. Vincent Davis Jr., Donavyn Lester, Jai’Den “Jet” Thomas, and Courtney Reese need to get going.
The Offensive Line: The Rebels must establish the line-of-scrimmage early to run the Go-Go Offense. They also have to give Brumfield more time to throw. Giving up five sacks in the first half against Michigan was not a good look.
Wide Receiver Ricky White III: White III needs to break out this week as well. The Rebels talented receiver is a big play waiting to happen whenever he touches the ball. I expect targets early and often for White III against the Commodores.
The Defensive Backs and Jerrae Williams: The UNLV cornerbacks are talented, but I want to see them play more confidently and urgently. If the Rebels want to get to the quarterback more, they need this group to play with more dawg and competitiveness, something they did in the past.

It’s time for some Rebels football! #RebelUp

Can UNLV improve to 2-1 when they take on Vanderbilt this week?

UNLV Head Coach Barry Odom and his Rebels take on the visiting Vanderbilt Commodores at 4 p.m. today at Allegiant Stadium. The game can be seen on CBS Sports Network, or Click here for tickets.

-Joe Arrigo Franchise Sports Media

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Joe Arrigo

Joe Arrigo is the co-founder and VP of Franchise Sports Media. Joe has been in media since 2004 when he became the morning host on KKUU and mid-days co-host on KXPS in Pam Springs. After his time in Palm Springs, Joe became the operations manager when he built, programmed, and was on-air for KQCM. He has also had stints on-air in various markets, including Fresno. Joe became the producer and co-host for The Beast 980 (KFWB), a sports talk station in Los Angeles, before moving to Vegas in 2015. In 2019 he founded Franchise Sports Media with TQ.

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