UNLV OFFENSE

The UNLV offense will be better, and it starts up front. The Rebels’ offensive line was supposed to be a strength last season with several players returning but it never came together and the giant holes made a tough transition to Division I for quarterback Blake Decker even more difficult as he was sacked 34 times (13^th most in the country) and threw 18 interceptions (second most in the country).

Obviously Decker had a large role in those errors, too, but as he got hit and banged up his decision-making dropped off the table. With time to recover from injuries and put weight back on, Decker has easily been the Rebels’ best quarterback in camp and new coach Tony Sanchez’s emphasis on making sure the O-Line is the priority gives some hope that Decker’s second year can go better than the first.

Combine that with some athletic additions to the stable of running backs and another outstanding season from potential star receiver Devonte Boyd (64 receptions, 973 yards and 4 TDs as a freshman), and there’s reason to be optimistic on this side of the ball.

UNLV DEFENSE

Defense has almost always been a big problem for UNLV and without the time to get wholesale personnel changes in it’s hard to imagine making huge differences one way or the other. So I expect the UNLV defense to be about the same as last season, which wasn’t very good at all. The Rebels finished 11th in the MWC in total defense, allowing 513.5 yards per game, and dead last in scoring defense, allowing 38.5 points per game. 

Depth, particularly on the defensive line, could be an issue for the Rebels, to the point that Sanchez has discussed having an overaggressive mentality this season to make up for some of the deficiencies. What he doesn’t want to do is sit back and get picked apart, but if those extra risks (namely a blitz-heavy mentality) don’t work the Rebels will be vulnerable to the big plays that could make the plan a net loss.

A markedly improved defense would be a huge victory for the first-year coaching staff though it based on history it shouldn’t be the expectation.

BUYING OR SELLING?

Selling, although it depends on your perspective because this is far from a one-year turnaround project. A .500 season would be huge and feels like it’s completely off the table against seemingly one of the toughest schedules UNLV has ever faced.

The Mountain West wasn’t particularly good last season but the Rebels only won two games and now the shifting schedule removes some of the easiest opponents and replaces them with Boise State, Colorado State and Wyoming for the next two years.

Throw in UCLA at home plus road trips to Michigan and Northern Illinois and another two-win season isn’t out of the question. Four wins should be considered a big success and that could be possible but I’ll go with three victories and a close loss or two that build optimism heading into the future.

Taylor Bern, the UNLV beat writer for the Las Vegas Sun provided the information for our UNLV Football 2015 Spring recap. For more Running Rebel football information, commentary and analysis, you can follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorBern.