San Jose State vs. UNLV: Three Keys to a Spartan Victory

Will the Spartans take advantage of the best opportunity at a win?

Contact/Follow @MWCwire

The Spartans are back home this week against UNLV and have there best chance left at a win this season. After this week other, then maybe on the road at Wyoming in 2 weeks, every opponent left on the schedule will most likely be big favorites against the Spartans. The Spartans and UNLV kickoff at 3:30 P.M. on Saturday. For the Spartans to come away with there first win they will have to accomplish these 3 keys:

Contain Lexington Thomas:

Without Armani Rodgers at quarterback, the Running Rebels have not nearly been as effective on offense over the past couple of weeks. Lexington Thomas, on the other hand, continues to plug away, he comes into Saturday’s matchup averaging 5.6 yards per carry. The UNLV rushing attack ranks 10th in rushing in S&P+. Coach Brennan stated on Monday that UNLV is a heavy RPO team. If the Spartans want to win on Saturday they will have to force the Rebels to go with the run option more than they would like to.

Continue to build on establisihing a run game:

If you have been reading the 3 keys for a victory for the past few weeks or have just been watching the Spartans games, you most likely understand how bad the rushing attack has been all season long. Although it did not show up on the stat sheet last week the Spartans did break off a few good runs and you could see the potential for Tyler Nevin to get back to the form he had last year. Of course, this hinges on the Spartans young offensive line ability to continue to grow. There is a great opportunity this week to get the ground attack going as UNLV gives up 222.1 rushing yards per game. If the Spartans want to win this week they will need to take advantage of a defense that gives up 5.2 yards per carry.

Josh Love needs to establish himself as the QB moving forward:

Going into the season Montell Aaron seemed like the would be starter but that did not pan out and overall QB play has been very inconsistent for the Spartans. If the Spartans want to win this game and have some success moving forward, Josh Love really needs to find his groove. Love has shown the ability to make some big plays happen like against Hawaii but he has also at times been slow to read defenses and inaccurate with the football. This week Love needs to be able to get the ball out of his hands quickly and into his playmakers’ to take advantage of a UNLV defense that ranks 120th overall in S&P+.