Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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44 OCT. 22, 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: UNLV BY TODD D. BURLAGE UNLV RUNNING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME RUN DEFENSE The Rebels faced a deep hole to fill at tailback this season after losing the program's all-time lead- ing rusher and two-time All-Mountain West Con- ference honoree Charles Williams to graduation. Louisville transfer Aidan Robbins, a bruising 6-foot-3, 230-pound junior tailback, has done a solid job in his first year with the program. Through six games, he easily led UNLV in just about every rushing category, including attempts (117), yards (561), touchdowns (8), and yards per game (93.5). Robbins' yards-per-game average ranked second in the MWC through Week 6 and his 8 touchdowns were tied for the most in the league. A workhorse back, Robbins averaged 19.5 carries a game and is a primary reason why the Rebels were off to their best start since they also started 4-2 in 2003. Junior Courtney Reese is a shifty complementary tailback who averaged 5.3 carries and 30.0 rush- ing yards through six games. As a team, UNLV last week slotted 74th nationally and sixth in the MWC in rushing offense with 148.8 yards per game. For Notre Dame, its run-stoppage unit trended well in consecutive wins over Cal, North Carolina and BYU, after struggling during an 0-2 start to this season. After falling to No. 95 nationally in rush- ing defense through two games, Notre Dame has steadily improved and entered the Stanford game ranked No. 72, allowing 145.8 yards per game. Linebacker Jack Kiser led the team through with 29 tackles through five games. The versatile senior provided Notre Dame with solid work when he was moved from the outside to the middle as a fill-in for senior JD Bertrand, who missed parts of two games due to targeting suspensions. Advantage: Notre Dame UNLV PASSING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME PASS DEFENSE UNLV starting quarterback Doug Brumfield was giving the Rebels good work through its first five games. However, an undisclosed injury suffered in the second quarter of a 40-7 blowout loss to San Jose State Oct. 7 sidelined the sophomore in the second half. Brumfield completed 68.4 percent of his passes for 1,231 yards with 8 touchdowns and 2 intercep- tions prior to getting hurt. Not many details on Brumfield's injury were available at press time — local UNLV media speculated it was a leg injury — but his status remains uncertain. If Brumfield can't play, the Rebels have a nice Plan B with sophomore backup Cameron Friel. Despite not winning the starting job in the preseason, Friel was the 2021 Mountain West Freshman of the Year after he completed 62.4 percent of his passes for 1,608 yards with 6 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Paced by standout sophomore wide receiver Ricky White, UNLV ranked 71st nationally in pass- ing offense through six games at 238.8 yards a game. White, a transfer from Michigan State, led the Rebels with 29 catches (third in the MWC) and 386 receiving yards (fourth) with 3 touchdowns through six contests. Junior wide receiver Kyle Williams, a 2020 Fresh- man All-American, started fast with 18 catches for 235 yards and 4 touchdowns in UNLV's first four games, but was sidelined for two games by a leg injury and was listed as day-to-day before the Rebels played against Air Force Oct. 15. Notre Dame finally recorded its first interception of the season against BYU. Baby steps for sure, considering that at this time last season, the Irish already had 10 interceptions. That said, the quarterback pressure numbers for Notre Dame have been solid, though not spectacu- lar. With 6 sacks against Cal, 3 sacks against North Carolina and another 2 versus BYU, Notre Dame entered its game against Stanford last week ranked No. 18 nationally with 3.0 sacks per game. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. UNLV RUN DEFENSE A commitment to a run-first offense in the pre- season took a few games to root for first-year head coach Marcus Freeman. But sweeping im- provement the last month along the Notre Dame offensive line, working in front of a deep stable of talented tailbacks, has moved the Irish from On PaPer Sophomore wide receiver Ricky White, a transfer from Michigan State, led the Rebels with 29 catches (third in the Mountain West) and 386 receiving yards (fourth) with 3 touchdowns through six contests. PHOTO COURTESY UNLV