A good, long look at … Colorado State

By Ryan Greene

Friday, Oct. 3, 2008 | 2:05 a.m.

UNLV Roundtable

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Alex and Ryan recap the UNLV UNR game and preview the Colorado State game.

Each Friday during the 2008 season, the Sun will take an in-depth look at the Rebels' upcoming weekend foe, giving you a crash course on what you need to know, plus what you might not have known already.

A good, long look at ... Colorado State (Saturday, 11 a.m. PST, The Mtn.)

The rep ... Well, it's actually hard to figure out just what the rep is on 2-2 Colorado State this year, as the Rams have yet to really produce consistent results so far under first-year coach Steve Fairchild.

After getting knocked around in their opener against in-state rival Colorado, 38-17, the Rams squeaked by FCS foe Sacramento State, 23-20, in their home debut. On the heels of that came a surprising 28-25 victory over Houston, and then a step back of sorts with an ugly 42-7 loss at Cal.

The best way to sum up CSU's play is 'old school'. Senior tailback Gartrell Johnson is a bull, built in the mold of UNLV's Frank Summers, and they'll run him plenty. He has 300 yards and two scores on 66 carries this season, and has a very capable backup in Kyle Bell. When the Rams go to the air, they go deep ... often. Fairchild was an offensive coordinator under Mike Martz once upon a time, and this offense looks very similar.

Defensively, CSU blitzes plenty. The Rams like to try to draw foes into knock-down, drag-out, slowed down games.

The Rams control the all-time series with the Rebels, 11-4-1, and have won five straight.

Last week ... If you look at offensive numbers alone, you might wonder how CSU lost by such a wide margin in Berkeley. In total offense, the Rams actually out-gained the Golden Bears by three. But Cal scored a touchdown on a punt return, an interception return and a blocked punt return.

The one interesting thing to emerge from last week's CSU rubble was what for a moment appeared to be a potential quarterback controversy. Billy Farris - who Fairchild said will get the start against UNLV - was yanked in favor of redshirt freshman Klay Kubiak, who is the son of Houston Texans coach and former John Elway backup extraordinaire Gary Kubiak. The youngster went 6-of-9 for 130 yards. And while it didn't win him the job, don't be surprised to see him come in off the bench should things not start off so hot for the Rams.

Why CSU can beat UNLV ... The Rebels have the pieces and tools to be able to play the slowed-down, grind-it-out style with the Rams. The only thing is, they have to be re-established first. While UNR racked up 444 yards on the ground at Sam Boyd Stadium last Saturday, UNLV's Frank 'The Tank' Summers picked up just 20 yards on nine carries. Granted, the game's pace didn't really allow Summers to get too involved, but this week's pace will allow it. The question is: Does the magic simply reappear?

On the flip side, the Rebel run defense's poor showing last week may have been a bit of an anomaly. While dual-threat quarterbacks have given UNLV plenty of problems (which CSU doesn't really have), UNR's Vai Taua was the first opposing running back to break the 100-yard barrier on the Rebels this year. No one before that had even sniffed triple digits. Should UNLV be able to put last week's wounds behind it, get back to basics, CSU could find trouble. But, again, that's an awfully tough assumption to make, especially given what a good one-two combo Johnson and Bell are for CSU.

Why UNLV can beat CSU ... One thing in particular just flat-out killed Colorado State last week at Cal - team speed.

UNLV isn't the nation's fastest squad, but it's faster than CSU as a whole. There's not much debating that. With that said, the Rebels need to exploit the advantage as much as possible, especially at the skill positions. A sleeper in this regard could be the speed sweep that UNLV busted out on multiple occasions two weeks ago against Iowa State. It involved receivers Ryan Wolfe and Michael Johnson taking handoffs and quickly hitting the perimeter for large gains. That play could find its way back this week. Don't be shocked.

Also, UNLV is playing knowing that, with a bye week on the horizon, a loss would mean there'd be two weeks for it to fester.

The infirmary report ... The big injury note to keep an eye on with CSU involves linebacker Ricky Brewer - the Rams' leading tackler with 31 stops this season. He's worn a boot on his right ankle this week after injuring it on the first play of the game at Cal. He remained in the game, and has made it sound like he'll be ready to go Saturday. Either way, that makes the speed differential even that much wider between the Ram defense and Rebel offense.

A name which could creep up for the Rams ... While the main features in the CSU offense are a power run game and plenty of chances down the field, it gets easy to ignore the intermediate areas. That's where tight end Kory Sperry comes into play. The fifth-year senior is on more than just a few NFL radars, and is still bouncing back after a knee injury sidelined him for all but two games a year ago. He has 13 grabs for 125 yards and two scores so far this season, and could come into play big-time should either the run game or the long ball prove ineffective for the Rams.

Be sure to log onto www.lasvegassun.com both leading up to, during and after Saturday's game in Fort Collins, Colo. You'll find ongoing numbers and analysis in our game day blog, plus postgame analysis, reactions from the Rebels, photos, video highlights and much more.