Take Five: Getting to know Wyoming

By Ryan Greene

Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009 | 2:04 a.m.

Something has to give, basically.

Either 2-1 UNLV has to snap its 19-game road losing streak in Mountain West Conference games, or Wyoming needs to end its offensive touchdown drought, which currently stands at nine quarters for the 1-2 Cowboys.

Or neither streak could end, and it will make for an ugly affair that Rebels fans will be glad is not televised.

But, odds are, at least one will fall. Probably both.

Here's a closer look at the Cowboys.

1) How exactly DOES a team go nine quarters without an offensive TD?

Well, four of those quarters came against the No. 2 team in the country in Texas, so there's something to be said for that. And even though they're not in the top tier of the league, another Big 12 foe came a week later in Colorado.

But another factor is instability at the quarterback position through three games.

In the first two games, true freshman Austyn Carta-Samuels and juco transfer Robert Benjamin have both seen action that is pretty much equal. Against the Buffaloes, senior Karsten Sween — who had 641 pass attempts coming into the 2009 season — saw a brief bit of action.

Now, it appears that first-year coach Dave Christensen has handed the car keys to his youngest driver — Carta-Samuels — for good.

The frosh from San Jose, Calif., who is 26-of-53 for 294 yards in three appearances, will make his first career start against the Rebels, who come into the game boasting the 99th-ranked pass defense out of 120 FBS teams.

Surely, they'll manage to find the end zone somehow. Christensen — who was previously the offensive coordinator at Missouri — is installing a shotgun spread offense without all of the pieces in place. But still, what he has should be good for a couple of points here and there in 2009.

2) Get 'em goin' early

However, the guys who Christensen did recruit to run his high-powered offense are getting their shots in early.

When the game starts on Saturday, Wyoming will be starting four true freshmen on offense, including running back Alvester Alexander and receiver Chris McNeill.

Alexander will still share duties with Darius Terry, but is looking good early on as a Cowboy, with 23 carries for 127 yards and a TD in his first three career games.

As for McNeill, he had two catches for 11 yards last week after battling concussion woes during much of the fall, and is now atop the depth chart at one receiver spot. He's a nice complement to the Cowboys' top weapon — 6-foot-4 junior receiver David Leonard, who has 19 catches for 177 yards and is a top-flight deep threat.

3) Where does the elevation factor in?

Laramie, Wyo., is one of the highest outposts in all of college football, checking in right around 7,200 feet above sea level.

Several teams struggle with the adjustment — especially early in games — and the Cowboys have a history of using that as a distinct home field advantage. Heck, just ask Texas, who led Wyoming by a slim margin at halftime a few weeks back, 13-10.

But UNLV probably won't be as thrown off as most, as a 10-day period of the Rebels' fall training camp is spent playing up in Ely, where the elevation is roughly 6,500 feet.

4) A couple of guys to fear up front

On paper, Wyoming's defense doesn't strike fear into the hearts of many, as the Cowboys are ranked 103rd in the country in total defense, surrendering 427 yards per game.

But for the most part, the defensive unit has been good enough.

With the exception of an über-sloppy second half against Texas (getting shutout 28-0), the D has kept Wyoming hanging around against Weber State and Colorado.

A lot of that has to do with the veterans up front in senior defensive tackle John Fletcher and senior defensive end Mitch Unrein.

Unrein's numbers aren't huge this year, with eight tackles in three games, but he's well-known as one of the league's top pass rushers, while Fletcher has three sacks and five of the Cowboys' 17 tackles for loss.

5) The logistics

If you're an over-optimistic Wyoming fan, looking for any kind of advantage whatsoever, you can look to mother nature.

Earlier this week in Laramie, it snowed. Yes, snow. And both rain and snow were in the forecast for Thursday night, with more expected Friday morning. However, the 10-day forecast calls for 72-degree weather and sunny conditions on Saturday come game time.

But, as we all know, anything can happen.

Plus, this is UNLV's first day game of the season, with their last two contests having kicked off at 8 p.m., PDT. This one will begin at noon, PDT. How will the Rebels' body clocks respond?

Again, with a lengthy drought on each side of this one, you've got to look at every imaginable factor.