UNLV football working on passing attack ahead of tilt at No. 2 Michigan

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023 | 2 a.m.

It’s not easy to find fault in UNLV’s season-opening effort against Bryant, as the Scarlet and Gray dominated their FCS opponent from the very first snap — a 69-yard touchdown run by Vincent Davis — and rolled to a convincing victory.

A coach with a discerning eye, however, can always spot an area in need of improvement, and Barry Odom came out of the contest looking at UNLV’s passing attack.

While the team’s rushing attack went wild (6.7 yards per carry) and special teams put on a show (Jacob De Jesus’ 97-yard kick return was a highlight), UNLV struggled to throw the ball despite having a clear talent advantage at the skill positions.

In his first go piloting the new Go-Go offense, quarterback Doug Brumfield completed 11 of 18 passes for 86 yards. While the junior captain did scramble for a touchdown, he did not throw a scoring pass and was picked off once.

UNLV averaged more yards per carry than through the air (5.3 yards per pass attempt), which was not lost on Odom.

“Left some plays out there in the passing game,” Odom said. “We had receivers open and not connecting.”

After reviewing the game tape, Odom diagnosed the issue as a general lack of cohesion. The timing was off on too many plays, which led to receivers coming open at the wrong time and Brumfield not finding the right man until it was too late.

Odom also pointed out some near-misses that he hopes will turn into big plays once Brumfield and the receivers iron out the details.

In the third quarter, Brumfield had De Jesus wide open behind the defense for what would have been an easy 46-yard touchdown but overthrew the pass. Bryant was flagged for roughing the passer on the play, so UNLV got 15 yards and a first down, but it went down as a missed opportunity for the quarterback and one of his most trusted playmakers.

Another close call came earlier in the game, when Brumfield locked on to junior wideout Ricky White deep down the middle of the field and lofted a pass into the back of the end zone. White made the catch in stride, but his foot came down out of bounds, negating a 31-yard touchdown. Brumfield’s stat line would have looked better with those two passes.

“Ricky White did a great job in the back of the end zone,” Odom said. “They told me there was no review there, but I was trying to buy some time to get another review because I thought he dragged his foot, and he did, but his other foot was already on the white. So that’s inches away. I think we’re really, really close to connecting on those. I think it’ll start to happen.”

UNLV is going to need to hit some of those long balls on Saturday, when they face their toughest matchup of the season at No. 2 Michigan. White in particular figures to be a key — as a true freshman in 2020, he recorded a career performance at Michigan, posting eight catches for 196 yards and a touchdown to lead Michigan State to a win in the Big House. White transferred to UNLV after the season.

White didn’t feature in the game plan against Bryant. Aside from the long target in the back of the end zone, Brumfield only threw to him three other times. White finished with two receptions for seven yards.

White didn’t sound concerned about his production against Bryant, chalking it up to circumstance.

“It could be anything,” he said. “I was open a lot of plays. Doug made a lot of good reads and everything. It is what it is.”

Odom wants to see White attract his share of targets in the passing game without compromising the rest of the gameplan.

“He’s got enough talent and skill set that the plays will come to him,” Odom said. “There’s always plays you design for certain players, and certainly we’ll prepare a number each week into the game for Ricky, but we also can’t force it. We can’t force that to happen. The game will unfold, and he’s a good enough player that the plays will happen.”

UNLV is going to need White, De Jesus and Brumfield to be on time, in rhythm and firing at full capacity in order to pose any threat against Michigan. The stingy Wolverines defense intercepted one pass and held East Carolina to 4.6 yards per pass attempt in a 30-3 Week 1 win.

White said the best thing he and the rest of the receivers can do is have a strong week of practice and then trust that momentum to carry over into the game on Saturday.

“We’re going to keep stacking games, and I feel we’re going to play our game going into this week,” White said. “Same concepts, same play style: Get the ball on the outside, throw shots. We’re going to make plays as receivers.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.