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FACTS & STATS: Site: Sam Boyd Stadium (41,800) -- Las Vegas, Nevada. Television: CBSCSN. Home Record: OSU 1-0, UNLV 1-0. Away Record: OSU 0-0, UNLV 0-0. Neutral Record: OSU 0-0, UNLV 0-0. Conference Record: OSU 0-0, UNLV 0-0. Series Record: UNLV leads, 3-1.

GAME NOTES: Two teams that faced off against opponents outside of the Football Bowl Subdivision to begin play in 2009, get their first taste of real competition on Saturday night as the UNLV Rebels entertain the Oregon State Beavers in a non-conference bout at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The Rebels, who finished 2008 with a record of 5-7 but were just 2-6 versus the rest of the Mountain West Conference, played the first of three straight home games to kick off the new season and defeated Sacramento State in the process by a score of 38-3. Following this meeting with OSU, the Rebels will remain in Sin City to entertain Hawaii, before heading to Laramie on September 26th to kick off the MWC slate versus Wyoming.

As for the Beavers, who were 9-4 last season as they closed the campaign with seven wins in eight tries, they too had an easy time of it this past weekend as they dismissed in-state rival Portland State with a 34-7 decision in Corvallis.

UNLV owns a 3-1 advantage in the all-time series, yet lost the most recent meeting between the two by a score of 47-17 back in 2002.

The Rodgers brothers were the focal point of the Oregon State offense in the opener as James Rodgers kicked off the scoring with an 87-yard touchdown reception less than six minutes into the contest. From there, Jacquizz Rodgers did the honors with scoring runs of five, one and 43 yards. The running back finished with a game-high 103 yards on the ground and also led the Beavers with four receptions for 32 yards. Quarterbacks Ryan Katz and Sean Canfield combined to complete 15-of-23 passes for 282 yards and a score. Despite not having Lyle Moevao available at the QB position because of offseason rotator cuff surgery, it was still a positive sign to get back both Jacquizz and James after they too suffered injuries near the end of the '08 campaign. In the case of Jacquizz, before going down with a shoulder problem a year ago, he managed to do just enough damage with a Pac-10 freshman record 1,253 rushing yards to be named the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year. The three-TD game was the first in the career for Jacquizz.

If not for a touchdown with under three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Vikings would never have made a dent in a decision that was so one-sided. Nevertheless, as strong as the OSU defense may have been, there were still a couple of cracks in the armor, specifically a pass defense that allowed Ray Fry to collect a game-high 10 passes for 146 yards. The run defense was certainly more stout, limiting Portland State to just 77 yards on 25 attempts. Considering Oregon State was first in the Pac-10 and fourth in the nation in sacks (3.0 per game) and tied for fourth in the country in tackles for loss (8.1 per game) last season, it is surprising that the unit recorded just two TFLs against Portland State and failed to log a single sack. The squad from last year also played better in the secondary, probably thanks to a defensive line that caused so much havoc in the backfield, as it held opponents to just 180.9 ypg through the air, an average that ranked the group third in the conference and 22nd nationally.

The 38 points scored by the Rebels last Saturday night was more than the team scored against any one team all of last season. Then again, UNLV didn't take the easy way out by scheduling a date with a program outside of the FBS in 2008 either. The star for the show at Sam Boyd Stadium was running back Channing Trotter who posted 102 yards and delivered a trio of one-yard touchdown runs in the onslaught. Quarterback Omar Clayton missed on just four of his 17 attempts, finishing with 213 yards and a touchdown, while backup Mike Clausen completed all four of his tries for another 37 yards. All-MWC performer Ryan Wolfe logged five catches for 67 yards as well. Last season Wolfe was second in the conference and tied for ninth in the nation with 7.3 catches per game, so you can be sure that he will again be a focus of the offense for the Rebels in 2009. The team was second-to-last in the MWC in rushing with only 121.7 ypg and tallied just 15 TDs on the ground, so clearly the performance of Trotter is reason enough to be less concerned about that aspect of the squad.

Aside from a 44-yard field goal by the visitors at the end of the first half, the Rebels had little to worry about in the lopsided decision on Saturday night. The defense for the home team was equally efficient against both the run and the pass, allowing just 129 yards on the ground and 99 passing yards on 19 attempts. Starr Fuimaono tied for the team high with 11 tackles, accounting for the lone sack of the game for the Rebels, while Ronnie Paulo made two of his 11 stops behind the line of scrimmage. Sacks and tackles for loss were far from a strength for the Rebels a year ago when they ranked eighth in the Mountain West in both departments. With just 0.9 sacks per game the team was 115th nationally and their 4.2 TFLs had them listed 116th, certainly an area in which head coach Mike Sanford could stand to show some improvement to say the least. Linebacker Jason Beauchamp needs to be the one to make that happen after the senior was eighth in the nation last year with 10.6 tackles per game.

As strong as both of these teams looked in their respective openers, one has to remember that neither of them was playing a tough opponent. Even though OSU is the road team, having both James and Jacquizz Rodgers ready to roll is enough to scare any opponent in any venue.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Oregon State 31, UNLV 17