FACTS & STATS: Site: Sam Boyd Stadium (36,800) -- Las Vegas, Nevada. Television: The Mtn. Home Record: Air Force 1-2, UNLV 2-1. Away Record: Air Force 2-0, UNLV 1-2. Neutral Record: Air Force 1-0, UNLV 0-0. Conference Record: Air Force 2-1, UNLV 0-2. Series Record: Air Force leads, 9-4.

GAME NOTES: Following a week off the UNLV Rebels aim for their first Mountain West Conference win of 2008 as they contend with the Air Force Falcons at home in Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday night. The Rebels have had more than their share of up and downs already this season, having played back-to-back overtime events at one juncture. More recently the team was taken out by Colorado State in Fort Collins by a score of 41-28 on October 4th, marking the second straight loss for the Rebels, who are now an even 3-3 on the season. Meanwhile, the Falcons too had been suffering from a two-game slide entering last week, but in their case they put an end to it with a resounding 35-10 win over MWC foe San Diego State on the road. The victory has Air Force 3-2 on the season overall and an even 1-1 in conference after having lost to nationally- ranked Utah by a touchdown a few weeks back. Last year, the Falcons picked up a 31-14 win over the representatives from Sin City, which means UNLV now trails in the all-time series by a count of 9-4. The Falcons have won five of the last six meetings overall and have taken four of the seven tilts played in the desert over the years.

Last week a couple of freshman gave the Falcons the juice they needed to run away from San Diego State and it appears as though the duo is ready to ride again this Saturday as well. Stepping in for Shea Smith at quarterback was Tim Jefferson as he completed 3-of-5 passes for 34 yards and added another 55 yards rushing and a score on 12 attempts for the visitors. Also, Asher Clark made the first start of his career as well and finished up with career highs of 15 carries for 109 yards. After putting up better than 400 yards on the ground versus SDSU, the Falcons jumped to fifth in the national rankings in that department with 292.5 ypg, easily the best mark in the MWC these days. Quarterback Shea Smith, who leads the program with his six rushing scores, also has four passing TDs and has completed 56 percent of his attempts, yet the aerial attack of the academy is still last in the conference and 117th in the nation with 80.7 ypg, which might be why Jefferson is being given some snaps as the starter to try and jump-start that aspect of the offense.

While the Air Force running attack was charging up and down the field to the tune of 401 yards, the run defense for the Falcons was stopping the Aztecs in their tracks time and time again. SDSU was limited to a mere 35 yards on 27 attempts, which made it that much harder on the squad as it tried to get something going through the air but was held to only 130 yards and was intercepted twice by the Falcons. Of his three stops in the game, Patrick Hennessey had two of the team's sacks. Because of the efforts of guys like Hennessey, the Falcons currently rank second in the conference and third in the country in sacks per game with three and a half per outing. Astonishingly, on the other side of the ball the offensive line can be proud of the fact that they are the last FBS program yet to allow a single sack this season. On Saturday it was Hennessey who made the big splash getting into the backfield, but for the majority of 2008 the most determined and aggressive defender has been Jake Paulson with his 8.5 sacks and 11.0 tackles for loss. With an average of 1.42 sacks per game, Paulson leads all of college football at the moment.

Already named the MWC Offensive Player of the Week once this season, UNLV quarterback Omar Clayton has been buzzing along with the kind of personal success that hasn't been seen under center in Las Vegas in nearly a decade. Already Clayton has 14 touchdown passes this year, placing him 12th in the nation and giving him more than any Rebel passer in a single season since Jason Thomas logged 14 in 2000, and Clayton still has half a season to play. Perhaps more important than his touchdown total is the fact that Clayton has tossed just two interceptions in 175 attempts this year. With his 41 catches for 498 yards Ryan Wolfe leads the team in both categories, but his three receiving touchdowns is just half the number that Phillip Payne has come up with, and he's collected only 18 passes thus far. Aside from Clayton, opponents generally plan their defense around Frank Summers who has dished out one pounding run after another, en route to his 515 yards and four TDs this season.

As good as the offense can be at times for the Rebels, the defense tends to let opponents off the hook. Entering this week UNLV's run defense ranked eighth in the conference and 109th in the nation with a whopping 213 ypg allowed. In terms of pass defense, the secondary currently shows an efficiency rating of only 153.38, which is last in the Mountain West Conference and 114th in the country this week. The bottom line seems to be an inability to break up plays in the backfield often enough. The numbers show UNLV is seventh in the conference in both tackles for loss and sacks with averages of 4.5 and 1.33 per game, respectively. Tops in the league this week and tied for sixth nationally with his 10.83 tackles per game, Jason Beauchamp is one of two players on the team with at least two sacks over six games, the other being Isaako Aaitui. While the offense for the Rebels has done a good job keeping their hands wrapped around the ball, the defense should be doing more to create just one forced turnover per game on the average.

Already proven to be a weak run defense, the Rebels are going to be attacked time and time again by Air Force on the ground, so unless something drastic changes this week during preparations, expect to see the Falcons come away with the road win.