UNLV is in their first bowl game since the 2000 Las Vegas Bowl and North Texas is back in the post season for the first time since 2004, so each team is looking for a good post season showing in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. When looking at the advanced stats between each team it does make sense to see why North Texas is a 6.5-point favorite over UNLV.
The biggest difference between the two is the special teams and defense where North Texas has a huge advantage, but on offense the two teams are fairly even. North Texas' defense is borderline elite as they are No. 28 in F/+ defensive ratings. Even with North Texas being rated that high the UNLV offense should be able to have some success moving the ball.
The only area where UNLV looks to have an edge is in long drives of 10 or more plays where they are ninth in the nation and they are good at avoiding being sacked on standard downs, but that may be more due to the Rebels handing the ball off to Tim Cornett instead of passing.
One can get lost in this stats as this is a ton of information from Football Outsiders or Football Study Guide and it is a great way to go way deep between these two teams
*Click the links above to get a description of what these stats mean.
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