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Every Friday of each game week, the BeaversEdge.com staff will give its predictions for Oregon State's matchup!

With the Oregon State Beavers (4-2) set to square off with UNLV (5-1) on Saturday afternoon, BeaversEdge Publisher Brenden Slaughter, recruiting analyst Dylan Callaghan-Croley, and writers T.J. Mathewson and Ryan Harlan give their two cents on the matchup and who's going to come out on top!

MORE: EDGE Report: UNLV vs OSU | Oregon State Football Insider: Injury Report Week 7 vs UNLV | Who's On Campus This Weekend? | A Closer Look At UNLV | EDGE POD: Talkin' Defense, Injuries, UNLV, & MORE

Having UNLV come to town after the defensive struggles the Beavers have had the last few weeks seems like a cruel joke, but it's just reality for a Beaver program that can reverse the trend of its season with a win on Saturday. How can they get a win? Well, I'd imagine it would have to be a high-scoring affair.

Even with the Beavers getting a few guys back on defense, the UNLV offense has been an efficient machine under Brennan Marrion's 'Go-Go' offense. The strength of the offense is tempo, option running, and deep shots, which puts pressure on some of the thinnest parts of the Oregon State defense.

The favorable matchup comes on the other side of the ball, where a struggling UNLV defense has surrendered 78 points in the last two weeks after a strong first four weeks. Since the Purdue week, we've seen OSU's offense top 30 points each week. Will it be enough?

I don't think so. UNLV comes in on homecoming night, and pulls away with a late touchdown in a high-scoring affair.

PREDICTION: UNLV 45, Oregon State 34

TJ's season record: 4-2

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While in years past, UNLV was the definition of a "get right game", it's been a completely different story and culture under second-year head coach Barry Odom who has instantaneously transformed a bad program into one that can go toe-to-toe with most any on Saturday's...

Offensively, the Rebels present a good amount of problems for the Oregon State defense as a lot of what Nevada was able to do last weekend, the Rebels can do better and faster. The Beavers will have the advantage of being at home and having their fans behind them, which typically lends to better defense, but the matchup isn't the greatest for the Beavs.

The Rebels are 15th nationally in rushing yards per game at 213.6 yards per contest, while the Beavers allow 221 yards on the ground per game, which is 123rd nationally. UNLV is very similar to Oregon State through the air, as the Rebels and Beavers are very similar in passing yards per game at 171 vs 191, respectively.

For the Beavers to come out on top in this matchup, the run defense has to take a massive step forward. Whether that's internal improvement from the guys available or getting additional guys back in the fold, if the Beavers can find something that slows down UNLV offensively, they'll be right in this matchup, if it's more of what we saw last week, it could be a long evening.

If there's good news for the Beavers in this matchup, it's that UNLV's defense has slipped in recent weeks and thus has given the Beavs an opening to turn this into a higher-scoring affair if need be.

The Rebels have allowed over 1,000 combined yards and 75 total points to Utah State and Syracuse (1-1 vs those teams) in the last two weeks, and with the Beavers starting to be more consistent offensively, that could bode well.

With the home crowd behind them, I do expect the Beaver defense to play better than they did against Nevada, but the counter to that is UNLV is a better offense than the Wolfpack, thus the challenge remains sizable in slowing down this go-go offensive attack.

I've gone back and forth with this one and given it a lot of thought this week, but I still see the Rebels being a bit better than the Beavers on Saturday night...

PREDICTION - UNLV 42, Oregon State 39

Brenden's season record: 5-1

Coming off the disappointing loss to Nevada last week, the Beavers are in for a tough matchup at home on Saturday against the UNLV Rebels.

Now, if Oregon State were healthy in this matchup on the defensive side of the ball; I'd like the Beavers chances to win this game but right now with the losses that they have on defense, I don't think they'll be able to stop the run against a UNLV team that likes to go up-tempo in the 'go-go' offense.

What really is drawing me away from the Beavers in this matchup is the injuries on defense and the lack of depth along the defensive line in particular.

While the Beavers will get some bodies back on the defensive side of the ball, they'll have a couple of guys play both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball again due to the lack of depth available.

The lack of depth reared it's ugly head in the loss to Nevada with several starters on defense playing a signficant amount of snaps. While the Beavers have showed that they can win games at home with a key defensive starters out like against Colorado State, where the Beavers were able to captialize on self-inflicted mistakes by the Rams.

I won't write off the Beavers entirely in this matchup, I think this comes down to how does the depth show up on defense and the ability to contain UNLV's QB Hajj Malik-Williams by playing sound in their technique. Offensively, it's not making self-inflicted mistakes and keeping up in the passing and running game with UNLV.

The Beavers offense showed it can put up yards and points when needed, but their success will be dependent on how healthy Gevani McCoy is. McCoy's turnovers played a role in the loss to Nevada but they need to keep him upright and protected if they want to avoid those mistakes in the passing game.

Otherwise if the Beavers don't accomplish those keys in the game against the Rebels, it'll be a long night at Reser Stadium.

PREDICTION: UNLV 34, Oregon State 28

Ryan's season record: 5-1

This was a tough matchup for Oregon State to begin with, but add in all the injuries, and an already tall hill just became closer to a mountain.

The Beavers are a good football team there’s little doubt of that but this UNLV team is a legitimate playoff contender and their offense is a big reason why.

Despite a sudden quarterback change this season, the Rebels haven’t missed a beat offensively and can beat opposing teams via the ground mostly, but through the air as well.

Defensively they have their flaws against the pass but I’m not sure the Beavers have the skill position players to really take advantage of that weakness. If they have, they haven’t shown it this season.

All in all, this is just a poor matchup for the Beavers and it will take a great game plan and likely a few lucky breaks in order to win this one.

PREDICTION: UNLV 34 - Oregon State 20

Dylan's season record: 5-1

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