And we're back!

I'm not delusional.

Let's try that again.

I'm not delusional.

When evaluating a Nevada football coach, it's best to understand what and where the Nevada football program is at. Our budget is about half of Boise's, Fresno State's, or Hawaii's. Ault makes less than New Mexico State's coach. I've told anyone who asked that, for the past couple of years, Ault has done everything that anybody could really expect a football coach to do around here. We've been competing in the top half of the WAC and we're regularly going to bowl games. Compared to the other schools in our budget range, we're on top - we're above Louisiana Tech, we're above New Mexico State, we're above San Jose State, and so on. It's really hard to complain when that's the case... so I didn't. I stepped away from this blog, figuring my silence said it all. No, Ault wasn't perfect, but that wasn't the point - for a while, he was as good as we deserved.

There's nothing wrong with that.

After the past couple of games, though, I'm worried. I watched the Notre Dame game, seeing Ault fail to notice that Notre Dame was blitzing a five man line with six defensive players for over two quarters. I listened to the Colorado State game - a game we had two weeks to prepare for, mind you - and sat there in horror, listening to our team make mistake after mistake, fumbling the ball, throwing the ball into coverage in the end zone, and making basic procedural errors. In short, I sat there and listened to a poorly coached football team just two weeks after I watched one on TV.

Then I read this:

"One (false-start penalty) was the crowd," Ault said. "But our center, Kenny Ackerman, in the first half he just miscalculated some snaps."We were out of sync. Part of that has to do with our quarterback play, calling the right plays and getting things into perspective, and we didn't in the first half. It was as out of sync as we've ever been on offense."

That's right. It wasn't the coaches' fault for failing to prepare their players for a routine Mountain West crowd. It wasn't the coaches' fault for failing to drill timing into the offensive line. Of course, it couldn't be the coaches' fault that a three-year quarterback suddenly doesn't know how to play quarterback anymore. No - it's all the players' faults.

When most coaches run a game like this, they own up. They point the finger at themselves and get to work. Ault has never been good at this, of course, but this is getting out of hand. Ault and his coaches screwed up bad. After three weeks, we have a team that can't handle even a mild crowd, can't hold on to the ball, and can't play offense. If that's not a sign that Ault is losing his touch, I don't know what is.

Groth just got an extension over the weekend. It's a good thing - she's going to need it.