Idaho at Nevada: Postgame Splatters

An offense who can score 70 points against a 6-1 FBS team, WAC, Big West, or otherwise, pretty much speaks for itself.

On the flip side, giving up 45 speaks volumes, too.

But it's not just the giving up of those points...it's how they were given up:

• 73 yard TD pass.
• 59 yard TD run.
• 73 yard TD pass...again.

Nathan Enderle went 15 of 26 for 342 yards, and Brian Reader went 7 of 7 for 62, giving Idaho 404 total yards passing.  Of that combined 22 for 33, ten were over ten yards; of those, five were over 20 yards; of those three were over 40 yards, and of THOSE two were over 70 yards (16, 16, 13, 17, 14; 28, 28; 42; 73, 73).  Idaho averaged 12.2 yards per pass.

Long story short: the secondary is still getting burned, and burned badly at key times.  The defense started strong: they put pressure on Enderle, sacking him FOUR (4) times in the first fifteen minutes, and simply made Idaho look bad.  Really, really bad.  Then Idaho woke up in plenty of time to start making the game interesting for awhile.  The rush defense, on the other hand, was solid, keeping Idaho to 90 yards on the ground, with 59 of those coming on one play (see above) for a paltry average of 3.6 yards per carry on 25 attempts.

Then there are the penalties.  Always with the penalties.  This area has gotten better, at least compared to the first four games, and WAC refs aren't exactly revered throughout the land for their exemplary eyesight and discretion.  Yet they are, as always, worth noting.

6 penalties for 64 yards: personal foul, 15 yards; false start for 5, two holds for ten and six yards, pass interference for 13 yards, and a 15 yard roughing the kicker. Conversely, Idaho had five penalties for 31 yards.  That is, of course, a far cry from 15 for 169, so I'm not complaing too much.  But there is room for improvement.

On an even brighter note, Nevada was +2 in turnover margin this game, recovering a pick and a fumble while holding onto the ball for the full 33:40 they were in possession.

Misc: Nevada hiked for for 662 yards of total offense...they gave up 494.