UNLV Quote of the Day

"Let's win and then we'll figure out what we're going to do with the dang thing." - Bobby Hauck

Coaches in this rivalry seldom grasp the intensity the first time 'round.  John Robinson, after losing his first game in Reno 26-12 on October 2, 1999 said that he'd greatly underestimated the rivalry, but never would again (and he didn't...he never lost another game to Nevada).  The following year, after losing at Nevada Southern 38-7, first-year Wolf Pack coach Chris Tormey said something very similar.

Public Enemy No. 1 seems to join the ranks; refering to my beloved Fremont Cannon as '...the dang thing' shows that he's taking the trophy and the rivalry with the same degree of ignorance and/or irreverence as so many who have come before him...an ambivalence that most certainly is not shared by anyone who will be on the opposing sideline Saturday night.

Flotsam & Jetsam

It's difficult to come up with anything especially compelling to say about the UNLV game this weekend. Nobody, not even in "that city", are expecting this game to be close. The Rebels are banged up, they have a new coach with a new system, and, oh yeah, we have the best Wolf Pack team in... well, probably ever, frankly. Keep in mind, though, that UNLV's play bordered alarmingly close to decent against Wisconsin and Utah, and both of those programs are ranked; off course, that was several injuries ago. Even so, if our offense keeps hemorrhaging the ball every time we get tackled, don't be surprised if the Rebels somehow make things uncomfortably interesting.

In the meantime...

I know it's fashionable to complain about Mackay for a variety of good and justifiable reasons, but it could be worse. At least we don't play in this:



That, in case you were wondering, is the Kibbie Dome, which, coincidentally, is also the scene of UNLV's last loss.

Should we be ranked higher?

It's a popular topic these days. After all, we're 4-0, we had an excellent win against Cal and we won handily on the road against BYU. Why are we only 25th, and why did it take so long to get there in the first place? The answer, as always, lies in the details - namely, who's above us? Let's go through the list and see who we're subjectively superior to.

24. Michigan State (4-0): Three wins against otherwise forgettable programs (Western Michigan, Florida Atlantic, and Northern Colorado), and an exciting win against a talented but luckless Notre Dame team, with the fake field goal at the end playing on SportsCenter for a week.

Verdict: Overrated. If it weren't for that win against Notre Dame, they probably wouldn't be here. The good news is that they're playing Wisconsin this week, so there's a very real chance they'll fall back to Earth. The bad news is that they're playing the same Wisconsin team that nearly lost to Arizona State and let San Jose State look surprisingly decent in week 2.

23. North Carolina State (4-0): Ah, the one-word Wolfpack. Their schedule looks pretty similar to ours - two victories over mediocre programs (Western Carolina and UCF), followed by two wins against somewhat better competition (Cincinnati and Georgia Tech).

Verdict: Push. You could make a credible case that our wins are a bit more impressive than theirs, but only a bit. Cincinnati's record is dismal, but they've played some excellent schools; this puts them roughly on par with BYU. Georgia Tech, meanwhile, was #15 in the country until Kansas stunned them into submission. Since then, Georgia Tech has been somewhat mercurial. Then again, Cal has proved its reputation was a little overblown once they stopped playing UC Davis and Colorado.

22. Penn State (3-1): Two wins against forgettable programs (Youngstown State and Kent State), a come-from-behind win against a halfway decent Temple team (they beat Connecticut), and an absolute pasting by Alabama.

Verdict: Overrated. Temple's better than usual, but it's still not that good. Having to come from behind to put them away, especially at home, is certainly not the sign of an excellent football program. This ranking is more of an acknowledgement of last year's successes than a reflection of this year's accomplishments. Don't be surprised if they lose in Iowa this Saturday and consequently drop out of the ratings.

21. Texas (3-1): For the record, I am not a Texas fan. In fact, if Texas played UNLV in a football game, I would root for a meteor, a stray nuclear strike, or the hand of God to come down and smite both teams before I'd voluntarily root for either of them. Having acknowledged my bias, I will note that Texas beat two mediocre teams (Rice and Wyoming), beat a halfway decent Texas Tech team on the road, then promptly bathed themselves in bruin feces and unwittingly made our Pistol-offense-originating nemesis/raison d'être look like a tactical genius of the first order.

Mixed emotions, I have decided, are the best emotions.

Verdict: Dazed and confused. Nobody, and I mean nobody, was expecting them to lose to UCLA at home. Considering how Texas was #7 in the country until that game, I'd say a fourteen point drop is about right. It would've been worse if UCLA didn't beat Houston before facing off against Texas. We'll see if Texas is actually any good this year when they play in the Red River Shootout this weekend.

20. South Carolina (3-1): The Gamecocks' win against Georgia looked impressive at the time; unfortunately, Georgia's loss to Mississippi State last week didn't add any polish to that. South Carolina also suffered a close loss to an excellent (#17) Auburn team thanks to a bit of foot-directed sharpshooting in the fourth quarter. South Carolina's other two wins against Furman and Southern Miss, meanwhile, look utterly forgettable - remember, Southern Miss is the same team that nearly lost to Louisiana Tech last week to the tune of 13-12.

Verdict: Push. Auburn is definitely better than Cal, and Georgia's three losses were to the same Arkansas team that took Alabama to the wire last week, South Carolina, and an understandable letdown game against Mississippi State. Consequently, it's pretty safe to conclude that South Carolina has played better teams than Nevada. On the other hand, they're also 3-1, so this ranking is about right.

19. Michigan (4-0): A close win against the same talented but luckless Notre Dame team that Michigan State beat a week later, a strong victory over Bowling Green and a decent win against Connecticut are the highlights of Michigan's season so far. Too bad they almost pulled an Appalachian State against UMass a few weeks ago.

Verdict: Overrated. I'm not even sure they're better than Michigan State. Connecticut isn't very good, and Bowling Green rests comfortably between Colorado State and New Mexico in talent. Yes, they had a close win against Notre Dame, but who hasn't? Let's also remember that Michigan almost forgot its lesson about properly preparing against FCS-level competition when it faced the indomitable Minutemen of Massachusetts. Granted, we didn't play much better against Eastern Washington, but play better we did, and we didn't need over 100,000 fans on our side to do it, either.

18. USC (4-0): This is where things start getting a little interesting. Is Washington State any better than Colorado State? Is Minnesota any better than the University of South Dakota (Answer: No.)? Will Virginia play any other Division I-A... err... "FBS"-level opponent other than than USC before conference play (Answer: No.)? Is Hawaii any good (Answer: I have no idea.)?

Verdict: Overrated. Is USC any good this year? It's hard to tell - they simply haven't played anyone. On the other hand, Kiffen has made it an open "secret" that he's playing for depth in the early parts of the season, so USC might be semi-intentionally playing down to their level of competition. It's just really difficult to get a good read right now. The good news is they're playing a decent Washington team this week, followed by a gut check against #9 Stanford in Palo Alto.

Trivia question: When was the last time that Stanford was ranked higher than USC when they played?
The answer: October 25, 1986 - Stanford was ranked #19 in the AP Poll while USC wasn't ranked that week. USC won 10-0, which advanced them to #18 in the rankings. Stanford's coach in that game? Jack Elway, the father of some obscure former quarterback for the Denver Broncos that nobody's ever heard of. USC, meanwhile, was in the final year of the Ted Tollner era; he would eventually finish his coaching career at San Diego State.

Back to the list...

17. Iowa (3-1): Similar story as USC, with high scoring wins against Eastern Illinois, Iowa State, and Ball State, as well as a close loss against a good Arizona team on the road.

Verdict: Overrated, but possibly not for long. The Hawkeyes' next four games are against Penn State, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Michigan State, which will go a long way toward determining which of the teams on this list are for real and which ones are there out of a sense of misguided tradition. If they win all four games, they will be a top-10 team and deservedly so. If the Hawkeyes are really lucky, they'll be undefeated going into their game against Ohio State on November 20th - if they are, that will probably be an unofficial Big Ten championship game, in much the same way that our November 26th game against Boise State might turn into an unofficial WAC championship. As an added bonus for the Hawkeyes, their game against Ohio State is at home.

From here on out, it's fairly obvious that, even if the teams above Iowa are overrated (looking at you, Hurricanes), they're not overrated enough for me to make a credible argument that Nevada should be ranked higher than them. If you want to argue that we're a better team than #16 Miami (FL) or any of the rest of the list, you may do so in the comments section.

Nevada vs. UNLV: All-Time Football Data

Possibly one of the most understated and under-appreciated rivalries in the NCAA.  Sure, most of the rest of the world cares nothing of our little annual 'Dust Bowl' game we play every year...but I don't really care what the rest of the world thinks.  To us (North and south), this is war, and as such brings out fiery passions and unbridled animosity.  I, for one, have no problem with my unholy and inhuman hatred for all things So Nev and/or the color red; as far as I'm concerned the rest of the world would be a better place if The Meadows were reduced to an uninhabitable glass crater for the next 50,000 years.  

But for this week we are focused on football and the playing of football and, in the case of this article, the history of this match-up...from a numbers standpoint.

First-year coaches, it would seem, have not fared too well in their first rivalry game; case in point: Ault has lost the first game in each of his three tenures.  So, in honor of Bobby Hauck, heretofore to be known as Public Enemy No. 1, I did a little research into coaching records in this rivalry, with an emphasis on first-year results.

First-Year Head Coaching: Series History

Nevada Winning: 

     Jerry Scattini; Jeff Horton; Jeff Tisdel.

Nevada Southern Winning: 

     Tony Knap; Jeff Horton.

Nevada Losing: 

     Chris Ault; Chris Ault; Chris Tormey; Chris Ault.

Nevada Southern Losing: 

     Ron Meyer; Jim Strong; John Robinson; Mike Sanford.

So, Nevada has had THREE head coaches win their first game in the series, with, well, TWO losing, but one of those three different times - in this case we're considering all three as different administrations and therefore separate instances, so therefore FOUR instances of losses for the first series game.

Nevada Southern has had TWO coaches win their first game in the series, with FOUR coaches losing theirs.

In addition there are THREE Nevada Southern coaches administering their first game after their first year as head coach.

     Bill Ireland: Northern Nevada traitor who left to assume Nevada Southern's first head football coach opening; coached them in the series' first game...and lost, 28-30.

     Harvey Hide: Second-year Nevada Southern coach won his first series contest.

     Wayne Nunnely: Also a second-year Nevada Southern coach who won his first series contest.

Now to take a look at all-time series coaching records.

Coaching Records: Series History

Nevada Winning: 

     Chris Ault (12-7, all-time); Jeff Horton (1-0); Jeff Tisdel (4-0).

Nevada Losing: 

     Jerry Scattini (3-4); Chris Tormey (0-5).

Nevada Southern Winning: 

     Ron Meyer (2-1); Tony Knap (3-1); John Robinson (5-1).

Nevada Southern Losing: 

     Jim Strong (0-4); Jeff Horton (1-5); Mike Sanford (0-5).

Nevada coaches with no (series) wins: Chris Tormey.

Nevada Southern coaches with no (series) wins: Jim Strong; Mike Sanford.

(Both Nevada's Chris Tormey and UNLV's Mike Sanford went 0-5 in the series; I would have paid good money to see the Tormey vs. Sanford Death Match...not much, but the money would be real.)

Statistics:

Not only have the teams competed in different conferences, but there were times where they actually competed at different divisions.  Special consideration has been given to that fact where applicable, including presenting each team's division throughout the series' history.

Nevada Home Record: 12-6
Nevada Road Record: 8-9

Nevada Southern Home Record: 9-8

Nevada Southern Road Record: 6-12

Longest Run of Wins: 5 games.

     Nevada, 1989-1993, 1995-1999, 2005-

     Nevada Southern, 2000-2004

(Nevada is currently at 5 consecutive series wins.)

Largest Margin of Victory: +42

     Nevada 1991

Victor's Highest Score: 63.

     Nevada 2009.

Loser's Lowest Score: 3

     Nevada Southern 1973, 2006

Nevada Southern (D 1-A)  vs. Nevada (D 1-AA).

    All-Time: 3-8 Home: 2-2 Road: 1-3

(Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Chris Ault All-Time:

     12-7 (home: 7-2 away: 5-5)

Chris Ault-First Tenure:

     6-5 (home: 3-2 away: 3-3)

Chris Ault- Second Tenure: 

    1-1 (home: 1-0 away: 0-1)

Chris Ault-Third Tenure:

     5-1 (home: 3-0 away: 2-1)

Nevada Scoring:

All-Time

PF: 982 PA: 783 (dif. +199 or 20%)
Avg PF: 28.05714286 Avg PA: 22.37142857 (dif. +5.68571429)

Ault All-Time (19 games)

PF: 596 PA: 418 (dif +178 or 30%)
Avg PF: 31.36842105 Avg PA: 22 (dif. +9.36842105)

Ault 1 (11 games)
PF: 309 PA: 214 (dif. +95 or 31%)
Avg PF: 28.09090909 Avg PA: 19.45454545 (dif. +8.63636364)

Ault 2 (2 games)
PF: 82 PA: 64 (dif. +18 or 22%)
Avg PF: 41 Avg. PA: 32 (dif. +9)

Ault 3 (6 games)
PF: 205 PA: 140 (dif. +65 or 32%)
Avg PF: 34.16666666 Avg PA: 23.33333333 (dif +10.83333333)

The Series (Ault-coached games appear with an asterisk):

November 22, 1969

at Nevada (D II): 30 - Nevada Southern (D II): 28

November 21, 1970
at Nevada Southern (D II): 42 Nevada (D II): 30

November 20, 1971
Nevada Southern (D II): 27 at Nevada (D II): 13

November 18, 1972
Nevada (D II): 41 at Nevada Southern (DII): 13

November 17, 1973 

at Nevada (D II): 19 Nevada Southern (D II): 3

November 16, 1974
at Nevada Southern (D II): 28 Nevada (D II): 7

November 22, 1975
Nevada Southern (D II): 45 at Nevada (D II): 7

November 20, 1976*

at Nevada Southern (D II): 49 Nevada (D II): 33

November 19, 1977*
Nevada Southern (D II): 27 at Nevada (D II): 12

September 16, 1978*
Nevada (D 1-AA): 23 at Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 14

September 15, 1979*
Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 26 at Nevada (D 1-AA): 21

September 3, 1983*

at Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 28 Nevada (D 1-AA): 18

November 9, 1985*
at Nevada (D 1-AA): 48 Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 7

October 3, 1987* 
at Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 24 Nevada (D 1-AA): 19

November 11, 1989*
at Nevada (D 1-AA): 45 Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 7

October 20, 1990*

Nevada (D 1-AA): 26 at Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 14

September 7, 1991*
at Nevada (D 1-AA): 50 Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 8

October 17, 1992*
Nevada (D 1-A): 14 at Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 10

October 2, 1993

at Nevada (D 1-A): 49 Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 14

November 19, 1994*

at Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 32 Nevada (D 1-A): 27
(The Red Defection)

October 28, 1995*
at Nevada (D 1-A): 55  Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 32

October 5, 1996

Nevada (D 1-A): 54 at Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 17

September 6, 1997
at Nevada (D 1-A): 31 Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 14

October 3, 1998
Nevada (D 1-A): 31 at Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 20

October 2, 1999

at Nevada (D 1-A): 26 Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 12

October 7, 2000

at Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 38 Nevada (D 1-A): 7

October 6, 2001
Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 27 at Nevada (D 1-A): 12

October 5, 2002
at Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 21 Nevada (D 1-A): 17

October 4, 2003
Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 16 at Nevada (D 1-A): 12

October 2, 2004*

at Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 48 Nevada (D 1-A): 13

September 17, 2005*

at Nevada (D 1-A): 22 Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 14

September 30, 2006*
Nevada (D 1-A): 31 at Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 3

September 29, 2007*
at Nevada (D 1-A): 27 Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 20

September 27, 2008*
Nevada (D 1-A): 49 at Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 27

63 - 28 W October 3, 2009*
at Nevada (D 1-A): 63 Nevada Southern (D 1-A): 28

#25! Plus, thoughts on the WAC...

After our latest win against BYU in Provo, it's becoming increasingly clear that we are staring at the face of an incredibly special season. The best part is that we're not winning with gimmicks - we're just going out there, playing solid football, and winning games. If this continues, there's an excellent chance that our Thanksgiving break game against Boise State has the chance to be extremely special.

What this means for you, my dear readers, is that, if you don't already have a ticket for the game, you better go get one. We here at FCA already have season tickets, so we're good to go.

As an added bonus, we're now ranked #25 in both polls. I'd also like to take this moment to note that, not only is Ault and his coaching staff doing an excellent job, not only is Dan Hinxman at the RGJ doing an excellent job, Ryan Radtke is still doing an outstanding job as the Wolf Pack's radio man. The only way I could be happier is if Don Marchand conveniently disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

I don't miss Marchand's radio presence. Do any of you? Didn't think so.

On that note, let's discuss the WAC...

Boise State won against Oregon State, though they didn't beat the spread. Sadly, at least for Boise fans, the Broncos needed to blow out the Beavers to gather the "style points" that they need in order to leapfrog either Alabama or Ohio State. The good news? Their margin of victory over Oregon State was greater than TCU's earlier this year. The bad news? It might not matter - TCU still has a highly ranked Utah team on their schedule, while we're the last credible opponent that remains on Boise State's schedule. This means TCU has a greater-than-zero chance of leapfrogging Boise State in both the non-BCS invite question and the national championship discussion. Of course, the latter depends on how Oregon does for the rest of the season.

Nevada won against BYU on the road and finally became ranked for the first time since the Truman administration. The bad news, such as it is, is that we're only ranked 25th, which seems a little low after blowing out Cal on national television and beating a solid BYU team on the road. The good news? Don't be surprised if we earn some sympathy points between now and Thanksgiving as voters try to talk themselves into Boise State, provided both we and Boise State do what we're both supposed to do between now and then. If we're the last hope voters have of telling themselves the Boise State is worthy of a national championship run, we'll be rewarded accordingly.

Good news, everyone! Fresno State has no run defense! Ole Miss drove that point home by pasting over 400 rushing yards on the hapless Bulldogs. That's excellent news for us, especially since we're playing Fresno on the road this year.

Utate State and Idaho have both crashed back down to Earth. Utah State and its copious injury count was heinously exploited by a surprisingly decent San Diego State team; meanwhile, Idaho became Colorado State's first victory of the season. The good news for the Vandals is that it was an incredibly close game, with Enderle throwing as strongly as always. The bad news is that it was Colorado State's first victory since beating us last year.

Louisiana Tech lost a close game against C-USA's Southern Miss in Ruston. It wasn't an offensive shoot-out by any stretch of the imagination, though Southern Miss' excellent run defense forced Louisiana Tech to develop something resembling a passing attack. The blue Bulldogs are young, so it's difficult to read the narrative behind this game - they might be improving, or this might just be a temporary glitch in an otherwise unremarkable Tech season.

San Jose State and New Mexico State are still terrible. San Jose State has one advantage, however - unlike New Mexico State, it's not located in New Mexico, which is rapidly devolving into a college football environmental catastrophe. Don't believe me? NMSU's rival lost to UNLV to the tune of 45-10.

Hawaii, meanwhile, played a much-needed tune-up game against Charleston Southern. I'm sure the hapless Buccaneers enjoyed the all expenses paid vacation to Hawaii, even if they had to get lit up like a pinball machine for a couple of hours. Here's an interesting statistic to ponder, though - Charleston Southern had a +10:16 time of possession advantage over Hawaii.

That's it for now. Here's hoping we perform as well against UNLV as we've become accustomed to over the past couple of years. Realistically, there's no reason we shouldn't be able to beat them by over 50, though our record in Las Vegas isn't particularly stellar. Meanwhile, enjoy the fact that the WAC is going out with a bang, instead of the sad whimper the Big West ended on.

Nevada at BYU Final Statistics

	1	2	3	4	T
NEV	14	10	0	3	27
BYU	7	3	0	3	13

Team Stat Comparison

	Nevada	BYU
1st Downs	23	21
3rd down efficiency	9-17	5-15
4th down efficiency	3-4	1-4
Total Yards	435	320
Passing	196	229
Comp-Att	16-26	24-45
Yards per pass	7.5	5.1
Rushing	239	91
Rushing Attempts	53	25
Yards per rush	4.5	3.6
Penalties	6-65	1-5
Turnovers	2	0
Fumbles lost	1	0
Interceptions thrown	1	0
Possession	36:17	23:43

Stats courtesy of espn.com

Statistically the defense was significantly more solid than it was even against Cal.  The most alarming statistic would be the 229 passing yards allowed.

However, Heaps put the ball in the air a lot on Saturday, completing 24 passes out of 45 attempts for a 53.33333333% completion rate.  That is a far cry yet from the 62.162% they allowed Cal's Riley to complete.  Allowing 5.1 yards per pass and 3.6 yards per rush in Provo shows how far this defense has come in such a short time.

The biggest alarms from Saturday were turnovers and penalties...again.  Nevada has been solid, for the most part, holding onto the ball this season.  Kaep was intercepted once and Taua lost one fumble early in the game (leading to the Cougars' only touchdown), while BYU was clean (can't believe I just wrote that), for a -2 in turnovers.  While not too bad, this stat did come dangerously close to being much, much worse.

Nevada was 6 for 65 yards on penalties, marking the worst performance in that department since Nevada went 9 for 90 yards against Eastern Washington in the opener this season.  Taking out a couple of pass interference calls (one of which was bogus, in my opinion), most of these fouls were procedural.

On to next week!

Nevada vs. BYU: All-Time Football Data and 2010 Comparative Statistics

These teams last met in Reno in 2002; Pack fans may remember it as the game when Chance Kretschmer all but lost his career after a late hit to the knee out of bounds.

Nevada (3-0, 0-0 WAC) at BYU (1-2, 0-1 MWC)

Last games:
Nevada defeated California (2-1, 0-0 PAC 10) 52-31 in Reno, NV.

BYU lost to Florida State (2-1, 0-0 ACC) 10-34 in Tallahassee, FL.

On the Season:
Nevada (3-0 at home, 0-0 on the road)-

• 1, vs. Eastern Wash = W, 49-24
• 2, vs. Colorado State = W, 51-6
• 3, vs. California = W, 52-31

BYU (1-0 at home, 0-2 on the road)-

• 1, vs. Washington = W, 23-17
• 2, at Air Force = L, 14-35
• 3, at Florida State = L, 10-34

2010 Scoring:

BYU-

• PF: 47 (avg. 15.666 PPG)
• PA: 86 (avg. 28.666 PPG)
• Dif: -39 (avg. -13 PPG)

Nevada-

• PF: 152 (avg. 50.666 PPG)
• PA: 61 (avg. 20.333 PPG)
• Dif: +91 (avg. +30.333 PPG)

All-Time Series Scoring:
Nevada: 71 BYU: 127 (BYU +56)
Nevada PPG: 10.14285714
BYU PPG: 18.14285714

The series:

September 28, 1929

BYU: 10 at Nevada 7

October 4, 1930
at BYU: 6 Nevada: 6

October 3, 1931

BYU: 18 at Nevada: 14

October 21, 1939

BYU: 7 at Nevada: 0

September 28, 1940
Nevada: 6 at BYU: 6

September 1, 2001

at BYU: 52 Nevada: 7

September 14, 2002

at Nevada: 31 #24 BYU: 28

Cal at Nevada Final Statistics

	1	2	3	4	T
CAL	7	7	10	7	31
NEV	7	17	14	14	52

Team Stat Comparison

	California	Nevada
1st Downs	22	26
3rd down efficiency	7-11	6-9
4th down efficiency	0-1	0-0
Total Yards	502	497
Passing	277	181
Comp-Att	23-37	10-15
Yards per pass	7.5	12.1
Rushing	225	316
Rushing Attempts	30	49
Yards per rush	7.5	6.4
Penalties	7-40	5-45
Turnovers	3	1
Fumbles lost	0	1
Interceptions thrown	3	0
Possession	23:01	36:59

I have to say, the Wolf Pack team I saw Friday night was unlike any I've seen in a good, long time: the rush offense was spectacular; the passing game was methodical and ruthless; the defense...ah, while not perfect that defense was something special in the annals of Wolf Packdom. 

The Dark Side of the Defense
There are a few things that stand out in this week's statistics; given the opponent these stats could have been much, much worse. 

• The defense allowed an otherwise mortifying 502 total yards of offense to the Golden Bears. They allowed Cal to convert 63.63% on third down.
• They allowed Riley to complete 62.162% of his passes for the game.
• Cal had no fewer than 8 players with at least one reception. 
• Those eight combined for a respectable 277 yards.
• Shane Vreen had a career night, raking in 198 yards on 19 carries (avg. 10.421).
• Cal averaged 7.5 yards per reception, the highest for a Nevada opponent so far this season.
• They gave up 22 first downs.

The Bright Side of the Defense
Those stats, including 502 total yards and a 62.162% completion rate, have to be taken with a grain of salt.  That salt comes in the form of stats such as:

• Three interceptions, including a 65-yard pick 6 that changed the course of the game.
• Shane Vreen: 198 yards; their next leading rusher had 18 yards.
• Kevin Riley sacked twice.
• Cal scored only once through the air.
• Cal was 0-1 on 4th down.

So, really, the stats for the defense don't speak well.  What made the difference?  They played with a soul and an aggression seldom seen by that corps.  Of three interceptions, the first only prolonged the game (Nevada punted and Vreen scored on the next play from scrimmage); the second, when all was looking dark on the east sideline, swung momentum back to the Wolf Pack; the third officially iced the game.

Oh...and a time of possession of 23:01...that helps, too.

Cal's passing game should be read in two segments: the game before 7:36 in the 4th, and the game after, this being the time when the Bears began running their hurry-up offense late in the game.

Before 7:36: Riley was 13/21 (61.905%) with 2 picks, completions of 9, 1, 24, 16, 10, 16, 10, 9, 32, 8, 7, 3, & 8 respectively (152 yards, avg. 11.69).

After 7:36: Riley was 10/13 (76.923%) with 1 pick, completions of 11, 13, 9, 39, 4, 6, 18, 14, 8, & 3 respectively (125 yards, avg. 12.5).

That drive, at 7:36 led to a touchdown.  Thing was, it didn't really matter at that point.  Sure, Cal had a chance of scoring three touchdowns in seven-and-a-half minutes, but...they HAD TO SCORE THREE TOUCHDOWNS IN SEVEN-AND-A-HALF MINUTES.  The touchdown cut the Nevada lead to 45-31.  It was quickly getting to the point were those passing yards meant very little.

Besides, the sooner they score the sooner the Pack could get the ball back and take some time off the clock.  Or Kaep could just rush 27 yards and erase that Cal touchdown...that would work, too.

Long story short: the defense was scrappy and came up huge when it needed to.  The passing yards allowed need to be taken into context and weighed against three interceptions (two of which were crucial).

It was also nice to see the passing game come to life; some of those passes were blood-curdling, and some of those catches were breathtaking...excitement, she wrote!

And Kaep looked like I've never seen; that was just...wow.

This next game may be even bigger; BYU on their turf after a huge win?  If they can build on the things they did in this game then they have a realistic shot...but that's for another story.

Good win, Pack...and thank you.

Zombie Ault springs to life?!

There aren't enough good things that can be said about last night. Our team didn't just beat a ranked Pac-10 team, they beat them by three touchdowns. Our offense didn't rely on gimmicks to get past them - our offensive line flat out dominated Cal's defensive line, pushing them around like it was nobody's business. Our defense was good enough to keep the game from turning into a track meet and was near enough to opposing receivers to pick up some interceptions. Best of all, just after halftime, when it looked like we were about to do what we've always done against big time opponents, when the entire crowd knew - just knew - how this game was going to end, Marlon Johnson grabbed an interception and ran it back for a touchdown.

It was glorious.

We like to kick Ault around here, for reasons obvious and numerable. For today, though, I will personally have to give credit where credit is due. Buh's hiring was inspired. Ault's offense is finally getting into gear. Our team has enough talent to face up to a good Pac-10 team and push them around. That not only reflects well on our team but also its coaching staff.

So, for one week, I won't criticize. I won't judge. I won't apologize for anything, but I will have to admit that, if Ault keeps doing what he's doing this year, our team will be just fine.

I just hope he doesn't sleep in against BYU.

All right, all right...

We'll keep him for another year.

Sue Sue Suedeo? Uh, No.

The RGJ just reported that the WAC has filed a lawsuit against Nevada, Fresno State, and the MWC. Naturally, the fine and intelligent commentariat at the RGJ are carefully pondering the salient details before coming to a logical conclusion.

Here's the thing - this isn't going to court. Not really. Remember that lawsuit that Tennessee filed against Lane Kiffin about a month back? Notice how we really haven't heard much since then about it? That lawsuit was more about sending a message to Titan fans ("We love Tennessee and hate the same things you hate!") than it was about any breach of contract between USC's coaching staff and the Titans. Similarly, the WAC's lawsuit is more about Benson needing to send a message to protect his job ("Yes, I know the conference imploded on my watch, but see, I'm doing something!") while begging for money from the courts, either via a settlement or via jury award. If Benson and the WAC are lucky, the MWC, along with Fresno State and Nevada, will toss a bit of change to the WAC so it can keep the lights on, Benson can look like he did the most with a bad hand, and everybody goes their separate ways. The last thing Benson and the WAC wants is for this to go to court - if it does, the case will take far too long to settle to do the WAC or Benson any good.

Do I think the MWC and its two newest charges will pay up? It depends on how reasonable the WAC feels like being. If Benson insists on the full $10 million, it won't happen. If, on the other hand, the lawsuit can "go away" for, say, $1 million, that might be low enough for everyone to make it disappear. Realistically, the WAC needs every last dime it can get its hands on, because, once Nevada, Fresno State, and Boise State finally leave, it'll be leaner for the remaining members than it was during the Big West's heyday.

Monday Morning Madness

Some thoughts on a Monday...

Saturday sure was fun, wasn't it? Granted, Colorado State is bad - if their game against the University of New Mexico on October 30th isn't the "Pillow Fight of the Week", I'd be highly surprised - but it was still nice to see our team dominate a non-conference opponent. Will it carry over against Cal? I have no idea, but I sure hope so.

So much for the national championship. Thanks to Virginia Tech's epic fail against James Madison, Boise State might be looking forward to conference play so they can improve their strength-of-schedule.

San Jose State looked almost frisky against Wisconsin. Granted, all of San Jose States's points came against Wisconsin's second string, but it was definitely a more solid performance than most Spartan paycheck collection games. Whether this game was a sign that Wisconsin really isn't that good or that San Jose State isn't that bad, I don't know, but it's definitely a situation worth keeping an eye on.

Hawaii can play on the road. Granted, it was against Army, but a win is a win. Their offense is still frighteningly pass-happy (only 10 yards rushing, which played significantly in their 22:01 time of possession - of course, Army's rush-first offense certainly didn't help) and they nearly blew the game in the second half, but they still got the job done. Hawaii clearly won't be quite as mediocre as they were last season; then again, having a healthy, experienced quarterback for a change certainly helps.

Nebraska embarrassed another WAC foe. This time it was Idaho's turn. Don't read too much into Idaho's performance here - Nebraska's defense is the real deal. If you had a bunch of 300 pound defensive linemen coming your way, you'd throw the ball to the other team five times, too.

Louisiana Tech's game wasn't that close. It's not very often that one can say a 48-16 drubbing wasn't as close as the score would indicate, but it's absolutely true. When your opponent fumbles five times and you block a field goal in the first half, and all you can muster is ten points, that's a sign of a serious talent mismatch on both sides of the ball. Bear in mind that Louisiana Tech has a new coaching staff that's working on installing a new system in Ruston, so this is definitely going to be a rebuilding year for the Bulldogs. Don't be surprised if they're just above New Mexico State at the end of the year.

Speaking of New Mexico State, they still have no defense. They actually showed a little offensive vitality in their loss against San Diego State, though, which is certainly an improvement over last year. It's a little difficult to judge how bad of a loss this was - though San Diego State has perennially been a bottom-feeder in the MWC, they're pretty excited about their freshman quarterback this year.

Utah State showed how to rebound after a tough loss against an upper-level opponent. Unlike Virginia Tech, Utah State actually beat their FCS opponent, drubbing Idaho State to the tune of 38-17. After the Aggies' near-upset of the initially indifferent Sooners, it would've been natural for Utah State to suffer an emotional letdown against an otherwise inferior team. Luckily, they were able to accomplish what "superior" competition couldn't, thus preserving their ability to provide strength-of-schedule points for Boise State later in the year.

Meanwhile, in the Mountain West, Utah proved that UNLV's special teams are the wrong kind of special, Air Force proved that, if you want the game more than BYU, you might be able to gimmick your way to victory, New Mexico continues its ongoing attempts to distance itself from its rival in all the wrong ways in the "Worst Football Program in New Mexico" race, and Wyoming is still Wyoming.

On an entirely unrelated note, I discovered the hard way this morning that ESPN 630 is no longer ESPN 630 - instead, they moved ESPN Radio to FM 94.5 and AM 1450, with 630 receiving 1450's old Fox Sports lineup. The good news is that, if you're in the right reception areas, 94.5 really does offer a superior listening experience. The bad news, of course, is that FM doesn't travel particularly well in our mountainous corner of the world, so overall coverage outside of town isn't quite what it used to be.

Nevada vs. California: All-Time Football Data

There was, once upon a time, something of a (lopsided) rivalry here.  Nevada and Cal played each other fairly regularly prior to 1945, after which the two teams met only once (1996).

The teams first met in 1896, the first year the University of Nevada (then known as Nevada State University) fielded a football team.  To inaugurate the program the University hired Frank Taylor, an assistant at Cal, as the team's first head coach.  The 1896 season featured only two games: a 70-0 drubbing at the hands of the Belmont Preparatory School, and a 40-0 shellacking to the University of California's freshman squad.

Thus the first college team the University of Nevada Sagebrushers (lat. Wolf Pack) played was one sent by the University of California.

In the olden days it was not uncommon for smaller schools to send pit their varsity teams against the freshman teams of larger schools.  Match-ups between Nevada and the California Second Eleven occurred eight times, with Cal holding the 7-1 advantage, including four shutouts. 

Nevada vs. Cal Frosh:

November 26, 1896

Cal: 40 at Nevada: 0

November 27, 1897

Cal: 20 at Nevada: 6

October 21, 1916

at Cal: 34 Nevada 0

November 11, 1916

Cal: 36 at Nevada : 6

October 20, 1917

at Cal: 60 Nevada: 0

October 27, 1917

Cal: 54 at Nevada: 0

September 27, 1919

at Cal: 13 Nevada: 7

November 1, 1919

at Nevada: 13 Cal: 12

However, Nevada also scrapped with the California Big Eleven, with mostly expected results.  (It may interest Cal fans to know that Nevada's first win over a "Big 11" was November 17th, 1900 in Reno, a 6-0 defeat of Stanford; the Nevada coach was James Hopper, who would go on to coach at Cal in 1904.)

Nevada vs. Cal:

November 15, 1899

at Cal: 24 Nevada: 0

November 15, 1900

at Cal: 32 Nevada: 0

October 30, 1901

at Cal: 12 Nevada: 0

November 1, 1902

at Cal: 29 Nevada: 0

November 7, 1903

Nevada: 6 at Cal: 2

November 5, 1904

at Cal: 16 Nevada: 0

Nov 4, 1905  

at Cal: 16 Nevada: 0

November 20, 1915

Cal: 81 at Nevada: 6

October 16, 1920

at Cal: 79 Nevada: 7

October 8, 1921

at Cal: 51 Nevada: 6

November 18, 1922

at Cal: 61 Nevada: 13

November 3, 1923
at Cal: 0 Nevada: 0

November 15, 1924

at Cal: 27 Nevada: 0

October 3, 1925

at Cal: 54 Nevada: 0

November 13, 1926

at Cal: 20 Nevada: 6

October 1, 1927

at Cal: 54 Nevada: 0

November 17, 1928

at Cal: 60 Nevada: 0

November 15, 1930

at Cal: 8 Nevada: 0

October 31, 1931

at Cal: 25 Nevada: 6

October 29, 1932

at Cal: 38 Nevada: 0

September 30, 1933

at Cal: 34 Nevada: 0

September 29, 1934

at Cal: 33 Nevada: 0

October 27, 1945

at Cal: 19 Nevada: 6

September 21, 1996

at Cal: 33 Nevada: 15

Further stats:
Games vs. Cal overall (32):
Cal advantage: 29-2-1

vs. Cal JV (8):
Cal advantage: 7-1

vs. Cal 'for reals' (24):
Cal advantage: 22-1-1

Meetings in Reno:
vs. JV
5
vs. Varsity
1

Nevada Overall:
PF: 103
PA: 1,077
(Cal +974)

Nevada vs. JV:
PF: 32
PA: 269
(Cal +237)

Nevada vs. Varsity:
PF: 71
PA: 808
(Cal +737)

Colorado State at Nevada: Final Figures and Statistics

Stat(s) of the game: Nevada gained 631 total yards of offense; Colin Kaepernick threw for 241 yards while rushing for 161, thereby accounting for 402 of those 631 yards.

	1	2	3	4	T
CSU	3	0	3	0	6
NEV	17	17	7	10	51

Team Stat Comparison

	Colorado St	Nevada
1st Downs	18	33
3rd down efficiency	4-14	11-13
4th down efficiency	0-4	0-0
Total Yards	272	631
Passing	194	255
Comp-Att	23-36	23-33
Yards per pass	5.4	7.7
Rushing	78	376
Rushing Attempts	31	46
Yards per rush	2.5	8.2
Penalties	1-10	4-30
Turnovers	1	0
Fumbles lost	0	0
Interceptions thrown	1	0
Possession	26:46	33:14

Stats courtesy of espn.com

It was not all that long ago that Colorado State was a Top 25 team; oh, how the mighty have fallen.

The Wolf Pack defense made some significant strides in this game; granted the level of competition presented by the opponent is not nearly as telling as the next game will be, but we saw the defense getting more aggressive: they actually wrapped up the ball carriers and came up big when they needed to (CSU was 4-14 on 3rd down, and 0-4 on 4th).

They allowed Pete Thomas to complete 63.8% of his pass attempts, so they still have some work to do in the 'attack' department, but they did hold Thomas to 194 total yards, averaging 5.4 yards per reception.

Conversely, they allowed only 78 yards on 31 rushing attempts for an average of 2.5 yards; Nevada allowed only two rushes for more than ten yards, a 17-yard run by Chris Nwoke, and a 13-yard rush by Raymond Carter.

On the offensive side, Colin Kaepernick completed 21 of 29 attempts for 241 yards (avg. 8.3 YPC); Tyler Lantrip added 14 yards on 2 completions out of 3 attempts for 14 yards.  Together they accounted for 255 yards through the air.

Kaep would add another 161 yards on 11 carries, averaging 14.6 yards per carry, single-handedly accounting for 402 yards of offense out of 631.

Special teams didn't have too many opportunities to show their stuff, although they did allow some frightening returns.  Still, this is two games in a row where they managed to avoid fumbling kick/punt returns, so that can be taken as a victory in and of itself.

Nevada kicked off 10 times: of those ten, only four went into the end zone, and of those 4 only one went for a touchback.  Of the 9 kicks returned by the Rams only one was returned for fewer than 20 yards, and two were returned for over 30.  The ten kicks and their return yardage were, respectively:  23*, 23, 27, 21*, 27, 19, TB*, 31*, 47, 24 (asterisk indicates kick into the endzone).

The Wolf Pack also kept the penalties to a much more respectable 4 for a total of -30 yards.  Three of those penalties came in the 2nd quarter, and two of those came back-to-back (holding, ineligible receiver downfield).

Next up, of course, is California, who defeated Colorado 52-7 in Berkeley on Saturday, the same Colorado team who beat up on Colorado State 24-3 the week prior.

What we know about the WAC so far...

Now that Boise State finally wrapped up their game against Virginia Tech, here's what we can halfway definitively say about the WAC so far.

Boise State is going to be in the news for a while. Now that they finally beat Virginia Tech, expect a fair amount of news about Boise State possibly playing in the national championship, along with considerable analysis about how they have to beat everyone in the WAC (yes, including us) by at least 30 to get there. Of course, I personally think everyone's forgetting that Oregon State is still on their schedule, and Oregon State has the rather nasty habit of beating national championship contenders at inopportune times. Plus, TCU is also undefeated and they play in a significantly stronger conference - honestly, if Boise State and TCU both go undefeated, with TCU blasting through BYU, Utah, Air Force, along with Baylor and SMU, do you really think Boise State is going to get the nod?

Well, after beating Virginia Tech, they might...

Interestingly, the WAC performed quite well in its first week. Not only did Boise State defeat Virginia Tech, Fresno State took care of business against Cincinnati with a combination of sweltering Fresno heat and a pretty decent air attack. Luckily, Fresno is rather temperate by mid-November, which is when we'll be playing them; unfortunately, we have to play Fresno on their turf this year.

Meanwhile, Utah State proved that Oklahoma is terrible the first week of the year, something which BYU happily illustrated last year after injuring Sam Bradford. Unfortunately, this time it was Utah State that received a ton of injuries, losing their top running back and wide receiver. Don't expect to hear from them again.

Speaking of WAC teams performing abnormally well against superior competition, Hawaii kept things nice and interesting against USC's freshmen. Don't read too much into that score - Hawaii undoubtedly has a better offense than they had last year, but USC is trying desperately to develop depth and experience when and where they have the opportunity to do so. Given a choice between getting the second- and third-stringers up to speed and putting up style points against anyone, expect USC to veer toward experience each and every time.

Idaho showed the world how to properly handle a North Dakota football team. Meanwhile, Kansas showed the world precisely how not to handle a North Dakota football team. It's not very often we get to say this, but the WAC now has a better record against North Dakota football teams than the Big 12. Go WAC!

Louisiana Tech performed well against Grambling State. Though they're within brief driving distance of each other, they never played each other before. Yes, this means Grambling played us before they played their neighbors. If that doesn't sum up the Louisiana Tech football program, I don't know what does.

New Mexico State started their season on what passes for a winning note in Las Cruces. That's right - they had a bye last week.

San Jose State got a paycheck and a fairly sparse injury report. Since they played Alabama, that's pretty much "mission accomplished" for the Spartans.

As for us... well, we won. The bigger question is how well we'll do against Colorado State on Saturday. Between you, me, and the rest of the Internet, if I had to put money on this game, I'd put it on Colorado State and the points. Though I won't complain if we win by 22+, that wouldn't exactly fit into our series history with them, including last year's rather miserable and turnover-prone debacle in Fort Collins. Coincidentally, that was Colorado State's last win.

Nevada vs. Colorado State: All-time Football Record

The history between these two teams only dates back to October 19th, 1974, and even then they wouldn't meet again for another 23 years.  However, since that time Nevada and Colorado State have scheduled fairly consistent home-and-homes. 

Colorado State (0-1, 0-0 MWC) at Nevada (1-0, 0-0 WAC)

Scoring:
Nevada: 206 CSU: 374 (CSU +168)
Nevada PPG: 20.6
CSU PPG: 37.4

Ault Scoring:
Nevada: 69 CSU: 87 (CSU +18)
Nevada PPG: 23
CSU PPG: 29

The Series (Ault-coached games appear with an asterisk):

October 19, 1974

at Colorado State: 66 Nevada 17

August 30, 1997

at Colorado State: 45 Nevada 13

September 12, 1998

Colorado State: 26 at Nevada 14

September 11, 1999

at Colorado State: 38 Nevada 33

September 30, 2000

Colorado State: 45 at Nevada: 14

September 8, 2001

at Colorado State: 35 Nevada 18

September 28, 2002

#24 Colorado State: 32 at Nevada: 28

September 24, 2005*

at Colorado State: 42 Nevada: 21

September 16, 2006*

at Nevada: 28 Colorado State: 10

September 19, 2009*

at Colorado State: 35 Nevada: 20

(As of today, 09/05/2010, this is CSU's last win.)

Colorado State Week One at a Glance

It is official: Colorado State has not won a game since they beat Nevada last September.

It would seem that we didn't leave much more to discuss, statistically, from Thursday night's season opener, so I'm moving on.

Colorado State hosted in-state rival Colorado this afternoon, and the results weren't pretty for the Rams.  CSU eventually found a way to put points on the board, but not before the Buffs had exhausted their scoring output for the game midway through the 4th quarter.

Since they did play at Colorado State I did not have the opportunity of watching this game; judging by the statistics I can only let out a sigh of relief.

Team Stat Comparison (from ESPN)

	Colorado	Colorado St
1st Downs	18	14
3rd down efficiency	5-13	1-12
4th down efficiency	0-0	0-2
Total Yards	307	245
Passing	192	196
Comp-Att	17-25	24-33
Yards per pass	11.3	8.2
Rushing	115	49
Rushing Attempts	35	25
Yards per rush	3.3	2.0
Penalties	10-104	2-35
Turnovers	1	3
Fumbles lost	0	0
Interceptions thrown	1	3
Possession	32:38	27:22

So Colorado, who had a fairly poor season themselves in 2009, was able to slam around CSU to the tune of 24-3, and they did it on 18 first downs, with 307 total yards of offense, 5 conversions of 13 attempts on 3rd down, and committing 10 penalties for a total loss of 104 yards.

The Rams, meanwhile, only committed two penalties for 35 yards and kept the time of possession reasonably close, yet managed 245 total yards (including 49 yards from 25 attempts on the ground, averaging 1.96 yards per rush), were 1/12 on 3rd down, AND Pete Thomas threw three interceptions.

Just for fun, let's put both first week comparisons together:

	Nevada	Colorado St
1st Downs	24	14
3rd down efficiency	8-15	1-12
4th down efficiency	3-3	0-2
Total Yards	553	245
Passing	339	196
Comp-Att	27-38	24-33
Yards per pass	12.6	8.2
Rushing	214	49
Rushing Attempts	44	25
Yards per rush	4.9	2.0
Penalties	9-90	2-35
Turnovers	1	3
Fumbles lost	1	0
Interceptions thrown	0	3
Possession	34:11	27:22

Nevada will be looking for redemption when the Rams visit Mackay Stadium this weekend...redemption for September 19th, 2009 and the 'what the hell just happened' loss in Fort Collins.  After a day like this day, Colorado State will be frothing for redemption for September 4th, 2010; looking at those numbers, it should be fun to find out which team will be redeemed and which will be vanquished.

Coming tomorrow: Nevada vs. CSU all-time record and data.

Connecting The Dots

When Ault hired a new coach for our defensive secondary, what did we say about the guy? Ah, now I remember...

That's right - Ault just hired a guy who was so spectacular as defensive coordinator for UNLV that they demoted him nearly six years ago as our new secondaries coach. This would be the same person that coached the secondary that we scored 63 points against this year. But it's okay - he used to coach under Ault from '86-'91 and knows the "Nevada way".

Problem is, so do I, and I don't seem to remember it ever involving pass defense.

Ladies and gentlemen, Wolf Pack football!

So, under the careful tutelage of our new coach, how did our secondary perform? Let's take a look at the reviews. Dan Hinxman's thoughts:

For starters, there’s the issue of effort and tackling, which Ault addressed in his postgame news conference. It seems odd that in an opener, under the leadership of a new and energetic defensive coodinator, the defense played with little enthusiasm.

“I thought our effort and tackling were sub-par,” Ault said. “… You’re doggone right I am (upset). We’re not a great defensive football team, but I didn’t think effort tackling would be an issue.”

That’s just part one of his problem.

It is the safety unit that was the biggest question mark entering the game, and nothing has changed there. Cornerbacks Isaiah Frey, Doyle Miller and Thaddeus Brown played well, staying step for step with receivers throughout the night, but the safeties were often out of position and missed more than just a few tackles.

That wasn’t a huge surprise. None of the four who played Thursday – junior Corbin Louks, junior Bubba Boudreaux, sophomore Marlon Johnson and sophomore Dean Faddis – had ever made a start at the Division I level.

The Eagles have a solid offense, but once it was clear that quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was going to miss on every pass of 25 yards or more, it made the secondary’s job a bit easier. And Ault said he fully expected the Eagles’ game plan – a lot of short drop-back, underneath routes. Still, Mitchell went 19-for-35 for 253 yards with two touchdowns.

Hmm. What else did Hinxman say?

Defense – D

A lackluster effort is inexcusable in the opener, no matter who the opponent is. And EWU running back Taiwan Jones made a lot of tacklers look silly. Safeties showed their inexperience.

Let's see what they thought of our defense in Spokane, shall we? Ah, there's the byline - Pack can't keep up with Jones:

Jones wasn’t pleased with his early effort – even though he had 126 combined rushing and receiving yards and his team’s only touchdown at intermission.

“I felt like I was sleeping that first half,” he said. “But, fortunately, I woke up in the second.”

Jones’ big second half helped set up a pair of Eastern scores – the first coming on a 5-yard pass from Mitchell to Brandon Kaufman and the second on a 1-yard run by Darriell Beaumonte – that cut Nevada’s lead to 35-24. But it wasn’t enough to offset the Wolf Pack’s blinding start, which included two touchdowns in the first 6½ minutes of the game.

Well, thank goodness he was "sleeping" in the first half. I shudder to think what would've happened to our impeccably coached secondary if Jones was actually awake.

Speaking of awake...

Last night, I posted about the concessions debacle. In retrospect, it's actually worse than I thought - announced attendance was only 16,313, which means our concessions stands were almost completely unworkable with only a 55% crowd. I know that complaining about the concessions stands is a bit of a Nevada pastime, but this was horrible. There were several people sitting in my section that were waiting in line for over 30 minutes just to grab a drink. I do like the theory behind the new concessions layout - we now have at least double the number of cash registers to line up at, which should have prevented this. Unfortunately, reality is proving to be a harsh mistress. I just hope the Colorado State game goes more smoothly.

Another aside - I know it was a Thursday night game, I know parking is always obnoxious, and I know people have other things to do on a weeknight than attend a football game against an FCS opponent. I get that. Even so... 16,313 at our home opener? Really? At least the student section filled up - kudos to the kiddies for that.

Here's to next week!