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!