Nevada vs. San Jose State: Final Statistics

1 2 3 4 T SJSU 10 3 0 0 13 #21 NEV 14 7 7 7 35 Team Stat Comparison San Jose St Nevada 1st Downs 21 30 3rd down efficiency 4-15 10-13 4th down efficiency 1-2 0-0 Total Yards 372 640 Passing 194 273 Comp-Att 16-37 20-28 Yards per pass 5.2 9.8 Rushing 178 367 Rushing Attempts 36 41 Yards per rush 4.9 9.0 Penalties 8-55 8-89 Turnovers 3 2 Fumbles lost 1 0 Interceptions thrown 2 2 Possession 31:55 28:05
Stats courtesy of espn.com

I won't harp on the offense too much this time around, except to say that Kaep looked great once again through about the first quarter...after that he began to look a bit more ordinary.

The passing game, saving the two interceptions (both for touchbacks), was also in pretty good form with the a 71.43% completion rate.

Nevada made 30 first downs, was 10-13 on 3rd down, and raked in 640 total yards of offense.  Pretty good numbers, by and by.  I was rather impressed by San Jose State's scrappy defense (less impressed by the fact that it managed to take our offense to 3rd down 13 times), but the fact still remains that the Spartans were a depleted squad with a rather lack of talent and the Nevada offense played down to their level.

Nevada's defense, on the other hand, had a bit tougher time, and it took them far to long to wake up to the fact that this game, once again, wasn't going to be a complete walk-over.

Comparing stats give us a bit more insight in this area.  Now granted, SJSU played two FCS  and three FBS teams in their OOC schedule, and not one of the FBS teams ranked below #13 at the time - that does need to be taken into consideration just a bit; conversely Nevada is now a ranked team, therefore making a direct comparison all the more telling.

First 5 Games (avg) vs. Nevada PF 9.8 13 PA 31.2 35 1st Downs/Game 11.6 21 3rd Down Efficiency 2.4-12-4 (19.35%) 4-15 (26.67%) 4th Down Efficiency 0.8-1.2 (66.67%) 1-2 (50%) Total Yards 248.6 372 Yards Passing 166.8 194 Passing Efficiency 16-22.4 (66.12%) 16-37 (43.24%) Yards per Pass 6.75 5.2 Yards Rushing 81.8 178 Attempts 28.8 36 Yards per Rush 2.84 4.9 Fumbles Lost 0.8 1 Interceptions Thrown 0.8 2

Along with coming up on the short end of the time of possession battle (not that it mattered in the long run) SJSU attempted 14.6 more passes than their average (mostly by La Secla, their backup QB) and 7.2 additional rushes.  Likewise, along with the additional passing attempts Nevada gave up an additional 27.2 yards through the air, which more than makes up for the -22.88% completion rate.  Worse yet, on only those additional 7.2 rushes the Spartans raked in an extra 96.2 yards and an extra 2.06 yards per carry over their season's average against Nevada's traditionally stout rush defense...it was also far and away SJSU's best night on the ground this season (2nd: vs. U.C. Davis - 114 yards on 33 rushes for 3.5 per rush).

And, of course our favorite topic: penalties.  Normally this is a list of procedural events; at least this time around false starts and holds seemed to be kept to a (relative) minimum.  THIS time around, the problem was with personal fouls.  Nevada was UNLV bad for personal fouls this time around for completely undisciplined claptrap.  While I have heard a number of stories floating around about the 'horrible officiating' Saturday night, there were far too many of these unnecessary acts of aggression which were both blatant and asinine.

Speaking of asinine: this is the second game in a row in which Ricky Drake sent a kickoff soaring out of bounds...ugh.

Nevada penalties vs SJSU are (were) as follows:

• Ricky Drake kickoff for 67 yards out-of-bounds.

• 10 yard holding on John Bender accepted, no play.*

• 0 yard holding (off-setting) NO PLAY. accepted,*

• NEVADA penalty 15 yard pass interference on Rishard Matthews accepted, no play.*

     Anthony Martinez 25 yard field goal MISSED (three penalties-three TDs brought back).

• 15 yard personal foul on Duke Williams accepted for a 1ST down.

• NEVADA penalty 15 yard personal foul on Bubba Boudreaux accepted.

• 15 yard pass interference on Virgil Green accepted, no play.

• 8 yard personal foul on Brett Roy accepted.

• 10 yard roughing passer on Zack Madonick accepted, no play.

• penalty 1 yard delay of game accepted.

Had it not been for position against near the goal line these penalties would have totaled over  100 yards for the game...two for pass interference, THREE personal fouls, and one roughing the passer.

Maybe there was some jabbering between players out there...some retribution Nevada was seeking; be that the case the players have thus far been silent on the issue.  Still a Top 25 team should be able to maintain poise (or at least not body slam a receiver after the play while the official has a front-row seat).

At the very best, Nevada looked like they were playing down to the competition (again).  They had best pull their heads out and start playing with their (collective) whole a-- or else Hawai'i is going to eat the Wolf Pack alive.