Nevada runs on Hawaii in tough win

2009 Nevada Wolf Pack ... Head Coach: Chris Ault

2009 Schedule
CFN Prediction: 8-4
2009 Record: 5-3

9/5 at Notre Dame L 35-0
9/12 OPEN DATE
9/19 at Colorado St L 35-20
9/25 Missouri L 31-21
10/3 UNLV W 63-28
10/9 La Tech W 37-14
10/17 at Utah St W 35-32
10/24 Idaho W 70-45
10/31 Hawaii W 31-21
11/8 at San Jose State
11/14 Fresno State
11/21 at NMSU
11/27 at Boise State
12/5 OPEN DATE

2008 Schedule
CFN Prediction: 8-4
2008 Record: 7-6

8/30 Grambling St W 49-13
9/6 Texas Tech L 35-19
9/13 at Missouri L 69-17
9/20 OPEN DATE
9/27 at UNLV W 49-27
10/4 at Idaho W 49-14
10/11 New Mexico St L 48-45
10/18 Utah State W 44-17
10/25 at Hawaii L 38-31
11/1 OPEN DATE
11/7 at Fresno State W 41-28
11/15 San Jose St W 41-17
11/22 Boise State L 41-34
11/29 at La Tech W 35-31
Humanitarian Bowl
12/30 Maryland L 42-35

Nevada Wolf Pack

Oct. 31
at Nevada 31 … Hawaii 21
Nevada overcame a 14-0 deficit with 28 straight points highlighted by two Colin Kaepernick touchdown runs and a 30-yard Vai Taua touchdown dash. Jovonte Taylor caught touchdown passes from 71 and four yards out for the Warriors, but couldn’t handle the Wolf Pack rushing attack that rolled up 312 yards.
Player of the Game: Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick completed 12-of-21 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns and ran 13 times for 114 yards and two scores.
Nevada: Passing: Colin Kaepernick, 12-21, 184 yds, 2 TD
Rushing: Vai Taua, 19-127, Receiving: Brandon Wimberly, 4-45
Hawaii: Passing: Bryant Moniz, 29-49, 374 yds, 3 TD, 2 INT
Rushing: Alex Green, 10-70, Receiving: Jon Medeiros, 9-92
What It All Means: The running game needed a little while to warm up, and it wasn’t razor sharp against a bad Hawaii defense, but it still ripped off 312 yards with Vai Taua and Colin Kaepernick each rolling for over 100 yards. However, the pass defense continues to stink, but it gets a break against San Jose State. Now at 4-0 in the WAC and on a five-game winning streak, the real work starts now with three road games in the final four. The chance is there to take the conference title, but the defense has to find something that works. 

Oct. 24
at Nevada 70 … Idaho 45
Nevada rolled up 662 yards, including 484 on the ground, with QB Colin Kaepernick throwing for two scores and running for four including dashes from 35 and 75 yards in the first five minutes of the second half to help the Pack pull away. In a game of big home runs, with the two teams combining for 1,156 yards, Nevada started out with Kaepernick touchdown runs from 11 and 61 yards, and Vai Taua running for an 89-yarder, on the way to a 21-0 lead. But Idaho kept fighting with Maurice Shaw catching two 73-yard touchdown passes in the second quarter and with Max Komar catching three scoring passes in the second half, but the Vandals weren’t able to keep up.
Player of the Game: Nevada RB Colin Kaepernick completed 13-of-21 passes for 178 yards and two scores, and he ran 15 times for 23 yards and four scores.
Idaho: Passing: Nathan Enderle, 15-26, 342 yds, 4 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Deonte Jackson, 7-88, 1 TD, Receiving: Max Comar, 10-136, 3 TD
Nevada: Passing: Colin Kaepernick, 13-21, 178 yds, 2 TD
Rushing: Colin Kaepernick, 15-230, 4 TD, Receiving: Brandon Wimberly, 5-62
What It All Means: Idaho is playing well and will go to a bowl game, and Nevada ripped through the Vandal D like it wasn’t even there. Colin Kaepernick continues to play at an All-America level, while Vai Taua averaged 8.6 yards per carry highlighted by his 86-yard dash. No one’s stopping this offense right now, and while the secondary continues to be a disaster, it doesn’t matter too much when the attack is running for eight scores. Nevada might run for 500 yards against Hawaii next week. 

Oct. 17
Nevada 35 … at Utah State 32
In a fun firefight, Nevada, down 24-14, scored 21 unanswered points with Luke Lippincott tearing off a 69-yard touchdown run and with Brandon Wimberly scoring on a 49-yard play. Utah State pulled within three on a 14-yard Nnamdi Gwacham catch with 2:35 to play, but the Wolf Pack, after a penalty, recovered a second onside kick attempt and put the game away. Nevada and the nation’s leading rushing attack ran for 313 yards, but the secondary allowed 353 yards.
Player of the Game: Nevada RB Vai Taua ran 21 times for 147 yards and a score
Utah State: Passing: Diondre Borel, 25-42, 353 yds, 3 TD
Rushing: Diondre Borel, 21-48, Receiving: Omar Sawyer, 6-38
Nevada: Passing: Colin Kaepernick, 10-24, 189 yds, 3 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Vai Taua, 21-147, 1 TD, Receiving: Brandon Wimberly, 2-73, 1 TD
What It All Means: The ground game keeps on rolling. Colin Kaepernick had one of his worst passing games of the year, but he was his normal terrific self running the ball, and Vai Taua and Luke Lippincott each ran for over 100 yards. On the down side, the secondary just isn’t going to stop anyone this year. It was ripped up by the Utah State passing game, and it’s going to get pushed at home by Idaho and Hawaii over the next two weeks. But as long as the offensive line is producing, the Pack will be in the WAC title hunt. 

Oct. 9
at Nevada 37-14
Nevada r  gave head coach Chris Ault his 200th career win as Colin Kaepernick ran for two scores and threw for three more in the surprisingly easy win. Tech scored first on a 15-yard Daniel Porter run, and then it was all Wolf Pack with 23 straight points with Kaepernick throwing for two scores and running for a five-yarder. Porter tried to get the Bulldogs back into the game with a 64-yard touchdown run, but Kaepernick answered with a 67-yard touchdown dash. Nevada outgained Tech 511 yards to 256.
Player of the Game: Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick completed 15-of-21 passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns, and he ran 12 times for 89 yards and two scores.
Louisiana Tech: Passing: Ross Jenkins, 8-17, 129 yds, 1 INT
Rushing: Daniel Porter, 11-99, 2 TD, Receiving: Dustin Mitchell, 2-21
Nevada: Passing: Colin Kaepernick, 15-21, 166 yds, 3 TD
Rushing: Vai Taua, 17-107, Receiving: Brandon Wimberly, 5-73, 1 TD
What It All Means: Building off the tremendous performance against UNLV, Nevada kept the ground game rolling against a not-that-bad Louisiana Tech defense. Not only was the rushing attack starting to get it into gear last week, but now it has Vai Taua back. With Taua, Luke Lippincott, Mike Ball, who was only used for three carries after ripping up UNLV, and Colin Kaepernick, there are more weapons than most teams will be able to handle. Now one's stopping this attack until the regular season ender against Boise State.

Oct. 3
at Nevada 63 … UNLV 28
Nevada rolled for 773 yards of total offense with 559 on the ground. The onslaught started early with Luke Lippincott and Mike Ball running for scores, but UNLV fought back and tied it at 21 going into the locker room on Channing Trotter’s second touchdown run of the half. It was all Nevada the rest of the way with 42 second half points as Ball ran for scores from 32, four and 89 yards out, finishing with five touchdowns, but he was hardly the only Wolf Pack runner to roll. QB Colin Kaepernick ran for 173 yards and Luke Lippincott ran for 170.
Player of the Game: Nevada RB Mike Ball ran 15 times for 184 yards and five scores.
UNLV: Passing: Mike Clausen, 26-50, 276 yds, 1 TD
Rushing: C.J. Cox, 2-19, 1 TD, Receiving: Phillip Payne, 10-112
Nevada: Passing: Colin Kaepernick, 15-18, 208 yds, 1 TD
Rushing: Mike Ball, 15-184, 5 TD, Receiving: Brandon Wimberly, 5-71
What It All Means: Now that’s the Nevada offense everyone was waiting for. The line opened up huge holes against the porous UNLV defense, and Mike Ball, Luke Lippincott, and Colin Kaepernick were happy to take advantage with huge run after huge run. The ground game averaged 10.2 yards per carry, while Kaepernick’s passing was on completing 15-of-18 passes. This was a perfect game pitched by the Nevada offense, but the team committed 15 penalties and lost four fumbles. That was all that was keeping the Pack from hitting 100. 

Sept. 25
Missouri 31 ... at Nevada 21
Missouri QB Blaine Gabbert threw for 414 yards and three touchdowns with two going to Danario Alexander from 31 and 74 yards out. Nevada, down 21-13, was driving deep into Tiger territory, but a Luke Lippincott fumble led to an 11-play, 97-yard drive ending with a four-yard catch from Jared Perry. Got an 11-yard touchdown run from Colin Kaepernick and, with 2:32 to play, a six-yard touchdown catch form Brandon Wimberly, but it was too late.
Player of the Game: Missouri QB Blaine Gabbert completed 25-of-40 passes for 414 yards and three touchdowns.
Missouri: Passing: Blaine Gabbert, 25-40, 414 yds, 3 TD
Rushing: Derrick Washington, 16-75, Receiving: Danario Alexander, 9-170, 2 TD
Nevada: Passing: Colin Kaepernick, 17-28, 146 yds, 1 TD
Rushing: Luke Lippincott, 23-114, Receiving: Brandon Wimberly, 6-76, 1 TD
What It All Means: The Nevada offense is built to control games in the second half and especially late, but Missouri owned the fourth quarter controlling the ball for 10:27 and keeping drives alive. Colin Kaepernick ran relatively well, but he didn't come up with any big dashes with his only quality run a slippery 14-yard gain. He needs to get going to get the offense into more of a groove to make up for the absence of Vai Taua, who's out with a dislocated elbow. Defensively, at some point, the corners need more help. The secondary has been torched by anyone who can throw, but fortunately, there aren't any good passing teams on the slate until the Hawaii game on Halloween.

Sept. 19
at Colorado State 35 … Nevada 20
John Mosure ran for a short score and Dion Morton threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Eric Peitz and caught a 49-yard scoring grab in the surprisingly easy Colorado State win. Grant Stucker threw two touchdown passes and ran for another as part of a 21-point run that gave the Rams a 35-6 lead before Nevada got back on the board with the second of two Vai Taua touchdown runs. Nevada’s vaunted ground game was held to 169 yards.
Player of the Game: Colorado State RB John Mosure ran 18 times for 99 yards and a score.
Nevada: Passing: Colin Kaepernick, 25-38, 251 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing: Vai Taua, 14-95, 2 TD, Receiving: Brandon Wimberly, 7-104, 1 TD
Colorado State: Passing: Grant Stucker, 10-20, 165 yds, 2 TD
Rushing: John Mosure, 18-99, 1 TD, Receiving: Rashaun Greer, 3-47
What It All Means: 169 rushing yards? 11 penalties? 5 turnovers? Nevada had two weeks off after the Notre Dame debacle and played just as poorly in the blowout loss to Colorado State. The offense hasn’t gotten going yet with QB Colin Kaepernick being held under wraps and Vai Taua not picking up the slack. There passing game is just good enough to get by, but it couldn’t get the Pack back in the game against the Rams. Now comes the home opener against Missouri, and the defense has to suddenly be far, far better to have any sort of a chance. The running game has to be the Nevada running game again over the next few weeks before the WAC opener against Louisiana Tech.

Sept. 5
at Notre Dame 35 … Nevada 0
Notre Dame was razor sharp and extremely explosive with Jimmy Clausen throwing four touchdown passes with three to Malcolm Floyd indulging strikes from 70 and 88 yards out. Armando Allen added a one-yard score late in the first half for a 28-0 halftime lead. The Wolf Pack rushing attack, expected to be among the best in the nation, was held in check gaining just 184 yards and converted just 2-of-11 third down chances.
Player of the Game: Notre Dame WR Malcolm Floyd caught four passes for 189 yards and three touchdowns
Nevada: Passing: Colin Kaepernick, 12-23, 149 yds, 2 INT
Rushing: Vai Taua, 18-114, Receiving: Tray Session, 5-51
Notre Dame: Passing: Jimmy Clausen, 15-18, 315 yds, 4 TD
Rushing: Armando Allen, 15-72, 1 TD, Receiving: Malcolm Floyd, 4-189, 3 TD
What It All Means: This was as dream come true for Notre Dame fans anxious for the opener. The offense was thrilling with big play after big play, Jimmy Clausen was nearly perfect, and the defense swarmed all over the Nevada running game that’ll end up averaging over 250 yards per game. The team let up a wee bit in the second half, but the defense kept the heat on and the offensive line did a great job of putting the game away with the ground game. Nevada had one of the best pass rushes in the nation last year and was held without a sack. However, before getting all giddy, Nevada was dead last against the pass last season.
What It All Means: Utter disaster. The Notre Dame offense might be the real deal and it might turn out to truly be special, but for one game, the pass defense didn’t show any improvement after being the worst in America last season. The running game never got going and Colin Kaepernick never got room to move. This was an awful performance with no big plays, few stops on defense, and nothing to get excited about going into next week. Throw this game out; Nevada is better than this. At least that’s the hope, but now the team has to prove it can beat someone with a pulse.