Nevada hopes to not be burned by Sun Devils

Since 1996, Nevada has had little success against Pac-10 schools, posting a 1-10 record in that span.

The Wolf Pack, 0-1, hope to change that tonight (7:05 p.m., KREN-TV) when they visit Arizona State, 1-0, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.

The last time Nevada beat a Pac-10 school was Oct. 11, 2003 when the Pack pulled off a 28-17 win in Seattle. Nevada didn't play a Pac-10 school in 2004. but was hammered by Washington State 55-21 in the 2005 home opener.

The onus will be on Nevada's defense this week, which didn't register a sack against Fresno State and gave up 300 yards rushing.

Tim DeRuyter, the team's co-defensive coordinator, knows that his group again will have his hands full.

"I've seen more film on them than I care to," DeRuyter said earlier in the week. "They are a really, really good football team. They have excellent skill players. They have a returning quarterback (Rudy Carpenter), who throws the ball well.

"I don't know that it was the front line's fault (last week). We obviously didn't play the run as well as we thought we would. They ran plays we prepared for two weeks. Our guys couldn't get off blocks."

Carpenter had a huge day in a 35-14 win over Northern Arizona, completing 17 of 24 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns, one each to running backs Ryan Torain and Shaun DeWitty.

Carpenter has won five of his six starts since taking over the starting job midway through last season. He is capable of putting up some huge numbers as he showed at last year's Insight Bowl when he threw for a career-best 467 yards in a 45-40 win over Rutgers.

The talented Sun Devil quarterback has a couple of talented targets to throw to in wide receiver Rudy Burgess (7 catches ,112 yards) and tight end Zach Miller (4-47). The duo must make up for the loss of ASU's top three receivers of a year ago.

Miller, in fact, is 18 catches away from breaking Todd Heap's record. Heap, who plays for the Baltimore Ravens, had 115 career catches for 1,685 yards.

"In my opinion, Zach Miller is one of the best blocking tight ends in the nation," ASU coach Dirk Koetter said. "He gets tons of credit for his acrobatic catches, but when you watch cut-ups, you see what a tremendous blocker he is."

The Sun Devils used four running backs last week - Dimitri Nance (10-61), DeWitty (6-34), Keegan Herring (7-34) and Torain (5-16).

"All four ran well," DeRuyter said. "The last guy they put in there was a true freshman (Nance) and they didn't even have him on their three deep."

Koetter is well aware that Nevada has some weapons of its own in quarterback Jeff Rowe, wide receiver Caleb Spencer, running back Robert Hubbard (sore hip), who ran for 103 yards last week, and tight end Anthony Pudewell.

Rowe threw for two touchdowns in last week's 28-19 loss to Fresno State. He had some trouble with accuracy on long passes, but fared well on intermediate attempts.

"They have really good players," Koetter said. "We tried to recruit their quarterback (Rowe). Their tight ends and receivers are good.

"We are going to see a much better offense (this week). We are going to see two really good running backs (Hubbard and Luke Lippincott) who can run the ball downhill."

Koetter said that safeties Josh Barrett, the former Reno High star, and Zach Catanese will be key factors in stopping the Pack's running game.

"Nevada is going to try to run the ball on you," Koetter said. "They want to run the ball at you. They do a great job with their use of formations. They have a little unbalanced formation. They cover up one of their wideouts and have a tight end wing out on the side.

"They are going to make you defend the run. Josh and Zach are going to have to get involved. There are no defenses that are going to stop the run without the use of the safeties. No one has a defense like that."

Koetter intimated that it might have been easier to prepare for Nevada this week because it played a conference opponent instead of a nonconference opponent.

"You can compare the game this year to a game last year and see if it's the same," he said. "Every team is going to make some changes in the off-season, us included. Every team is going to tweak their game plan from week to week. Nevada played to win in their conference game. They played an excellent second half. I thought they were going to win."

Note: The Pack have several players with Arizona ties, including starting guard Barrett Reznick, guard Greg Hall, defensive lineman Thomas Flinn, wide receivers Jack Darlington and Rocco Bene, offensive lineman Chris Hegge, offensive lineman Mike Gallett and defensive back Dontay Moch ... ASU receiver Jamaal Lewis is still on the suspended list. He broke team rules, according to the ASU media office. Lewis caught 23 passes as a tight end last year... Koetter said the 300-plus yards his team gave up is misleading because three big plays accounted for around 150 yards...ASU senior Terry Richardson returned a punt 84 yards last week for a score. He returned two kicks for scores last year.

Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281

NEVADA (0-1) at ARIZONA ST. (1-0)

When: Tonight, 7:05 p.m.

Where: Sun Devil Stadium (71,706, grass surface) in Tempe, Arizona

TV: KREN-TV

Radio: ESPN Radio 630 AM, pre-game starts at 6 p.m.

The line: Arizona State is favored by 14 1/2