Nevada football beats Colorado State

RENO - There's no place like home.

Nevada returned home after two disappointing road losses at Fresno State and Arizona State, and buried Colorado State 28-10 Saturday night before an announced crowd of 18,883 at Mackay Stadium.

The win was also the first in Nevada history over CSU. The Rams had won the previous eight games in the series dating back to 1974.

"It was awesome. It's fun to come back here," said quarterback Jeff Rowe, who completed 19 of 22 passes for 210 yards and two scores, and also ran for 65 yards. "The crowd was into it, and we were into it.

"We have a tough schedule this year, but we have to go out and produce. Getting that first win feels good. Since I've been at the university, we've played Colorado State and haven't beaten them, so this was a big win. I marked this one on my calendar."

Earlier in the week, some of the players admitted that they were a little down, but that certainly wasn't the case on Saturday.

"It's kind of hard to pinpoint one specific reason for it (improvement)," said running back Robert Hubbard, who rushed for 88 yards and a score. "We had a team meeting this week and talked among ourselves. We kind of told ourselves that we are a good team and if we come out and play hard, we can do some good things. Maybe it was the team meeting, maybe it was practicing harder, maybe it was focus. I don't know."

The biggest area of improvement was the defense, which didn't allow a touchdown. Colorado State's only TD came on a blocked punt. The Rams also had a field goal after an interception in the second quarter.

Nevada had just one sack through the first two games and teams were successful 13 of 24 times on third-down situations. Against CSU, Nevada's defense turned in five sacks, gave up only four first downs in 14 third-down attempts and yielded a season-low 177 yards.

Generally, Nevada made life miserable for CSU quarterback Caleb Hanie, who completed 14 of 25 for only 113 yards, and spent most of the night trying to avoid a good pass rush.

"Defensively, we played as good a game we've played (here)," said Nevada coach Chris Ault, who in turn praised his defensive coaches for their game plan. "We really got after them. We had good preparation during the week.

"We were embarrassed by our play last week. We stunk it up offensively and defensively."

Senior defensive end J.J. Milan, who registered two of Nevada's five sacks, said the Pack's ability to control the ball offensively really helped the defensive unit.

"We tried to go out and have some success tonight," Milan said. "With our offense playing the way they did, they kept us off the field and kept us fresh."

Colorado State ran off only 20 plays the first half and gained only 64 yards.

Nevada's offense scored on its first two possessions of the game, and ran through and around the Rams' defense, which entered the game allowing just 116 yards a contest. Nevada finished with a season-best 381 yards, including 171 on the ground.

"The offensive line continues to do a nice job," Ault said, alluding to the group of Dominic Green, Charles Manu, Barrett Reznick, Jimmy Wadhams and Greg Hall. "Offensively, Jeff (Rowe) the way he played in terms of audible, was as good as he's played here at the university.

"The running game was great and the passing game was efficient. That was against the No. 1 defense in the nation."

Nevada drove 61 yards on nine plays to score on its first possession, as Hubbard scored from the 1. Hubbard carried six times for 32 yards on the drive, and twice Rowe converted on third down with scrambles. Rowe would go on to make several key runs during the contest.

Colorado State went three and out on its next possession, and a short 34-yard punt gave the Wolf Pack excellent field position at its own 48.

Nevada didn't waste it, driving 52 yards in 10 plays with Luke Lippincott scoring from the 2 for his second TD of the season.

Rowe's 8-yard shovel pass to Adam Bishop kept the drive alive at the Colorado State 37. Three plays left Nevada a yard short of a first down, and Ault decided to go for it on fourth down instead of trying a 48-yard field goal or pinning the Rams deep with a punt.

The gamble paid off. Rowe moved a little left and found Marko Mitchell along the left sideline for 27 yards down to the 4. Hubbard gained two yards and then was stopped for no gain. Lippincott scored on the next play.

The Pack got a tough break on its next series when Rowe's second-down pass was deflected and then intercepted by Mike Pagnotta at the 45, and he returned it down to Nevada's 21.

"That one was a bad throw," Rowe said. "Mike (McCoy) was open, and that was a bad throw."

Nevada's defense stiffened, and Jason Smith came on to kick a 36-yard field goal to slice the lead to 14-3 with 7:51 left.

On the next possession, Sedric Patterson blocked Zach Whited's first-ever punt in a Nevada uniform. Patterson fell on the ball in the end zone for a score, and Smith's PAT made it 14-10 with 5:10 left.

The Pack showed their resiliency, coming back with a huge touchdown right before the half, as Rowe hooked up with Mike McCoy on a 39-yards scoring pass on a third-and-goal situation.

"That score just before halftime didn't help us," CSU coach Sonny Lubick said. "They got on us early in the game. I knew they would be ready to play and that we would, but we didn't match them early in the game.

"We were playing well, but knew we would have to play a solid game. We gave up (too many) big plays."

Colorado State had a opportunity to slice into Nevada's lead late in the third quarter when it drove down to the Pack's 24-yard line. On third-and-10, De'Angelo Wilson sacked Hanie for an 8-yard loss, and Smith missed a 49-yard field goal attempt which appeared to be partially blocked.

Nevada put the game out of reach on the next possession, driving 67 yards on eight plays with Rowe throwing an 11-yard scoring pass to Brandon Fragger to make it 28-10 with 12:38 left in the game.

The Rams got inside Nevada territory on the ensuing drive, but Joe Garcia intercepted Hanie's third-down pass in the end zone with 7:14 left in the game, and then Nick Hawthrone intercepted a pass on the Rams' final possession.