Nevada football beats Northwestern

RENO - One word described the Nevada Wolf Pack Friday night - opportunistic.

Nevada's defense forced five turnovers, and the offense converted four of them into 24 points en route to a 31-21 nonconference football victory before a crowd of 16,176 at Mackay Stadium.

The win was Nevada's second straight after losing its first two games, and gives the team plenty of momentum heading into next week's road game against arch-rival UNLV. Nevada has won seven straight home games dating back to the 2005 season.

Nevada gave up 368 yards to the Wildcats, yet managed to make some big plays at key times to keep Northwestern out of the win column.

"That was the difference in the ballgame," said Nevada coach Chris Ault, alluding to the Northwestern turnovers. "We've been on the other end of the spectrum, and we were able to convert those points. No question about it, that was the difference.

"We did give up big plays. If you win the turnover game, you have a chance to be in the game. In the fourth quarter we played excellent defense, and Joey (Garcia) made the play of the game and that's the difference. This was a monumental win for the university."

The play Ault alluded to came in the final 2 1/2 minutes with Nevada holding on to a 24-21 lead.

Northwestern quarterback Mike Kafka, who ran for 111 yards and passed for 122 yards, threw an incomplete pass on first down from his own 17. On second down, he tried to throw an out route, but cornerback Joe Garcia stepped in front of the pass, returning it 24 yards for the score. The PAT made it 31-21.

It was Garcia's second interception of the game, and he redeemed himself for giving up a 39-yard pass and being called for pass interference in the end zone in the first half, the latter leading to a Northwestern score.

"I read the quarterback and got a really good jump on the ball," Garcia said. "I owed everybody one. I was waiting for my time to make a play, and it came right there at the end."

It wasn't exactly the way Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald envisioned going into its Big 10 opener at Penn State.

"You can't turn the ball over and expect to win against a good football team," Fitzgerald said after watching his team fall to 2-2. "That's what happened today against a very good football team, and I give them a lot of credit. They took advantage of those opportunities, and when you can do that and capitalize and have 24 points on turnovers that obviously is tough to overcome.

"I'm proud of my players. We came back, battled back in the second half to get the game right there in reach. Obviously the self-inflicted wounds that we had were difficult to overcome."

Northwestern had a 7-0 lead and was driving for another when Garcia intercepted a Kafka pass at the Nevada 16. That may have been bigger than his game-ending interception because it stalled the Wildcats' early momentum and a chance to bury the Pack.

"He threw behind the receiver, and the receiver didn't try to come back for it," Garcia said.

It took just a shade over two minutes to turn that mistake into a touchdown, as Nevada drove 71 yards in five plays with Jeff Rowe (17 for 22, 197 yards) throwing a 25-yard TD pass to running back Robert Hubbard to cap the drive. Brett Jaekle's PAT tied the game at 7 with 5:28 left.

Hubbard had a career day, rushing for 156 yards, eclipsing his 146-yard effort in Nevada's 38-35 win over Fresno State last year.

On the first play after the ensuing kickoff, Matt Hines forced Tyrell Jordan to fumble, and J.J. Milan recovered at the Northwestern 20.

"We are focusing on making big plays, and having an affect on the football game," Hines said. "We just dug down deep and found a way to make plays (tonight)."

Rowe, who was knocked out of the game late in the fourth quarter when he took a knee to the helmet, rolled right and passed 14 yards to Caleb Spencer (8 catches, 79 yards) for a first down at the 6. After Hubbard was stopped for no gain, the Wolf Pack resorted to some razzle dazzle on second down. Spencer took a handoff from Rowe and tried to complete a pass to Rowe in the right corner of the end zone. Demetrius Eaton came down with the ball, but was ruled out of bounds.

Nevada took another timeout, its second of the half. On third down, Rowe was sacked for a 9-yard loss by Nick Roach. Jaekle came on to kick a 32-yard field goal to make it 10-7.

Nevada got the ball back four plays later when linebacker Jeremy Engstrom intercepted a pass at the Northwester 30, and returned it 25 yards down to the 5. It was Engstrom's first interception since the 2004 season.

Hubbard scored two plays later on a 3-yard run. Jaekle's PAT made it 17-7 with 1:02 left in the quarter.

Northwestern took the ensuing kickoff and drove 80 yards in six plays capped by Terrell Jordan's 2-yard run, which made it 17-14. The key play was a third-down 55-yard run by Kafka down to the Nevada 2.

Nevada bounced back with an 80-yard drive of its own capped by Rowe's 26-yard scoring pass to Mike McCoy, who now has four touchdowns on just six catches. Jaekle's PAT made it 24-14 with 9:25 left in the half.

Each team had a chance to score before the half, but Northwestern's Joel Howells missed a 39-yard field goal attempt, and Jaekle misfired from 42 yards.

Northwestern drove to Nevada's 15 on its first possession of the second half, but came up empty when Hines blocked Howells' kick. Safety Nick Hawthrone recovered the ball in mid-air and returned it 10 yards to the 28.

After Nevada went three and out on its next possession, Northwestern drove 94 yards for a score, cutting the lead to 24-21 with 13:49 left in the game.

Kafka was 4-for-4 passing for 59 yards on the drive, and he also ran four times for 34 yards, including the 13-yard touchdown.

Nevada ventured into Northwestern territory two more times, but drives bogged down at the 30 and 41, respectively.

"Offensively speaking I thought we were very sluggish in the second half," Ault said. "I was really disappointed with the way we responded in the second half."