RENO - As far as Chris Ault is concerned, a quarter century worth of Nevada Wolf Pack players combined to team up on the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on Friday night.
Ault, now in his 25th season as Nevada's head football coach, earned his 200th career victory as the Pack trounced the Bulldogs, 37-14, in front of just 11,975 fans at Mackay Stadium.
"This is special to me because it was done all at one university," said Ault of his coaching milestone that was seen by a national television (ESPN) audience. "And it represents every single player who has ever put on the silver and blue. That's pretty special."
Special was the theme of the night as the Pack (2-3) earned its first mini-winning streak of the season. The win also opened up Western Athletic Conference play for the Pack and dropped Louisiana Tech to 2-3 and 1-1 in the conference.
"We had to get this win to get on the road to a WAC championship," said quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who played a near-perfect game, completing 15 of 21 passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 89 yards and two more scores. "We also wanted to get Coach Ault his 200th win, which was something in the back of all our minds."
Kaepernick wasn't the only one wearing silver and blue to play a near perfect game against the Bulldogs. As a team, the Pack finally got through an entire game without a turnover, the defense held the Bulldogs to 256 yards of offense to the Pack's 511 yards.
"Our defense grew tonight," Ault said. "They played their best game of the year."
"We're on the road to where we need to be," Kaepernick said. "The last two weeks we've made huge strides. On offense and as a team, we're starting to get in a real good rhythm."
The Wolf Pack, which had to rally from a 31-14 deficit last year to beat Louisiana Tech, 35-31, in Ruston, La., dominated the Bulldogs. La Tech got all of its points basically off two big plays. An 84-yard return of the opening kickoff by Phillip Livas set up a 15-yard scoring run by Daniel Porter for a 7-0 Bulldogs lead just 44 seconds into the game. Porter later broke free for a 64-yard touchdown run to cut the Pack's lead to 23-14 with just under 10 minutes to play in the third quarter.
But that was about it for Bulldog highlights for the evening.
"Last year they were very physical with us," Ault said. "They stopped our running game and forced us to throw. They really shut us down. We knew we had to match them physically and we did that.
"We challenged our fronts, both offensively and defensively. We challenged them all week and they responded."
The Wolf Pack offense, which has gained 1,284 yards in its last two games, controlled the ball for just over 36 minutes. Much of that 12:08 edge in possession was due to 345 yards rushing on 51 carries. Vai Taua returned to the lineup after missing a game with an elbow injury and turned in his 10th career 100-yard game with 107 yards on 17 carries.
"We challenged ourselves as an offensive line to control the line of scrimmage," said center Ken Ackerman. "They took us out of our game plan last year and we don't like it when that happens."
After Porter's early touchdown, the Wolf Pack scored 23 unanswered points to take a 23-7 lead with 10:15 to go in the third quarter. Kaepernick connected with tight end Talaiasi Puloka on a 3-yard TD pass to tie the game at 7-7, capping off a 14-play, 76-yard drive that ate up 6:35 of the first-quarter clock. Kaepernick later scored his first touchdown on a 5-yard run for a 14-7 Pack lead with 29 seconds left in the opening quarter. A 40-yard field goal and a 24-yard TD pass to Brandon Wimberley gave the Pack its 23-7 lead.
The Pack, though, didn't panic when Porter busted loose for a 64-yard score to tighten things at 23-14 just 19 seconds after Wimberley's score. A 67-yard touchdown run by Kaepernick late in the third quarter and a 3-yard TD pass to Virgil Green put the game away in the fourth quarter.
Kaepernick outran Bulldogs free safety Chad Boyd the final 40 yards of his 67-yard score.
"A lot of people say, 'You're not very quick but you are fast,'" Kaepernick said, smiling. "I just saw him (Boyd) out of the corner of my eye and just had to make a play for my team."
Kaepernick has not been intercepted over his last three games after getting picked off twice in each of the first two games of the season. The Pack also did not fumble or have a turnover for the first time this season after committing 13 turnovers over the first four games.
"That makes a huge difference, as you can see," said Ault of the turnover-free game. "It helps with field position, ball control and confidence. We took a huge step in that area."
The Wolf Pack will play at Utah State on Oct. 17 before returning to Mackay Stadium for two home games against Idaho (Oct. 24) and Hawaii (Oct. 31).
"We're still doing some dumb things," Ault said. "But there's a lot of nice things happening for us."