Grading the Nevada Wolf Pack football team after a 56-42 victory over the Utah State Aggies on Saturday night. . . .
QUARTERBACK: A
Good Kap is back. Colin Kaepernick had a very efficient evening, rushing for 102 yards and a touchdown and completing 10-of-15 passes for 190 yards and two more scores. And he did all that despite getting benched for 11 plays in the first quarter. The way he came back and played well after getting benched (coach Chris Ault was seen on national television on the sideline yelling at his star quarterback) showed just how much of a great leader Kaepernick truly is. He could have sulked, let the benching bother him and played poorly. But he was solid the rest of the night. He didn't do much in the second half (he didn't run the ball once and completed just 2-of-3 passes) but he managed the game brilliantly. Kaepernick's performance was in direct contrast to his last outing in Hawaii two weeks ago when he was Bad Kap, throwing two interceptions and fumbling the ball away twice. The Kap we saw Saturday is the Kap that is the best quarterback in school history: Efficient, explosive and cool under pressure.
RUNNING BACK: A
No Vai Taua? No problem. Taua, still nursing an ankle injury he suffered in Hawaii two weeks ago, stood the entire game on the sideline (in uniform) and watched his caddies lead the Pack to victory. Courtney Randall, Nick Hale, Lampford Mark and Mike Ball combined for 208 yards and four touchdowns on 37 carries. Hale even caught a 20-yard touchdown pass and Ball pulled in an 8-yard TD pass. The backups were remarkably efficient, getting at least back to the line of scrimmage on 36 of their 37 carries.
RECEIVER: C
Malcolm Shepherd had a breakout game, catching five passes for 54 yards. He was even involved in two pass interference penalties on Utah State. The rest of the Pack receiving group, though, was almost invisible. Brandon Wimberly had just one catch. Tray Session had just one catch. Rishard Matthews had just two catches and fumbled the ball on a run. Tight end Virgil Green recovered Matthews fumble but he didn't have a catch, just the second time in the last two seasons that he was shut out. And the streak without a touchdown catch for this group is now five consecutive games and counting.
OFFENSIVE LINE: A
It doesn't matter who carries the ball. They are going to get big yards running behind this offensive line. Vai Taua didn't play a down and the Pack still piled up 387 yards rushing and six scores. The Pack offensive line rebounded very nicely from an inconsistent effort against Hawaii, leading the way for the Pack to pickup 596 yards of total offense. They even paved the way for backup quarterback Tyler Lantrip to get 33 yards on seven carries, including one touchdown run of 13 yards on a busted play when Lantrip and Ball turned opposite directions on an apparent running play in the first quarter.
DEFENSIVE LINE: C
This group had been playing very, very well. They disappeared on Saturday night. Brett Roy, one of the most underrated players on this Pack team,. Had a decent night with four tackles, a sack and two tackles for a loss. And Dontay Moch had two more tackles for a loss. Moch, though, had just one other tackle the entire evening. The defensive front just didn't put enough pressure on Utah State quarterback Diondre Borel in the second half when it was obvious the Aggies were throwing on practically every play.
LINEBACKERS: C
Kevin Grimes had the best game of his career with 11 tackles and a sack. But the rest of the Pack linebackers just didn't make enough big plays or small plays, for that matter. James-Michael Johnson had just five tackles and Brandon Marshall had just two. These two veteran players should be averaging 8-10 tackles a night each. But it wasn't just the fault of the linebackers. Nobody on this entire defense made a big play in the second half. The Pack built a 35-0 halftime lead. The game should have been over. The defense should have simply pinned its ears back, licked its lips and salivated the entire second half. They should have played with an all-out energy that should have destroyed a mediocre Utah State team that has struggled on offense.
SECONDARY: C
It wasn't just that Borel threw for 399 yards and two touchdowns. That's bad enough. But a bigger problem was that the secondary seemed to vanish on a lot of plays, bringing back painful memories of how this group played the last two years. We know they are better than they showed on Saturday. We've seen it this year. Utah State threw 39 passes. None were intercepted and just two were broken up. Cornerback Isaiah Frey did have a nice game with five tackles (one for a loss) and he also knocked down two passes. Frey has had a very solid season with a team-high nine passes broken up. Doyle Miller had eight tackles but that was more due to the fact that the Aggies seemed to be throwing his way constantly. When a cornerback is your second-leading tackler in a game, well, it's not really a good thing. In defense of this secondary, it's very difficult to play pass defense in college football these days with all of the spread offenses. And you certainly can't do it when your defensive front and linebackers are also having an off night.
SPECIAL TEAMS: D
Whenever you give up a kickoff return for a touchdown, well, it's a bad night for the special teams. Ricky Drake missed a 46-yard field goal attempt as the first half ended. The Pack also had two penalties on kickoff returns in the second half.
COACHING: C
The defensive coaches simply could not stop the bleeding in the second half. And there were some strange personnel decisions by head coach Chris Ault in this game, pulling Kaepernick for 11 plays in the first half when he really wasn't playing badly and not using Taua at all despite saying he was healthy enough to play. If he was healthy enough to play why throw away an entire game for one of the best players in school history during his senior year? This team hasn't really played well as a unit since the third game of the season against Cal. They are simply beating bad teams with mediocre performances. And the disturbing thing is that three of those mediocre performances (Eastern Washington, San Jose State and Utah State) now have come at home. Coaching has to take some of the blame for that. The Pack came out and played Cal with a sense of urgency and energy that they haven't had since on both sides of the ball with any real consistency. It's as if they are saving all of that urgency and energy for the Boise game on Nov. 26.