Grading Nevada: Wolf Pack bottoms out in Hawaii

Grading the Nevada Wolf Pack’s 31-16 loss to the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on Saturday in Honolulu:

QUARTERBACK: C 

The end result on the scoreboard might not look like it, but Nate Cox is growing as a Division I quarterback. Granted, it’s been a slow, tedious and frustrating process as the losses keep piling up. And Cox’s growth, at times, is difficult to spot. The Cox-led Wolf Pack offense, after all, still can’t put up points (just 50 over the last three games combined) or win games. The numbers he is putting up (42-of-79 through the air for 432 yards over the last two games) are simply, for the most part, empty calories. But he’s also not getting much help from his coaches and teammates. Cox was, for the bulk of Saturday night, the best Wolf Pack offensive player on the field. The sixth-year senior completed 22-of-37 passes for 188 yards without a touchdown and an interception; he also rushed for a team-high 52 yards on six scrambles (three first downs).

Cox’s right arm and legs were responsible for 240 of the Pack’s 277 total yards. Half of his 22 completions went for a first down. Cox was productive and efficient in the first half, leading the Pack to a touchdown, two field goals and a field goal attempt on its five drives. He was 15-of-21 in the first half for 116 yards. The second half, to be sure, was a struggle, as Cox was just 7-of-16 for 72 yards after halftime. He also fumbled the ball away on a sack and recovered his own fumble on a run. But he was 7-of-10 through the air over the second and third drives of the second half, leading the Pack to a field goal. Cox did complete passes to 11 different receivers against Hawaii but none of those 11 receivers, of course, got into the end zone. Half of Cox’s 22 completions and 111 of his 188 yards went to a running back, so the coaches are still making him play with training wheels. The bad news is that the ceiling with Cox and the Pack passing game still isn’t very high. But the good news is that the floor also keeps rising slightly each week.

RUNNING BACKS: C - 

Toa Taua and Devonte Lee, for many reasons, each had miserable performances running the ball. Taua had just 23 yards on 12 carries, while Lee had just two yards on eight carries. Lee’s two yards is his fewest in a game in his career when he’s had more than two carries. It was also just the fourth time in Taua’s five-year career that he’s had fewer than 25 yards while getting at least 10 carries. Both Taua and Lee were stopped for no gain from the 2-yard line on one drive in the third quarter. What saved Taua’s and Lee’s evening was their ability to make plays in the passing game. Taua caught six passes for 67 yards and Lee had three catches for 23 yards. Three of Taua’s catches went for 11, 13 and 20 yards. Lee had a 14-yard catch on the Pack’s first drive. But the Pack doesn’t need any more catch-and-drop receivers. They need Taua and Lee to punish teams on the ground and that has yet to happen this year. The two fifth-year backs are averaging just 3.7 yards per carry this year as the focus of the offense. Last year, they averaged 4.5 a carry when they were an afterthought in the Air Raid.

RECEIVERS: C -

B.J. Casteel, apparently, has become Cox’s favorite target among the wideouts. Casteel, though, caught just four of his 10 targets against Hawaii for a mere 22 yards. The week before against Colorado State, the Arizona transfer had nine catches for 87 yards. Jamaal Bell caught two of his four targets for 20 yards and Dalevon Campbell caught two of his five targets for 21 yards. The two catches were the fewest Bell has had in his last eight games, dating back to last season. The Wolf Pack still has not had a wide receiver reach 100 yards in a game this season. No Pack receiver is averaging as much as 37 yards a game. The Pack’s offensive philosophy of taking what the defense gives is all well and good to a point. But there has to come a time when you go out and take what you want. That hasn’t happened at all this season.

OFFENSIVE LINE: D

Not being able to run the ball against Hawaii is inexcusable. The Pack had just 89 yards on the ground on 28 carries. Almost half of Taua and Lee’s 25 yards combined came on one 12-yard run by Taua. The two veteran backs had three or fewer yards on 19 of their combined 20 carries. And their track record suggests it can’t be all their fault. The Pack front allowed just one sack against Hawaii and Cox was officially hurried on just three of his 37 passes. But that is simply a product of a conservative passing game that quickly pulls the covers up over its head when hearing a scary sound in the middle of the night. It’s not all that difficult, after all, for the 6-foot-9 Cox in the shotgun to flip short, quick passes at or near the line of scrimmage to wide open receivers. Sitting in the pocket and throwing downfield into tight windows, well, that’s for an offense that trusts its patchwork offensive line (and quarterback). Offensive lineman Bryce Petersen was called for a hold in the third quarter and Isaiah World, a 6-foot-8, 300-pound freshman, was called for a personal foul in the fourth quarter that wiped out a 12-yard pass from Cox to Dalevon Campbell.

DEFENSIVE LINE: C 

Dion Washington had the Pack’s lone sack of Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schager. Dom Peterson was in on two tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Thomas Witte helped Peterson on one of his tackles for a loss and also hurried Schager once. No other Pack lineman bothered Schager the rest of the night on one of his 25 passes. Hawaii ran for 223 yards on 46 carries, so hardly anyone on the Pack defensive line or linebacker group was making a ton of plays or changing the game. Opponents are running right at the Pack this year and the Wolf Pack is allowing 4.6 yards a carry.

LINEBACKERS: C 

Naki Mateialona, an undersized 6-foot, 220-pounder, had an active night with six tackles. And all six were impact plays on gains of four or fewer yards. Mateialona also hurried Schager once and had his best game since he had seven tackles and a sack against Iowa. Eli’jah Winston made his presence known with an interception and a stop for no gain on a Hawaii completion. Drue Watts was called for a critical personal foul but he also had a pair of tackles, one for a loss. Marcel Walker dropped Hawaii running back Dedrick Parson for a 3-yard loss and had five tackles. The Wolf Pack linebackers, though, simply don’t make enough game-changing plays.

SECONDARY: B

Hawaii threw for just 13 completions in 25 attempts for 173 yards and six first downs. And hardly any of that was after the first quarter. The biggest mistake by the Pack secondary was a 48-yard touchdown catch by Hawaii’s Zion Bowens late in the first quarter. Other than that, though, Hawaii seemed afraid and unable to throw the ball. The Pack, to be sure, wasn’t facing the old June Jones or Timmy Chang spread offense. More than half of Hawaii’s 13 completions (seven) and its 173 passing yards (106) came in the first quarter. Schager was 7-of-9 in the first quarter and 6-of-16 over the final three quarters. Tyson Williams had seven tackles and forced a fumble. Bentlee Sanders and Tyriq Mack each had three tackles. Jaden Dedman had a tackle behind the line of scrimmage. Yes, the Pack hasn’t played a lot of talented quarterbacks this year. The one talented quarterback the Pack has played (Incarnate Word’s Lindsey Scott) did pass for 435 yards and four touchdowns. But the Pack secondary is, without question, the only unit on the team playing to its potential this year.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B

Unlike a week ago, nobody can pin this loss on the Pack special teams. Harry Webster had two underwhelming punts — 39 yards to the Hawaii 41 and 28 yards to the Hawaii 40 — that Hawaii was more than happy to fair catch. Matthew Killam missed a 45-yard field goal as the half expired, just two minutes after making a 48-yarder. But Killam, who is filling in for the injured Brandon Talton on field goals and extra points, did convert from 48, 36 and 20 yards, salvaging something for an offense that continues to fail to close out drives. Killam also made his lone extra point and scored 10 of the Pack’s 16 points. The highlight of the night for the Pack special teams (other than Killam’s 48-yarder) was a 28-yard punt return by Bentlee Sanders that set up Killam’s 45-yard field goal attempt at the end of the half.

COACHING: D

Ken Wilson got outcoached by 41-year-old rookie head coach Timmy Chang in front of a road crowd of under 10,000 people. Chang brought a 1-5 team that had yet to beat a FBS team all season into Saturday’s game and came away a winner. The Pack, as usual, had no surprises or wrinkles for Hawaii on offense or defense. Wilson, though, is staying the course and keeping calm and the Pack keeps losing. The Wolf Pack under Wilson, so far, is a team spinning its wheels in the mud and seemingly content to just get dirty. Wilson continues to talk about building a culture of winning. But how, exactly, is he building that culture this year with a bunch of fifth-year seniors (namely Cox, Taua, Lee, Casteel, Dom Peterson, most of the secondary) that will be gone next year? Hawaii, a team that was decimated in the off-season as much as Nevada, has shown tremendous improvement the last two weeks under Chang. They put up a gallant fight in a narrow loss to San Diego State two weeks ago and then whipped Nevada. There’s still plenty of time for Nevada to do the same this year, so we’ll remind you that teams don’t all improve at the same rate. But we’re still waiting for Wilson and his staff to make a noticeable impact this year.

OVERALL: D - 

Welcome to rock bottom, Wolf Pack fans. Hawaii might be the least-talented team the Pack will see all year. The Pack, coming off a humiliating 17-14 loss to Colorado State last week, should have been mad enough and frustrated enough to go to Honolulu on Saturday and destroy a 1-5 Hawaii team. But, Pack fans, you got a 15-point loss that felt like a 25-point loss. The Wolf Pack should be 5-2 this season, with wins over New Mexico State, Texas State, Incarnate Word, Colorado State and Hawaii, but is instead 2-5 and riding a nightmare of a five-game losing streak. The Pack has not led in a game for as much as even a second since the second quarter against Incarnate Word on Sept. 10. It hasn’t won a game since Sept. 3 against Texas State. Basketball season can’t start soon enough.