Pack grades: Nevada makes a QB switch, but losing streak grows to six

Grading the Nevada Wolf Pack’s 23-7 loss to the San Diego State Aztecs on Saturday at Mackay Stadium:

QUARTERBACK: C 

We might have seen the last of Nate Cox as a Wolf Pack starting quarterback on Saturday night. Cox, who has now started the last four games, was given a quick hook against San Diego State just one play into the second quarter after four painful-to-watch drives produced zero points, 24 yards, three punts, a lost fumble, just 16 plays and two first downs. The San Diego State defense scored more points (seven) while the Pack offense was on the field than the Pack offense. Cox was 2-of-8 for 11 yards and was sacked once. He also ran the ball three times for seven yards, which did make him the second-leading rusher on the team on Saturday. But that’s another problem we’ll address below.

Shane Illingworth, who has been in the Wolf Pack’s Witness Protection Program for the last month, made his first appearance since that spooky lightning-filled night in Iowa after the merciful hook of Cox. And Illingworth immediately breathed new life into the Pack offense. The sophomore from Oklahoma State was 7-of-8 for 63 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown pass to Spencer Curtis to cut the Aztecs’ lead to 13-7 just 42 seconds before halftime. It was arguably the best drive of the season for the Pack as Illingworth shredded the San Diego State defense with his arm. He found Curtis in the back right corner of the end zone after securing an awkward snap and remaining calm as San Diego State jumped offside on the play. The touchdown pass was his first of the year, the first for the Pack in six games, the third overall of the season for the Pack and the first of the year against a FBS team. Illingworth picked up four first downs on the drive.

Wolf Pack fans started to smell an upset after that drive. Illingworth didn’t put up any points in the second half but that wasn’t entirely his fault. He was 14-of-25 in the second half for 118 yards and led one impressive drive in the final six minutes of the game that covered 84 yards on 12 plays. Illingworth finished the game 21-of-33 for 181 yards and a touchdown. Whether or not the Nate Cox thank-you-for-your-service farewell tour is now indeed officially over remains to be seen. But there’s no question that giving Illingworth, who has two years of eligibility remaining after this season, a legitimate chance to see what he can do over the final four games of the season is what’s best for the program as a whole.

RUNNING BACKS: C

Toa Taua ran for just 43 yards on 12 carries with 63 percent (27 of 43) of his yards coming on one run. Taua, who also was called for a false start Saturday, has gained just 66 yards on 24 carries over the last two games against Hawaii and San Diego State, with 39 of those 66 yards coming on just two carries. He has gained three yards or fewer on 21 of his 24 carries the last two weeks combined. The Pack ground game, which was missing Devonte Lee on Saturday, picked up just 35 yards on 21 carries overall. It was the fewest yards rushing the Pack has had in a game since it had eight yards on 15 carries against, you guessed it, San Diego State last year. Picking up next to nothing on the ground against the Aztecs has become a Pack tradition. The Pack has rushed for 381 yards on 193 carries over its last eight games against San Diego State, for an average of just under two yards a carry. The Pack opened Saturday’s game with two runs, the second of which was turned into a fumble (by Cross Patton) and a San Diego State touchdown. Losing the football is never positive, but it must be noted that Patton only lost the ball while giving a second effort.

RECEIVERS: B 

Spencer Curtis, a 5-11 junior transfer from Oregon, turned in the best performance of his college career with five catches for 83 yards and a 20-yard touchdown. The 23-year-old Curtis played his last high school season in 2016, red-shirted in 2017 at Weber State, served a two-year LDS mission in 2018 and 2019, sat out the 2020 pandemic season and caught one pass for Oregon last year. Going into Saturday’s game he had just five catches for 46 yards all season. Curtis, targeted seven times, had catches for 6, 16, 26, 20 and 15 yards. Dalevon Campbell also had five catches but for just 31 yards (23 on one catch). Campbell also had two catches for negative yards and was whistled for two false starts on offense. B.J. Casteel caught four passes for 27 yards, with 24 coming on one reception. Sandy Carlos, a senior transfer from Illinois (where he was a teammate of Campbell’s), had his first two catches at Nevada, for four yards.

OFFENSIVE LINE: C

Not being able to run the ball against San Diego State is not a punishable offense, like it was a week ago at Hawaii. But even when the offensive line blocked reasonably well (like on Patton’s unfortunate fumble on the second play of the game) not much positive happened for the Pack. Cox and Illingworth were sacked three times on their 44 attempts (41 actual passes) and officially hurried twice more. That, too, is not a huge sin against a San Diego State defense that knew the Pack had to throw. The offensive line is certainly not the biggest reason why the Pack offense has produced just 57 points over the last five games combined.

DEFENSIVE LINE: B

Dom Peterson came up with one of the biggest tackles of the game for the Pack, stopping Chance Bell for a 1-yard loss on a first down play from the Pack 3-yard line in the second quarter. The play (and a false start on the Aztecs) helped the Pack force an Aztec field goal and a 13-0 score. But that was it for Peterson. He never showed up on the stat sheet again. Peterson had 12 tackles, four sacks, 5.5 tackles for a loss, a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, a quarterback hurry and blocked a kick over his first four games this year. The last four games he’s had just eight tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss, no sacks and nothing else. Expect him to make his presence known over the final four games. James Hansen, though, helped pick up the slack against San Diego State with five tackles, one for a loss. His other four tackles stopped the Aztecs for three yards or less. Dion Washington had three tackles and Dwight Togiola had three tackles and a sack. The Aztecs did run for 161 yards but 32 came on a busted 32-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jaylen Mayden late in the third quarter. The Pack front was solid against a team that lives on the ground.

LINEBACKERS: B 

Elijah Winston sacked Mayden once and Drue Watts, as usual, was all over the field, making seven tackles, one for a loss. Two of Watts’ other tackles were for no gain. Naki Mateialona picked up a San Diego State fumble and had three tackles. Marcel Walker chipped in with four tackles. San Diego State had 21 runs (out of 38) for three yards or less. Take away seven scrambles for 50 yards by Mayden, who looked like a runaway semi on a highway, the Aztecs would have had 111 yards rushing on 32 carries, an average of 3.5 per attempt. The Pack front and linebackers stood up nicely to the physical Aztecs’ run game.

SECONDARY: B

Mayden only completed 12-of-25 passes for 156 yards without a touchdown or interception. So the Aztecs didn’t exactly torch the Pack secondary. The left-handed Mayden did complete nine passes for 10 yards or longer but just two came after halftime and one of those resulted in a San Diego State lost fumble. Bentlee Sanders, who was named to the Associated Press Mid-season All-American team earlier in the week, had a rollercoaster evening against the Aztecs. He did have nine tackles and forced a fumble. But five of his tackles were on Aztec receptions of nine yards or more. He was also called for a pass interference on a drive that ended in an SDSU touchdown. But the most embarrassing moment for the Pack secondary likely came in the second quarter when Mayden hooked up with former Aztec starting quarterback Braxton Burmeister for a 19-yard gain. It was Burmeister’s first catch this season (he had one last year for Virginia Tech) after starting the first five games this year at quarterback. Other than that, the Pack secondary did its job reasonably well against Mayden, a lumbering giant of a quarterback (he’s listed as 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, but looks at least 20 pounds heavier). Mayden’s scrambling — his 32-yard touchdown run was more the result of bad Wolf Pack tackling than his speed or shiftiness — hurt the Pack more than his throwing.

SPECIAL TEAMS: D

The Wolf Pack special teams was called for three penalties. Dalevon Campbell and Marcel Walker were both caught holding on kickoff returns and Darion Green-Warren was whistled for a hold on a punt return. Punter Harry Webster, a freshman from Australia, had seven punts and averaged just 30.3 yards. It is the lowest average for a single Pack punter in a game (with two or more punts) since Quinton Conaway averaged 28.7 on three punts against Toledo in 2017. Conaway also had a punt blocked in that game, lowering his official average to 21.5 for the day. Webster had a 17-yard punt to the Wolf Pack 45, a 30-yarder out of bounds to the San Diego State 40, a 38-yarder to the San Diego State 49 and a 14-yarder to the San Diego State 27 out of bounds. The special teams did not help win the Pack win this game.

COACHING: C 

Give Ken Wilson and his staff credit for finally making the decision to pull Cox (and never putting him back in) in the second quarter. The Pack also let Shane Illingworth air it out a little, throwing 33 passes in two-plus quarters. That, too, should be applauded. They even let Illingworth throw it down the field, a welcome sight after the dink-and-dunk festival we’ve witnessed this year. Everything Wilson and his staff does the rest of the year will be judged on what it means for next season and beyond. So this was a good start. The Pack also seemed ready to play against the Aztecs (despite the early fumble) and wasn’t intimidated at all, like they were earlier in the year against Iowa and Air Force (the other two physical teams the Pack has played this year).

OVERALL: C

This wasn’t nearly as bad as it might appear at first glance. Yes, the Pack lost by double digits for the fifth time this year, its most setbacks by 10 or more points in a season since it had six in 2017. But take away the unlucky Pack fumble and San Diego State scoop-and-score on the second play of the game and this might have looked much different in the end. A 17-yard Pack punt also led to a San Diego State field goal and a 10-0 deficit just six minutes into the game. Take away those 10 quick points and that final Pack drive — which ended on an incomplete pass from the Aztec 10-yard line on fourth down with just under two minutes to play — and it might have resulted in a Pack victory. The Wolf Pack defense only allowed two drives of more than 32 yards. You can only truly pin 10 of the Aztecs’ 23 points on the Pack defense since the San Diego State defense scored seven points and its offense had two field goals on drives that began in Pack territory (after an interception and a short punt). The one Aztec touchdown the Pack defense allowed (the 32-yard Mayden run) was on a fluke, busted play. Yes, the Pack offense is still stuck in neutral, but Illingworth’s performance gives hope for the final four games.