Incarnate Word’s sideline celebrates a touchdown against Southern Illinois last week
University of the Incarnate Word Athletics
A look ahead to Saturday afternoon’s (2:30 p.m.) non-conference football game between the Nevada Wolf Pack (2-0, 0-0) and Incarnate Word Cardinals (1-0, 0-0) at Mackay Stadium:
HOW TO WATCH, LISTEN: Channel 21, 94.5 FM.
THE SPREAD: Nevada by 2.
AT STAKE FOR NEVADA: Pride. No Division I-A, Football Bowl Subdivision school like Nevada wants to lose to a Division I-AA, Football Championship Subdivision team like Incarnate Word anywhere, much less at home. The last time it happened to Nevada was an embarrassing 30-28 loss to Idaho State in 2017 at home. The only other Pack losses to I-AA teams since it jumped to I-A in 1992 were all to Big Sky Conference teams, at home to Weber State in 1992 and 1993 and on the road at Boise State in 1994.
AT STAKE FOR INCARNATE WORD: Pride. Every FCS team wants to beat a FBS team. Incarnate World, which has played football only since 2009, is 1-7 against FBS schools. Its only victory against a FBS team was 42-34 over Texas State last year. The Cardinals, members of the Southland Conference, are 0-2 against Mountain West teams, losing 62-30 to New Mexico in 2018 and 66-0 at Fresno State in 2017.
NEVADA LAST WEEK: The Wolf Pack beat Texas State 38-14 at home. Bentlee Sanders picked off two Texas State passes, returning one 28 yards for a touchdown. The Wolf Pack forced four turnovers and blew the game open with a 24-0 run in the third quarter.
INCARNATE WORD LAST WEEK: The Cardinals, which finished 10-3 last year and qualified for the Division I-AA playoffs, beat Southern Illinois at home in San Antonio, Texas, 64-29. Quarterback Lindsey Scott passed for 391 yards and six touchdowns and ran for one score. Incarnate Word, though, only had the ball for 20 minutes but had 19 first downs and gained 550 yards, mainly on big pass plays. Southern Illinois, though, had 31 first downs and controlled the ball for nearly 40 minutes.
THE HEAD COACHES: Ken Wilson is 2-0 in his first season as Nevada head coach. The 58-year-old can become the first in school history to win his first three games as the head coach with a win over Incarnate Word. Incarnate Word’s G.J. Kinne is 1-0 in his rookie season as head coach. The 33-year-old Kinne played quarterback at Tulsa and then bounced around NFL training camps before starting his coaching career in 2017 at SMU. He’s also coached at Arkansas (2018), the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles (2019), Hawaii (2020) and Central Florida (2021) as a quarterback coach and offensive coordinator.
THE RIVALRY: This is the first game between Nevada and Incarnate Word. The game was scheduled two years ago when Jay Norvell coached Nevada and Eric Morris coached Incarnate Word. Norvell is now the head coach at Colorado State and Morris is the offensive coordinator at Washington State. The two will face each other on Sept. 17 in Pullman, Wash.
CARDINALS MIGHT BE CROWD SHY: Incarnate Word has a record of 1-15 in its school history when it plays in front of crowds of 10,000 or more. It’s only victory in front of a five-digit crowd was 42-34 at Texas State last season. Incarnate Word beat Southern Illinois last weekend at home in front of a crowd of 2,656. The biggest crowd the Cardinals have ever played in front of was 39,447 at Fresno State of the Mountain West in a 66-0 loss. Nevada’s crowd in its home opener last week was 13,260, its smallest crowd at home since 10,027 saw a 56-3 win over Idaho on Dec. 3, 2011. Mackay Stadium, with a capacity of 27,000, will be the largest stadium Incarnate Word plays in this season.
WELL-TRAVELED QUARTERBACK: Incarnate Word quarterback Lindsey Scott is playing for his fifth college team since his true freshman year of 2016. He redshirted the 2016 season at LSU, played at East Mississippi Community College in 2017 and was at Missouri in 2018 but did not play in a game. He then sat out the 2019 season at Nicholls State before playing the last two seasons for the Colonels. Last year he led the Southland Conference with 990 rushing yards and also passed for 2,073 yards and 16 touchdowns.
WHAT THE WOLF PACK NEEDS TO DO TO WIN: The formula so far has been to win the turnover battle decisively. The Pack leads the nation with a plus-9 turnover margin. Incarnate Word has an explosive offense but that has been against FCS schools. The Wolf Pack secondary, with six interceptions in two games, is not likely to give Incarnate Word quarterback Lindsey Scott as many open targets as he had last week against Southern Illinois. Scott will then likely take off with the ball so the Pack needs to contain his scrambles. But if the Pack does get into a shootout with the Cardinals it will have to finally take the lid off its passing game and let quarterbacks Shane Illingworth and Nate Cox throw the ball down the field.
WHAT INCARNATE WORD NEEDS TO DO TO WIN: It’s all about Lindsey Scott and his ability to make plays with his arm and legs. If the Cardinals contain the Pack pass rush (namely Dom Peterson), Scott could have a very productive afternoon. The key to everything the Cardinals do, though, might come down to how well it controls the Pack running game. The Cardinals can’t allow the Wolf Pack offense to control the clock, keeping Scott on the sidelines most of the game.
PREDICTION: Wolf Pack 30, Incarnate Word 21. Incarnate Word is very athletic but, like most FCS teams, not all that physical. The Wolf Pack will likely just flex its FBS muscles and push the Cardinals all around Mackay Stadium. Pack backs Toa Taua and Devonte Lee and the offensive line will make up for their sluggish performance a week ago and punish Incarnate Word’s FCS defense.
