Ex-Pack assistants lead teams into Nevada-Hawaii game

A look ahead to Saturday’s (1 p.m.) Mountain West football game between the Nevada Wolf Pack (2-6, 2-2) and Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (2-7, 0-4) at Mackay Stadium:

HOW TO WATCH, LISTEN: TV: Nevada Sports Net. Radio: 105.7 FM.

THE POINT SPREAD: Nevada is favored by 3.5 points.

AT STAKE FOR NEVADA: The Wolf Pack needs to win its final four games this season to qualify for a bowl invitation. Nevada is also just one game out of second place (with four to play) and a spot in the Mountain West championship game.

AT STAKE FOR HAWAII: The Rainbow Warriors also need to win their final four games to qualify for a bowl invite. Hawaii plays 13 games this year.

HAWAII LAST WEEK: The Rainbow Warriors lost at home to San Jose State, 35-0, in the annual Dick Tomey Legacy Trophy game (Tomey was a former head coach of both schools).

Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schager was 17-of-29 with an interception for 132 yards and was sacked four times.

Hawaii has lost four games in a row and five of its last six.

NEVADA LAST WEEK: The Wolf Pack beat New Mexico, 34-24, at Mackay Stadium for its second consecutive victory. The victory also broke an eight-game losing streak at home.

Brandon Talton kicked four field goals and Richard Toney returned an interception 43 yards for a touchdown.

HAWAII-NEVADA LAST YEAR: Hawaii beat Nevada, 31-16, at Honolulu last season. Matthew Killam, filling in for an injured Brandon Talton, kicked three field goals for the Wolf Pack. Nevada quarterback Nate Cox was 22-of-37 for 188 yards and also led the team in rushing with 52 yards on six carries. Dedrick Parson ran for 136 yards and three touchdowns for Hawaii.

THE SERIES: Nevada leads the rivalry, 15-12, though Hawaii has won three of the last four games. The first five games of the rivalry were all played in Hawaii in 1920, 1946, 1948, 1968 and 2000, with Nevada winning three.

The two schools did not play each other from 1968 until 2000 and have played every year since. Nevada is 9-2 in Reno against Hawaii.

PACK RUNS HAWAII RAGGED: A Wolf Pack player has rushed for 100 or more yards in a game 17 times in the 23 games since the two schools have played every year starting in 2000.

The 10 Pack running backs and two quarterbacks who combined for 17 100-yard rushing days since 2000 are: Chance Kretschmer (2001, 2004), Matt Milton (2002), B.J. Mitchell (2005), Luke Lippincott (2007), Vai Taua (2008, 2009), Colin Kaepernick (2008, 2009), Lampford Mark (2011), Stefphon Jefferson (2012), Cody Fajardo (2014), James Butler (2015, 2016), Kelton Moore (2017), and Toa Taua (2018, 2020).

HAWAII PERFORMS MACKAY MASSACRE: The Rainbow Warriors handed the Pack its most one-sided loss at the new Mackay Stadium (since 1966) in 2019. Hawaii won 54-3 as three quarterbacks (Cole McDonald, Chevan Cordeiro and Justin Uahinui) combined to complete 31-of-36 passes for 373 yards and five touchdowns.

Hawaii’s defense had 11 tackles for a loss and sacked Pack quarterbacks Carson Strong and Cristian Solano three times.

Hawaii, though, lost 34-17 in 2021, in its last trip to Mackay before this Saturday.

THE HEAD COACHES: Nevada’s Ken Wilson, 59 years old, is 4-16 overall and 2-10 in the Mountain West, in his second year as head coach. Hawaii’s Timmy Chang, 42, is 5-17, 2-10 and also in his second season.

Both Wilson (1989-98, 2004-12 under head coaches Chris Ault and Jeff Tisdel) and Chang (2017-21 under Jay Norvell) are former Wolf Pack assistant coaches.

Chang coached tight ends and wide receivers for Norvell at Nevada and went with Norvell to Colorado State in December 2021 to coach wide receivers for the Rams before getting hired at Hawaii a month later.

The two have faced off once, with Chang beating Wilson 31-16 last season at Hawaii.

NORVELL-CHANG-WILSON MERRY-GO-ROUND: Norvell’s jumping to Colorado State after the 2021 season set off a domino effect on Mountain West coaches that also involved Chang and Wilson.

Norvell become Colorado State’s head coach on Dec. 6, 2021. Wilson was announced as the Wolf Pack coach just four days later on Dec. 10, 2021, and Chang was introduced as Hawaii’s head coach on Jan. 22, 2022.

All three coaches, however, have struggled tremendously at their new schools.

Wilson is just 4-20 at Nevada, Chang is just 5-17 at Hawaii and Norvell is 6-14 at Colorado State. The three have combined for a record of 15-51 for a winning percentage of just .227.

Two of Norvell’s six wins have come against Chang and Wilson (both last year) while one of Chang’s five wins came against Wilson (also last year). Wilson lost to both Norvell and Chang last year.

WILSON, CHANG AMONG LEAST SUCCESSFUL: Wilson’s 4-16 record is currently the third-worst (.200 winning percentage) in Mountain West history among the coaches who have coached 20 or more games. Chang, at 5-17 (.227), is fifth-worst.

The only coaches with a worse winning percentage than Wilson in Mountain West history (20 or more games) are New Mexico’s Mike Locksley (2-26, .071 from 2009-11) and Wyoming’s Vic Koenning (5-29, .147 from 2000-02).

Chang is only slightly more successful than another Hawaii coach (Norm Chow, who was 10-36, .217, from 2012-15).

Just 10 coaches in Mountain West history (of those who have coached at least 20 games) have had a winning percentage under .300. It is likely not surprising that seven of the 10 have coached for either UNLV (Mike Sanford, Bobby Hauck, Marcus Arroyo), New Mexico (Locksley, Danny Gonzales) or Hawaii (Chang, Chow).

A victory on Saturday will move Wilson slightly ahead of Chang. Wilson would be 5-16, .238 while Chang would fall to 5-18, .217 and fall into a tie with fellow Rainbow Warrior Chow for the second-worst record in league history.

HAWAII OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Brayden Schager has completed 234-of-371 passes for 2,565 yards (fifth in the nation), 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Jordan Johnson (198 yards, 34 carries), Landon Sims (137 yards, 31 carries), Tylan Hines (93 yards, 27 carries) lead the pass-heavy Rainbow Warriors in rushing.

Steven McBride (43 catches, 733 yards, eight touchdowns) has been Schager’s favorite target. Schager also finds Pofele Ashlock (51-572-5), Alex Perry (21-241-3), Koall Nishigaya (28-216-1), Nick Cenacle (17-198-1) and Jonah Panoke (16-169-1) quite often.

NEVADA OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Brendon Lewis has completed 109-of-197 passes (.553) for 1,097 yards, two touchdowns and six interceptions. He sprained his ankle last week against New Mexico and missed all but one series of the second half. Backup A.J. Bianco is 24-of-37 (.649) for 352 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

Lewis also leads the Pack in rushing with 415 yards and three touchdowns on 95 carries.

Sean Dollars, who missed the New Mexico game (concussion) and could return on Saturday, has 290 rushing yards on 89 carries. Ashton Hayes, who is likely out for the season with a knee injury, has 102 yards on 30 carries.

Jamaal Bell, who plays wide receiver and running back (and returns kickoffs), has 110 rushing yards on 20 carries (he had 76 yards on 11 carries against New Mexico). Bell also leads the team with 29 catches.

LEWIS COULD MAKE HISTORY: Lewis, who transferred from Colorado after last season, is on pace to become the first Pack player to lead the team in passing and rushing yards since Cody Fajardo (1,046 rushing, 2,498 passing) in 2014.

Fajardo is the only player to do it since at least the current Mackay Stadium opened in 1966. Not even Colin Kaepernick did it from 2007-10 when running backs Luke Lippincott (2007) and Vai Taua (2008-10) led the team in rushing.

BIG-CATCH CAMPBELL: Wide receiver Dalevon Campbell has just 15 catches this year but the 6-4 transfer from Illinois (after the 2021 season) has become a true playmaker for the Pack.

Campbell leads the Pack with 328 receiving yards, averaging a team-best (for those with at least four catches) 21.9 yards a catch. Over the past three games (UNLV, San Diego State, New Mexico) Campbell has caught six passes for 216 yards, an average of 36 yards a catch. He had a 48-yard catch against UNLV, a 44-yarder against San Diego State and a 51-yarder against New Mexico.

He also had a 51-yarder earlier this year against Kansas.

Even when Campbell doesn’t get credited with an official reception, though, good things have happened for the Pack more often than not. He has forced three pass interference penalties this year (two on New Mexico and one on UNLV).

Campbell has been a big-time playmaker since coming to Nevada last year when he had 39 catches for 467 yards.

A year ago, he had a 36-yard catch against Incarnate Word, a 23-yarder against San Diego State, a 20-yarder against San Jose State, a 29-yarder against Boise State and a 73-yard catch and a 41-yard catch against Fresno State.

MW DOORMATS USUALLY RECOVER: The Wolf Pack last year became just the 11th team in Mountain West history to go an entire season without a league victory.

Hawaii, 0-4 this year, will try to avoid becoming the 12th team to do it.

The Pack, though, has a chance this year to accomplish one of the greatest one-season turnarounds in league history. Nevada, 0-8 last year in league play, is 2-6 and has a chance at a 6-2 league record this year.

The best turnaround in Mountain West history was the 2017 Fresno State Bulldogs, who went 7-1 after going winless in 2016 (0-8).

Just one winless (in league play) Mountain West team also went winless the following year. Wyoming was 0-7 in both 2000 and 2001 and went 1-6 in 2002.

Three winless Mountain West teams, though, have won more than two league games the following year. Hawaii went 0-8 in 2015 and 4-4 in 2016, Air Force went 0-8 in 2013 and 5-3 in 2014, while Hawaii went 0-8 in 2013 and 3-5 the following year.

Nevada, two wins and counting, has already joined the Colorado State Rams (0-8 in 2009, 2-6 in 2010), UNLV (0-6 in the pandemic-shorted 2020 season, 2-6 in 2021) and New Mexico (0-8 in 2019 and 2-5 in 2020) as winless teams who won two games the following year.