Grades: For first time, Pack has hope

Grading the Nevada Wolf Pack football team’s 27-9 loss to the Fresno State Bulldogs on Saturday at Fresno, Calif.

QUARTERBACK: D

Brendon Lewis started for the fifth game in a row and completed just 10-of-21 passes for 70 yards and two interceptions. Lewis still does not have a touchdown pass this season. Lewis was also sacked six times and finished with just 25 rushing yards on 16 carries.

The Pack’s only touchdown came in garbage time late in the fourth quarter on a 19-yard touchdown pass by A.J. Bianco (his second of the year) to Spencer Curtis with 11 seconds to play. Bianco, who played two drives in the second quarter and one in the fourth, was 9-of-14 for 97 yards and was sacked once. But most of those numbers (5-of-8 for 64 yards and a score) came on the final drive with Fresno State (and the FS1 television audience) barely paying attention. The Pack offense with Lewis and Bianco produced just seven points, 17 first downs and 220 yards.

Much of the Pack production on offense was on the first (with Lewis) and last drive (Bianco) of the game. Lewis led them on an impressive 18-play, 41-yard drive to open the game. It ended with a punt but at least the Pack offense chewed up the first 9:14 of the game. Bianco closed out the game for the Pack offense, directing an eight-play, 90-yard drive over 2:31, resulting in the only Nevada touchdown. In between, though, the Pack punted eight times and was intercepted twice over 10 drives. Those 10 drive produced just six first downs with the defense (two points) producing more points than the offense (zero) during that time.

RUNNING BACK: D

The Wolf Pack only handed off the ball 12 times to a running back, picking up a mere 18 yards. Sean Dollars had 14 yards on 11 carries while Jacques Badolato-Birdsell had four yards on his only carry. Dollars was basically smothered by the Fresno State defense nearly each time he got the ball. He had two or fewer yards on nine of his 11 carries. The bulk of his yards (seven) were a gift, coming on a 3rd-and-27 run from the Pack 20-yard line. Dollars’ first six carries netted seven yards. Dollars, who leads the Pack backs with 59 carries, is averaging just 3 yards (actually 2.96) a carry this season.

RECEIVERS: B

Spencer Curtis stood out, catching eight passes (he was targeted 12 times) for 73 yards and a 19-yard touchdown. The 5-foot-11 Curtis, who played high school football in Utah before going on to Weber State, Oregon and Nevada, set his career high for catches against Fresno State. The touchdown was also the first of his career.

John Jackson had three catches for just 17 yards. Jamaal Bell had two for 24. Isaah Crocker’s only catch went for 20 yards over the middle. Dalevon Campbell had just one catch for five yards and failed to bring down a deep ball down the right side in the third quarter on a catchable pass from Lewis. Tight end Keleki Latu did not catch a pass and was targeted just once after grabbing six passes for 52 yards the previous week against Texas State.

OFFENSIVE LINE: D

The Pack offense, it seemed, blocked nobody on Saturday night. The Fresno State defense dominated the Pack front, stuffing the Pack ground game and forcing Lewis to run for his life most of the night. Fresno State, which had just seven sacks over its first four games, had seven against the Pack.

Dollars, as we’ve seen in every game this season, had little room to run on the majority of his carries. Fresno State was credited with just one quarterback hurry but Lewis and Bianco seemed to be hurried each time they looked for a receiver.

We got a glimpse of what was to come all night long from the offensive line on the Pack first drive of the game. Everything was going along smoothly as the Pack’s first 15 plays netted 59 yards and five first downs, setting up a first-and-10 from the Fresno 28. But then Joey Capra was called for a hold on first down, Lewis was smothered for a 1-yard loss on a run, a Lewis pass was broken up and Lewis was sacked for a seven-yard loss. The Pack punted and then didn’t sniff the end zone until the final drive of the game.

DEFENSIVE LINE: B

Forget the numbers. The Wolf Pack defensive line turned in its best effort of the year by far, collapsing and pushing the Fresno State offensive line back repeatedly. James Hansen had two tackles and two quarterback hurries. Thomas Witte had three tackles. Dion Washington had two tackles and was pivotal in trapping Fresno running back Elijah Gilliam for a safety in the fourth quarter.

The defensive front was physical, never stopped coming and showed it can contribute to a solid defense. This group hasn’t made a ton of plays this season so far that show up on the stat sheet but on Saturday it gave the linebackers and defensive backs a chance to make plays.

LINEBACKER: B

Drue Watts didn’t recover a fumble for the first time this year but the sophomore was a force just the same with six tackles, one for a one-yard loss on running back Malik Sherrod in the first quarter. Four of Watts’ tackles were after Fresno gains of one yard or less.

Tongiaki Mateialona was his usual solid self with six tackles, one on an important tackle of Jaelen Gill after a catch for six yards on a 3rd-and-10 play early in the second quarter. Davion Blackwell had three tackles and was credited with the safety on Elijah Gilliam. Marcel Walker-Burgess, a junior transfer from Southern Connecticut State before last season, is blossoming week after week. He had three tackles and a sack. He teamed up with Mateialona to stop Elijah Gilliam for two yards on a 3rd-and-10 play late in the fourth quarter.

SECONDARY: C

Finally, some signs of life and improvement. Emany Johnson was the Pack’s player of the game with a team-high eight tackles and two interceptions. Jaden Dedman had four tackles and a sack. Ezekiel Robbins and Chad Brown each had three tackles. Fresno State quarterback Mikey Keene did complete 26-of-34 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns so there is still plenty of room for added improvement in the secondary. But 65 of those yards (and one of the touchdowns) came on a broken play to Jaelen Gill. Yes, Gill simply outraced the Pack secondary to the end zone (a horrifying sight that has happened far too often this year) but no other Fresno receiver had as many as 40 yards for the game. More than half of Keene’s completions (14) were for less than 10 yards.

The secondary, for the most part, kept the receivers on front of them and made tackles and Keene was on the run a lot and simply looking for a quick completion. This wasn’t simply a case of receivers streaking through and past the Pack secondary all night long like we saw in the first four games. Better times are ahead for the Pack defensive backs. The five quarterbacks the Pack has already faced this year (USC’s Caleb Williams, Idaho’s Gevani McCoy, Kansas’ Jalon Daniels, Texas State’s T.J. Finley and Keene) might be the five best the Pack will see all season.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C

Brandon Talton never did get to attempt a field goal for the first time this season (he had made four in a row over the last three games after missing two 50-plus yarders in the season opener at USC.)

Matt Freem punted nine times, averaging 39.3 yards. Freem had an up-and-down performance with three punts of under 40 yards that failed to land inside the 30-yard line. But he did have a 43-yarder to the Fresno State 3-yard line in the second quarter and later a 49-yarder to the 17.

Jamaal Bell returned four kickoffs an average of just 16.3 yards.

One of the Pack’s biggest mistakes of the night, though, came late in the first half on a holding penalty that wiped out what would have been a 90-yard touchdown kickoff return by Bell. The Pack was also called for a personal foul on the game’s opening kickoff.

COACHING: B

Head coach Ken Wilson and his staff are clearly getting the Pack ready to play from the opening kickoff. That is a sign this team has not quit on itself or its coaching staff despite what is now a dreadful 15-game losing streak. The Pack held the ball for 18 plays on the game’s first drive, accomplishing its main goal for the night by keeping the Fresno offense off the field. But the offensive line then crumbled, starting late on that first drive and never recovered.

The Pack also allowed its fewest points (27) and yards (410) of the year against a Bulldogs’ offense that was averaging 38.8 points a game. This Pack defense plays as hard as any in the Mountain West and has a nasty side to it that shows up now and then. It will get better and better the more it plays together. So, yes, there was tangible proof on Saturday that this team is making real progress.

Fresno State only had three touchdowns, one that was just blind luck (Sherrod’s 72-yard scoring run). The offense scored just one parting gift touchdown at the end of the game but Lewis and Bianco did move the ball at times and they both made some impressive throws.

OVERALL: B

Yes, we understand the Pack lost by 18. We know the offense fell asleep in between its first and last drives of the game. And a new problem (10 penalties for 98 yards) also showed up on Saturday for the first time while an old one (seven sacks allowed) returned.

But for the first time this season the Wolf Pack has legitimate hope for the rest of the season. This Wolf Pack team is now standing toe to toe with teams and giving it all it has. It happened against Kansas, Texas State and now Fresno State. Yes, we also understand this team always falls short. The Pack simply has not had nearly as many playmakers on its roster compared to the opposition over its first five games. But that will change as the schedule now becomes a bit more Pack friendly. This game at Fresno could have easily been scoreless at the half.

Fresno State, of course, clearly dominated the game on the scoreboard and on the stat sheet but it didn’t look that way on the field. Keene was running away from pressure all night. Take away Sherrod’s gift from the football Gods and the Fresno running backs averaged just a little more than four yards a carry. The difference between the Pack and Fresno State was, more than anything else, the quarterback, Keene, the former Central Florida quarterback has the experience, arm, mobility and wherewithal (all the things the Pack quarterbacks do not have) to make plays under duress. The Pack quarterbacks fall down into the fetal position under pressure. Keene makes plays. Lewis plays with an admirable toughness and courage and can make throws when given the time. And Bianco shows promise. But the Pack quarterbacks aren’t difference makers yet. One day that will change but that day wasn’t the first five Saturdays of this season. But if the Pack shows the toughness and effort it showed on Saturday the wins will come over the final seven weeks of the year.