Grades: Bobcats try to hand over a win, but Pack turns it down

Grading the Nevada Wolf Pack football team’s 35-24 loss to the Texas State Bobcats on Saturday at San Marcos, Texas:

QUARTERBACK: B

Brendon Lewis went back home to the state of Texas and turned in his finest performance of the year. Lewis, was starred at Mellisa (Texas) High, was a respectable 21-of-32 through the air for 151 yards and an interception and also led the Pack with 89 yards rushing on a dozen carries. At one point in the second half, he completed nine passes in a row. Yes, those nine completions only picked up 54 yards but that is the safety-first world the take-no-chances Wolf Pack offense lives in right now. Lewis’ 89 yards rushing are the most by a Pack quarterback since Cristian Solano had 100 against UTEP in the fourth game of 2019. More than half of Lewis’ yards on the ground (50), however, came on just three runs. Lewis and the Pack offense were at their best on the first two drives. He was 3-of-5 for 31 yards passing and had a 9-yard run on a 13-play drive that produced a 30-yard Brandon Talton field goal. He was then a perfect 5-of-5 for 47 yards through the air and had another 9-yard run on a 14-play, 78-yard drive that produced a touchdown and a 17-0 lead. At that very moment, with two highly productive offensive drives and a defensive touchdown (K.K. Meier returned an interception 98 yards for a score) that produced a 17-0 lead, we might have witnessed the high point of the Ken Wilson era as head coach. It certainly was the high point of the now 14-game losing streak. Lewis was efficient and productive and then, well, it all came crashing down. After producing 10 points on the first two drives the Pack offense went scoreless over its next seven drives. Lewis’ biggest mistake was an interception from the Texas State 36-yard line with 13 seconds to play in the first half. Already up 17-0, Lewis stepped out of character on the 3rd-and-5 play and threw the ball 15 yards downfield where it was picked off at the 20. But give the Pack and Lewis credit for at least being somewhat aggressive. The Lewis we saw on Saturday gives hope that the losing streak will come to an end sometime this year. Backup A.J. Bianco replaced Lewis for the final few plays of the Pack’s final drive of the game and was 1-of-1 for 43 yards and scored a touchdown on a 2-yard run. He’s now 13-of-20 for 216 yards and a touchdown. Lewis has yet to throw a TD this year.

RUNNING BACK: C

The Wolf Pack just can’t get its running backs going this year. But, at times, it doesn’t even appear as if they are trying to do so. The offense is basically all Brendon Lewis, all the time, flipping short safe passes on basic, safe run-pass option plays or just tucking the ball and running. The focus is clearly not to continually feed the running backs, giving them the chance to grind down the opposition, eat up the clock and keep the opposing offense off the field. The Pack simply loses faith in its running game as soon as a play gets stuffed. Sean Dollars had 16 carries for just 42 yards (2.6 a carry), with 20 coming on one run. That means he had a mere 22 yards on his other 15 carries combined. More than half (10) of Dollars’ carries netted a combined minus-1 yard. Dollars also fumbled the ball away near the goal line where it was fortunately recovered in the end zone by an offensive lineman (Zac Welch) for the first Pack touchdown. Dollars is averaging a pedestrian 3.4 yards a carry this year. Ashton Hayes, also averaging 3.4 a carry, had just five carries for 19 yards, 11 on one run and seven on another. Cross Patton had one carry for eight yards and caught a 2-yard pass. But he fumbled the ball away after his 8-yard run late in the third quarter with the Pack up 17-14, starting the downfall.

RECEIVERS: C

The most explosive Wolf Pack wide receiver on the field on Saturday was a cornerback. Isaiah Essissima, a Pack defensive back since 2021, turned into Deion Sanders and caught a pair of passes for a team-high 67 yards. Tight end Keleki Latu caught six passes for 52 yards. He caught three consecutive Lewis completions at one point in the second half. Dalevon Campbell had four catches for 29 yards, though he did fumble one of his catches away. Another pass Campbell’s way resulted in a Texas State pass interference penalty. John Jackson and Jamaal Bell each had three catches while Spencer Curtis had two. The eight catches by Jackson, Bell and Curtis picked up just 40 yards combined. Essissima, a defensive back, caught the two longest Pack pass plays (43, 24 yards) of the game.

OFFENSIVE LINE: C

Lewis was sacked just once (a yard away from the line of scrimmage) and the running game averaged 4.3 yards a carry. Just seven of the Pack’s 37 carries failed to at least get back to the line of scrimmage. One was on the Lewis sack and another loss was on an end around by Jamaal Bell, a play the Pack insists on running once or twice a game. He has six yards on five carries this year. Dollars had five carries that resulted in a loss of 11 yards and another two that went for no gain. So, the offensive line is still struggling to find consistency. It’s obvious, though, the Pack’s trust in its line only goes so far. That’s why we see so many short, quick passes and Lewis runs. Zac Welch’s alert recovery of a Dollars’ fumble for a touchdown was an offensive lineman’s dream. Welch, a Jay Norvell recruit in 2019, entered the transfer portal after two years as a Pack backup. He found little interest and enrolled at American River College (Sacramento) in 2021 and almost immediately broke his foot in the first game. He returned to the Pack last year and played in eight games and is a starting guard this year. He now has as many touchdowns as all of the Pack receivers combined this season.

DEFENSIVE LINE: D

Sosefo Moeki had a huge tackle on Texas State quarterback T.J. Finley for no gain on an ill-advised 4th-and-1 call from the Pack 19 in the second quarter. Ike Nnakenyi sacked Finley on the last play of the first half and caused a fumble. So, there were a couple big plays by the defensive line. But this is still a group that you simply do not notice. Moeki had three tackles, Washington had two. Texas State ran wild, picking up 276 yards on just 34 carries (8.1 a carry). There was not a single quarterback hurry by the Pack defense. Moeki leads all Pack defensive linemen in tackles this season with five.

LINEBACKER: C

The Pack linebackers continue to improve game by game. Drue Watts picked up a fumble, continuing his incredible streak of one fumble recovery in all four games this year. Kaelo Neves forced the fumble that Watts recovered. Watts also had six tackles. Tongiaki Mateialona, who leads the Pack this year with 18 solo tackles (23 total) had seven tackles and continues to be the workhorse of the Pack defense. Marcel Walker-Burgess had five tackles, two for a loss and also had a sack. The 6-3, 230-pounder came to the Pack after the 2021 season from Southern Connecticut State and probably deserves more playing time (he had 24 tackles last year as a backup). Jackson LaDuke had five tackles and combined with defensive lineman Dion Washington for a tackle for a loss on Texas State’s second-to-last play of the game. The linebackers are still disappearing on numerous big running plays each game, but the potential is there for a solid group.

SECONDARY: D

First, the good news. Safety K.K. Meier went 98 yards for a touchdown on an interception return to give the Pack a 10-0 lead. It was nice to see the redshirt freshman get rewarded, but it was a room service touchdown. The 6-1, 186-pounder was nowhere near the intended receiver as Finley threw the ball right to him. What followed was a 98-yard return that seemed to be in slow motion as Texas State showed little desire to bring him down. That play, though, is the highlight of the season as far as the secondary is concerned. Finley completed 25-of-31 passes for 295 yards and two touchdowns. The 6-foot-7 quarterback completed 12 passes of 10 yards or more, five of 20-plus yards. Opposing quarterbacks this year have ravaged the Pack secondary, completing 87-of-114 passes (76 percent) for 1,362 yards (340 a game) and 10 touchdowns. The Bobcats running game also had eight gains of 10 or more yards, four of 20 or more. The Texas State touchdowns came on passes of 25 and 77 yards and runs of 46, 36 and 13 yards. The Pack defense, so far this year, is competing in a track meet that its secondary keeps losing.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A

Matt Freem averaged 47.7 yards on three punts. One punt carried 52 yards, but it went into the end zone, costing the Pack 20 yards immediately. The best Pack plays on special teams were on two punt coverages. Aedan Seiuli and Adam Weynand downed Texas State’s Joey Hobert after a 3-yard return after a 44-yard punt by Freem. Marcel Walker-Burgess and Nick Barcelos downed Hobert for a 1-yard loss after a 47-yard punt. Brandon Talton kicked a 30-yard field goal to open the scoring. It was the first Pack lead of the season.

COACHING: C

Wilson and his staff, for the second week in a row, clearly got the Pack ready to play. The first half was as well as the Pack has played in over a year. The Pack jumped out to a 17-0 lead and was clearly the only team on the field that seemed to want to play football in all phases of the game. The first five Texas State drives ended in an interception, a fumble, a punt, and on downs twice. Then came the second half and, well, the Pack stopped executing and the coaching staff never could stop the bleeding. It all caught on fire in the third quarter. The Pack’s 17-0 halftime lead turned into a 28-17 deficit with 8:30 to play in the fourth quarter. Texas State had touchdowns of, in order, 25, 77, 46 and 36 yards and the Pack offense punted twice and turned the ball over twice. That sequence of events apparently left the Pack coaching staff in a daze, leading to a silly decision to go for a 4th-and-2 on their own 33 with over six minutes to play. Dollars was stuffed after a yard gain, leaving the Texas State offense with a short field and six minutes to play with just a 28-17 lead. The Bobcats, of course, scored again (in three plays), putting the game away at 35-17 with just under five minutes to go. Going for a 4th-and-2 on your own 33, down just 11 with over six minutes to play is an example of a coaching staff simply not protecting its fragile football team.

OVERALL: C

One of these weeks the Pack might actually win a game the opposition is handing to them on a silver and blue platter. It didn’t happen last week in a 31-24 loss to Kansas at home and the same script was followed at Texas State. The Bobcats came out flat and bored at home, were missing three of their captains because of injury and didn’t wake up until halftime, down 17. And they won going away, scoring the first 35 points of the second half. The Pack had control of this game. No team should lose a game after winning by 17 at the half, especially against a Sun Belt Conference team. But this is not a Nevada team and a coaching staff that knows how to execute under pressure. They give away the ball under pressure. They fail to execute on offense under pressure. They tackle nobody under pressure. Texas State outgained the Pack 574-353. So don’t be fooled by the respectable 11-point final margin. The week before Kansas outgained the Pack 441-263, winning just 31-24. With both games on the line the last two weeks the Pack was outscored 56-21 in the second half, combined.