Santoro: Time for the Pack to #FreeBrendonLewis

Sports Fodder:

It is time the Nevada Wolf Pack shows some true confidence in Brendon Lewis.

Free Brendon Lewis. Let Lewis loose. Yes, the Wolf Pack gave Lewis the keys to its offense last week but when will they finally let him take that offense out on the freeway and drive in the fast lane? The Wolf Pack, as it did all of last season in Lewis' dozen starts, forced the veteran quarterback to play under control, with one hand tied behind his back and unable to exhibit all his creativity, boldness and explosiveness.

It was, once again, Lewis Light with half the calories.

The Wolf Pack's 29-24 loss to the SMU Mustangs was not Lewis' fault. Yes, you can blame him for not simply grabbing his teammates by the collar and carrying them to victory after building a 24-13 lead midway through the fourth quarter. That, after all, is what a quarterback is supposed to do. It's called being a leader.

But when you beat all of the creativity and boldness out of a quarterback and keep him chained to a boring, safe, conservative game play all week in practice and for three quarters in the game, can you really expect him to go rogue in the fourth quarter and play like he was back on the school yard with all of his Texas buddies growing up?

So, we got what we've seen for the past two seasons from Lewis. Short, boring passes to players who believe yards after catch is simply how far forward they can fall after grabbing the ball. Countless runs up the middle. A conservative, restrained, cautious mindset by an offense that continues to play scared, afraid to allow its quarterback to make a mistake.

The result was an offense that was paralyzed on Saturday when the team needed it the most. Lewis seemed unable and afraid to step on the gas and protect a 24-13 lead in the fourth quarter. The Pack played scared; it was a boxer that retreated to its own corner and puts its gloves up in front of its face when SMU started punching wildly.

Lewis' numbers weren't awful. He did run for 77 yards on 18 carries, fulfilling his two-year role as the best running back on the team. But he was also a lifeless 14-of-26 for just 132 yards through the air. Almost all of his throws were within five or six yards of the line of scrimmage. Wide receiver Jaden Smith caught four passes for all of 32 yards. Three of wide receiver Cortez Braham's four catches went for a mere 18 yards. Five of Lewis' completions went to the running backs for a grand total of 29 yards.

That's not an offense that, according to head coach Jeff Choate, was going to "let 'er rip" this year. That's an offense that played as if it is afraid its quarterback might go off script.

So don't blame Lewis for not leading his Wolf Pack to victory in the fourth quarter on Saturday despite a 24-13 lead with about eight minutes to go. This wasn't Lewis' fault. It was the fault of a coaching staff, led by a defensive-minded head coach, that clearly didn't have confidence in its quarterback.

Facing a third-and-25 from the SMU 44-yard line early in the fourth quarter, the Pack had Lewis throw a short pass to Smith. It fell incomplete. The Pack then called two ridiculously conservative, void-of-any-creativity runs up the middle (by running back Savion Red and Lewis) from its own 1-yard line with eight minutes to play. The result was a safety.

Still up 24-23 with five minutes left, the Pack ran the ball twice for seven yards combined and then saw Lewis fail to connect with wide receiver Marcus Bellon on a short pass on third-and-3. The result was a punt. With under a minute to go and trailing 29-24, the Pack had Lewis throw short passes on second-and-17 and third-and-17.

The result was a loss and the Pack blowing an 11-point fourth-quarter lead for the first time in a dozen years (since the 2012 New Mexico Bowl against Arizona).

Lewis is better than his coaches are allowing him to show us. We saw it on a 48-yard pass to Cortez Braham in the second quarter. We saw it on a 10-yard scoring pass to Braham also in the second quarter when Lewis put the ball in the corner of the end zone where only Braham could catch it.

Lewis has a strong arm. Let him use it.

But the Pack called plays as if they believe Lewis is just keeping the position warm until Chubba Purdy is healthy enough to take it. Well, it's time the Pack allows Lewis to take ownership of this offense.

Nobody is suggesting Lewis is some sort of Colin Kaepernick-Carson Strong hybrid. If he was, he wouldn't be at Nevada in the first place. Yes, of course, Lewis is not as explosive as Kaepernick with his feet or as aggressive and talented as Strong with his arm. But it must also be noted that Lewis has not had the same quality and quantity of playmakers around him during his two seasons at Nevada.

But there's more to Lewis than we've been allowed to see. It's time to let Lewis loose or else that heartbreaking loss we saw on Saturday won't be the last fourth-quarter lead the Pack will waste this season.

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The energy burst coach Jeff Choate gave the Pack this off-season definitely was seen on the field on Saturday. The Pack played with a boldness, aggression and confidence against SMU that we haven't seen in a while. The Pack wasn't outclassed physically against SMU and wasn't afraid to let SMU know it.

It was heartwarming to see defensive end Henry Ikahihifo smack a SMU player to the ground early in the game after that player slapped a Pack player in the helmet. That set the tone for the entire game and maybe for the season. Ikahihifo sent a message to his teammates after burying the SMU player in the turf and standing over him, daring any of his teammates to do something about it (none did) that the days of the Pack being bullied and pushed around, especially on its own home turf, are over.

Credit Choate. He's a long-time defensive assistant who comes out of Big Sky country with a toughness that will play in any era. He fully understands that football, when it is all said and done, is a street fight that requires toughness, confidence and a lack of fear. It was reassuring to see those three qualities from the Pack on Saturday, knowing that it will pay off in victories down the road.

•••

The Wolf Pack's seemingly promising narrow loss to SMU said more about SMU than it did the Wolf Pack. SMU was sloppy, cocky, overconfident and totally unprepared to play a road game on Aug. 24.

As expected, the game looked as sloppy and disjointed as an April scrimmage, with 22 combined penalties for 206 yards. Players on both teams were undisciplined and played as if they hadn't been coached all preseason. One SMU player was penalized for spitting on a Pack player. A SMU player also told his head coach than a Pack player spit at him. Yes, college football fans, this is what you get for your NIL dollars these days.

But it's also what you should expect to get on Aug. 24. It wasn't so much a football game as it was a silly, macho playground tussle. SMU was penalized 11 times for 125 yards, the Pack 11 times for 81 yards. That doesn't count the times the penalties were declined or offset because players on both teams were acting like spoiled 5-year-olds fighting over crayons at daycare.

The inexcusable Aug. 24 kickoff is what you get when the NCAA and universities only care about cramming games onto their schedule for money. The early start in the third week of August clearly benefited the Pack, simply because Nevada is just a team right now playing on emotion rather than skill. Everything SMU does is based on its offense showing timing, cohesion and precise teamwork. You can't possibly have those things on Aug. 24.

The Mustangs clearly were rusty, unprepared and overconfident. They came to Mackay and thought they could cover the four-touchdown spread by simply waving their Top 25 votes and ACC patches on their jerseys and spit in the face of a Wolf Pack team that won four games over the past two years.

SMU basically treated the game like it was a spring scrimmage, even benching its starting quarterback (Preston Stone) — who threw for 3,197 yards and 28 touchdowns last year — for two series late in the first half. It simply took SMU a half of lethargic football to wake up, remember that they are still a Group of 5 sheep in Power 4 clothing and that it was a football game and not a schoolyard tussle. The Mustangs made a few halftime adjustments and went out and dominated the rest of the game.

•••

How well, really, did the Pack play? The numbers look suspiciously like the ones we saw the past two seasons when the program lost 20-of-24 games.

The offense had just 16 first downs and 298 yards despite having the ball for 71 plays and more than 36 minutes. The defense didn't have a sack against a pass-happy offense. Yes, the Pack held SMU to 2.9 yards per carry on the ground but that was because SMU lost 30 yards on a botched punt snap that destroyed its rushing numbers. SMU starter Brashard Smith, it must be noted, did average 6.1 yards carry on 11 carries.

SMU rolled up 408 yards and 22 first downs on the Pack defense despite having the ball for under 24 minutes and being penalized for 125 yards.

The Wolf Pack offensive line melted down at two crucial times in the fourth quarter with the game on the line, giving up a safety with a 24-21 lead and surrendering a sack when the Pack was hoping to rally from a 29-24 deficit. The Pack defense and offense disappeared in the fourth quarter.

The bottom line is that we really have no idea what it meant for the Pack to nearly pull off the upset. It might be a sign of things to come, or it might mean absolutely nothing. We'll find out more with each passing week.

•••

We did learn more than a few positive and promising things about the Wolf Pack last Saturday, in addition to its improved athleticism and competitive spirit.

Linebacker Drue Watts is poised to become one of the top defensive players in the Mountain West. Watts led the Pack with nine tackles, one for a loss. He also nearly had an interception that he might have returned for six points. Defensive end Henry Ikahihifo, who had four tackles, two for a loss, looks like a force. Linebacker Tongiaki Mateialona was his usual solid self with eight tackles and also broke up two passes.

The Pack secondary looks physical, fast, confident and aggressive. They basically shut down the SMU wide receivers.

New punter Guy Gillespie was excellent, averaging 45 yards on five punts. Four of Gillespie's punts landed inside the 20 and one was for 60 yards. It wasn't Gillespie's fault that SMU's offense went 98 yards in eight plays for a touchdown in the fourth quarter after a 47-yard punt. They also went 83 yards for the winning touchdown after Gillespie's 60-yard punt.

The Wolf Pack's depth at running back is real. Sean Dollars (11 carries, 39 yards) and Savion Red (12 carries, 30 yards) carried the bulk of the load, but Patrick Garwo finally came off the bench late in the game and went six yards with his only carry and also caught a pass for eight yards. It might be a good idea for the Pack to show us more of Garwo in the coming weeks.

It also might be a good idea to make sure tight end Jace Henry catches more passes. Henry caught a 5-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, blowing up a SMU defensive back on his way to the end zone but never caught another pass the rest of the game. The physical 6-4, 270-pound Henry played four years at Dartmouth and has one year of eligibility left. He needs to spend the next 12 games this season blowing up defensive backs on a regular basis.