Wolf Pack seeks first win against rebuilt Troy

A look ahead to the Nevada Wolf Pack's first road game of the season on Saturday against the Troy Trojans at Veterans Memorial Stadium:

KICKOFF: 4 p.m.

RECORDS: Nevada (0-1, 0-0); Troy (0-0, 0-0).

HOW TO WATCH, LISTEN: The game can be seen on ESPN-Plus and heard on 105.7 FM.

POINT SPREAD: Troy is favored by 8.5 points; the total is 44.5.

AT STAKE: Nevada, facing its first road test of the season, is looking for its first victory under new coach Jeff Choate. The Wolf Pack, which lost 29-24 to SMU last week at home after building a 24-13 fourth-quarter lead, has gone 2-10 over the past two seasons on the road. Troy is hoping to begin the Gerad Parker era as head coach with a victory. Troy, a member of the Sun Belt Conference, was 13-1 at home the last two seasons combined.

THE RIVALRY: This will be Nevada's first game ever against Troy. Troy, which was known as Troy State before 2005, has been a member of the Sun Belt Conference since 2004. The Trojans played in the Division II Gulf South Conference from 1970-90 and the FCS Southland Conference from 1996-2000. Troy won the Division II national championship in 1984 and 1987.

THE HEAD COACHES: Nevada's Jeff Choate is 0-1 after losing 29-24 to SMU last week. The 54-year-old Choate was 28-22 in four seasons (2016-19) as Montana's head coach. The 43-year-old Gerad Parker is in his first year as Troy's head coach. Parker, who played wide receiver at Kentucky from 2000-04, was Purdue's interim head coach for the final six games of the 2016 season and lost all six games. Parker was also an assistant at Marshall (2011-12), Purdue (2013-16), Duke (2017-18), Penn State (2019), West Virginia (2020-21) and Notre Dame (2022-23), coaching mainly wide receivers and tight ends and serving as an offensive coordinator at West Virginia and Notre Dame.

TROY LAST YEAR: The Trojans went 11-3 overall and 7-1 in the Sun Belt, winning the conference championship game under former head coach Jon Sumrall. Sumrall was 23-4 in two seasons at Troy, winning the Sun Belt title game both years. Sumrall is now the head coach at Tulane.

LAST WEEK: Troy was idle last week. Nevada lost to SMU at home, 29-24, after leading 24-13 midway through the fourth quarter. The loss was Nevada's 22nd over its last 26 games. "I don't think they (SMU) were ready for what we had," Nevada head coach Jeff Choate said. "I think, if anything, our fight kind of got them a little off schedule. They were kind of taken back, saying, 'Oh, this is not what we thought we were getting into.' We'll have an edge to us. That's how we have to play."

DOUGLAS GRAD CATCHING CHOATE'S EYE: The Wolf Pack lists 29 redshirt or true freshmen on its roster but just four saw action on Saturday against SMU, according to the official boxscore. Those four were offensive linemen Josiah Timoteo and Tyson Ruffins, linebacker Jayden LaGrone and safety Bishop Turner. "We're actually kind of a veteran team," Choate said. "The majority of our freshmen will redshirt because we have depth." Choate, though, did go out of his way to mention one freshman, Douglas High graduate Trace Estes. The 6-foot-4 Estes played at Dougas at wide receiver (66 catches, 1,146 yards, 10 touchdowns) and linebacker (120 tackles, seven sacks). "The kid I kind of like is Trace Estes," Choate said. "He's a big target. He's got some stuff to him."

TROY, NEVADA STARTING NEW ERAS: Both Troy and Nevada have experienced dramatic turnover since the end of the 2023 season. Choate and Parker are both new head coaches at their respective schools and both have transformed their rosters this offseason, with Troy adding 61 new players and the Pack adding 56. Troy lost a ton of production off its Sun Belt Conference championship team of last year, namely quarterback Gunnar Watson (3,569 yards, 27 touchdowns), running back Kimani Vidal (1,661 yards, 14 touchdowns), wide receiver Jabre Barber (75 catches, 999 yards, five touchdowns) and defensive ends Javon Solomon (16 sacks) and Richard Jibunor (10 sacks).

WHEN TROY HAS THE BALL: The Trojans will be led by quarterback Will "Goose" Crowder, who has played in just seven games at quarterback over the last three seasons (he was in all 14 games last year as Troy's holder on field goals). The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Alabama native played his first two seasons (2021-22) at West Virginia before transferring to Troy last year. He has completed 17-of-21 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns in his career. The Trojans' backfield returns Damien Taylor (346 yards last year) and will also utilize East Carolina transfer Gerald Green. Crowder will throw to returning wide receivers Peyton Higgins (12 catches last year), Chris Lewis (32 catches, 735 yards, 10 touchdowns) and Devonte Ross (40 catches, 428 yards, three scores) as well as tight end Ethan Conner (16 catches, 168 yards, four TDs).

WHEN NEVADA HAS THE BALL: Quarterback Brendon Lewis was 14-of-26 for 132 yards and two touchdowns last week against SMU and also led the team in rushing with 77 yards on 18 carries. Running backs Sean Dollars (39 yards, 11 carries) and Savion Red (30 yards, 12 carries) led the ground game last week. Patrick Garwo, who had just one carry (six yards) and one catch (eight yards) is also expected to have a bigger role moving forward. Transfer wide receivers Cortez Braham and Jaden Smith each had four catches against SMU with Braham grabbing a 10-yard touchdown. Tight end Jace Henry made his Nevada debut last week and caught a 5-yard scoring pass from Lewis.

CHOATE QUOTE: "We played a little more physical than (SMU) did. We kind of hit them in the mouth. We need to do that. In our locker room, it's mixed with disappointment but also hope. That's pretty good. We are going to make (opponents) uncomfortable. That's what I want our team to do. But I told them, 'You played hard, but you have to play harder because it wasn't good enough to win."