Fresno State quarterback Mikey Keene drops back against Washington State last week. He has eight TDs and eight interceptions for the season.
Gary Kazanjian | AP
A look ahead to the Nevada Wolf Pack football game against the Fresno State Bulldogs on Friday night at Mackay Stadium:
KICKOFF: Friday, 7:30 p.m., at Mackay Stadium.
RECORDS: Fresno State (3-3, 1-1); Nevada (3-4, 0-1).
POINT SPREAD: Fresno State is favored by three points; the total is 50.
HOW TO WATCH, LISTEN: The game can be seen on CBS Sports Network and heard on 105.7 FM.
AT STAKE FOR NEVADA: The Wolf Pack is still looking for its first Mountain West victory this season. Nevada, coming off a 42-37 win against Oregon State, is also looking for its first winning streak of the year.
AT STAKE FOR FRESNO STATE: The Bulldogs are hoping to end a two-game losing streak. With a victory Friday night, Fresno State (like Nevada) would still be very much alive in the race for first or second place in the Mountain West standings and a spot in the league title game.
THE RIVALRY: Fresno State leads 32-22-1. The Bulldogs have won three in a row and eight of their last 12 games against Nevada. The Pack went 7-2-1 against the Bulldogs from 1923-1932 and 5-2 from 2005-11. Fresno State was 20-6 against Nevada from 1934-2004. The schools did not play each other between 1955 and 1982.
LAST YEAR: Fresno State beat Nevada 27-9 on Sept. 30 in Fresno. Quarterback Mikey Keene was 26-of-34 for 269 yards and two touchdowns (65, 12 yards) to Jaelen Gill. Malik Sherrod also ran for 123 yards on 12 carries and a 72-yard touchdown. The Wolf Pack ran for just 53 yards on 31 carries. Brendon Lewis (10-of-21, 70 yards, two interceptions) and A.J. Bianco (9-of-14, 97 yards, one touchdown) shared quarterback duties for Nevada. Emany Johnson intercepted two Keene passes and Davion Blackwell tackled Fresno State running back Elijah Gilliam in the end zone for a safety.
THE HEAD COACHES: Nevada's Jeff Choate is 3-4 in his first year. Choate is looking to become the first rookie Wolf Pack head coach to have a .500 record or better after eight games since Jeff Tisdel was 5-3 in 1996. Chris Tormey was 1-7 in 2000, Chris Polian was 3-5 in 2013, Jay Norvell was 1-7 in 2017, and Ken Wilson was 2-6 in 2022. Chris Ault was 4-4 in 2004, but he was certainly not a rookie head coach when he took over the program that season for the third separate time. Fresno State's Tim Skipper is 3-3 and also in his first season as head coach. This is Skipper's first year as a head coach after 23 seasons as an assistant (mainly on defense). Skipper did serve as the Bulldogs' head coach in a 37-10 victory over New Mexico State in last year's New Mexico Bowl after head coach Jeff Tedford took time off because of health reasons. Tedford officially resigned on July 15 and Skipper was named the head coach the same day.
WHEN FRESNO STATE HAS THE BALL: Quarterback Mikey Keene is 135-of-203 for 1,576 yards, eight touchdowns and eight interceptions. The 5-foot-11 Keene has been intercepted two times in each of the Bulldogs' last two games (59-14 loss to UNLV, 25-17 loss to Washington State). Keene played two seasons (2021, 2022) at Central Florida before transferring to Fresno State before last season. He has been intercepted 18 times in 18 games at Fresno State. Elijah Gilliam (295 yards, three touchdowns) and Malik Sherrod (196 yards, four touchdowns) lead the Bulldogs' ground game. Fresno State averages just 3.4 yards per carry. Keene's top targets are Raylen Sharpe (31 catches, 309 yards, one TD), Mac Dalena (26-562-4) and Jalen Moss (24-339-0).
WHEN NEVADA HAS THE BALL: Quarterback Brendon Lewis is 112-167-5 for 1,132 yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions. Lewis is also second on the team with 513 rushing yards and third with four rushing TDs. Cortez Braham (30-326-2), Jaden Smith (27-407-3) and Marcus Bellon (20-245-2) are Lewis' go-to receivers. Backup quarterback Chubba Purdy has also made brief but productive appearances on the field the last two weeks and has completed 2-of-2 passes for 31 yards, caught one pass for 11 yards and run the ball once for 18 yards.
PURDY-KEENE RIVALRY: Nevada's Chubba Purdy and Fresno State's Mikey Keene are former Arizona high school rivals. Keene, who was one year behind Purdy, played for Chandler while Purdy was at Perry in Gilbert. The two schools met often when Purdy and Keene were in high school (Chandler beat Perry three years in a row for the 6A state title), but the two quarterbacks only faced off against each other on the field once. Purdy sat the bench his first two seasons at Perry behind his brother Brock (now the San Francisco 49ers quarterback) and didn't take over as starter until 2018. Keene's first year as starter at Chandler was in 2019 (Purdy's final year at Perry). Chandler and Keene beat Purdy and Perry in a wild shootout in the regular season, 84-49. Keene was 9-of-11 for 226 yards and three touchdowns while Purdy was 23-of-42 for 326 yards and two scores. Purdy also ran for 95 yards and three touchdowns. The two quarterbacks were both in the state of Florida in the 2021 season with Purdy at Florida State and Keene at Central Florida (the two schools did not meet).
KEENE NOT A RUNNING THREAT: Mikey Keene has played in 33 games in his college career but has finished just eight of them with positive rushing yards. He has reached double-figures in rushing yards three times (33 against Connecticut for Central Florida in 2021, 17 for Central Florida against South Florida in 2022 and 11 against San Jose State in 2023 for Fresno State). Keene has minus-278 rushing yards in his career on 97 carries. Nevada quarterback Brendon Lewis, by comparison, has 1,312 rushing yards on 327 carries in his career. Lewis had a career-high 151 yards last week against Oregon State (and a 67-yard touchdown run).
HOME MEANS POINTS: The Wolf Pack is 2-2 at home this year. The Pack lost two close games (29-24 to SMU and 20-17 to Georgia Southern) to open its home schedule, but beat Eastern Washington (49-16) and Oregon State (42-37) in its last two games at Mackay. The Pack's 91 points in its last two home games is the most it has scored in back-to-back games at Mackay Stadium since it scored 104 in a 49-10 win over Idaho State on Sept. 11, 2021, and a 55-28 win over New Mexico State on Oct. 9, 2021.