Keys: Pack’s two-headed QB no match for Hawaii’s run game

A look back at the key moments, players and plays from the Nevada Wolf Pack's 34-13 loss to the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors last Saturday in Honolulu:

KEY PLAYS

There were no actual key plays to the Wolf Pack's 21-point loss. This was a thorough trashing of the visiting Wolf Pack in all phases of the game and one or two plays, had they gone differently, wouldn't have changed the outcome. But, in an effort to help explain what happened, look no further than the injuries to Nevada quarterback Brendon Lewis and running back Savion Red. Lewis and Red are the Bonnie and Clyde, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the Batman and Robin of the Wolf Pack offense. Lewis was deemed unfit to play on Saturday, supposedly because of the pounding he took the previous week against Fresno State. And Red, apparently, was knocked out of the game after his 7-yard run on the final play of the first quarter. Hawaii didn't face the Wolf Pack offense on Saturday. It faced some hastily-put-together, Silver-and-Blue-scrimmage version of the Pack offense filled with backup quarterbacks and reserve running backs. That's not how you win a conference game on the road.

KEY CONCERN

The Wolf Pack basically handed this game to Hawaii because of its year-long obsession of playing an undisciplined, unfocused, careless, selfish brand of football. First of all, there were the never-ending errors in the run defense that allowed Hawaii to chew up acres of yardage, mainly straight up the middle with quarterback Brayden Schager (120 yards, four touchdowns on 19 carries). But that was just one example of the Wolf Pack playing undisciplined football. The other example, and the one we've seen all season long except for a few exceptions, was with all of the penalties. The Pack was called for 12 penalties (105 yards). The Pack had penalties on all four Hawaii touchdown drives. There were back-to-back infractions immediately before Schager's second 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and back-to-back penalties two plays before Schager's third score in the third quarter. That, too, is not how you win a conference game on the road.

KEY COACHING DECISION

The Wolf Pack, for some reason, seemed determined to replace quarterback Brendon Lewis with some blended, six-of-one, half-dozen-of-the-other, watered down mixture of Chubba Purdy and A.J. Bianco, instead of committing to one or the other for the sake of continuity and leadership. And it just didn't work. Purdy got the start and, all things considered, played pretty darn well. The Nebraska transfer was an efficient 13-of-18 through the air for 155 yards and a touchdown and an interception and ran for 41 yards on eight carries. In short, he looked like a pretty good imitation of Lewis. Bianco was 13-of-21 for 131 yards and a touchdown, but most of his numbers took place in the fourth quarter with the Pack already down 31-7. Bianco also had just seven yards on the ground on six carries. The Pack also decided to give the bulk its running back carries (nine of 13) to seldom-used junior Caleb Ramseur (Morehead State transfer) instead of veteran Patrick Garwo. Ramseur had 10 carries all season (nine against Eastern Washington) while Garwo had 53 (for 237 yards and five touchdowns). Ramseur had nine carries for 28 yards against Hawaii while Garwo had two for nine. Ky Woods had six yards on one carry and never was handed the ball again. Sean Dollars, the Pack starter last season, had no carries and has carried the ball just 13 times since he had 11 in the season opener.

KEY FACTOR

Hawaii dominated the Pack for one reason on Saturday, despite the Pack injuries and questionable roster usage. The Rainbow Warriors were clearly the more physical, aggressive team on the field. Hawaii, at times, even bullied the Pack as we saw on all four of Schager's touchdown runs down near the goal line. This is not the same Pack team that stood up to SMU and other teams this year physically. The Pack team we saw on Saturday simply wasn't ready for a Hawaii team that fights as hard as any in the Mountain West to defend its home turf. The long trip, the late start (9 p.m., Nevada time) and the absence of leaders Lewis and Red certainly played a role in the Pack's inability to dial up its energy. But what we saw was a Pack team repeatedly punched in the face and then responding with undisciplined (12 penalties), selfish tactics.

KEY STAT

With the Wolf Pack this year it will always come down to running the ball and stopping the run. The Pack had 94 yards rushing on 29 carries (3.2 a carry) while Hawaii shredded the Pack defense for 242 yards on 42 carries (5.8 a carry). It felt and looked like much worse. And it was. Taking away the four Pack sacks of Schager for 15 yards of losses, Hawaiii's run game really had 257 yards on 38 carries, an average of 6.8 a carry. Purdy played his heart out, especially on his eight carries. Everybody else in silver and blue rushed for 53 yards on 21 carries. Ramseur had 10 yards on one carry and 18 on his other eight carries combined. The Pack offense, without Red and Lewis, its two best runners, was awful on Saturday (despite somehow compiling 380 yards). The only two Pack touchdowns were on a busted coverage by Hawaii (a 63-yard Purdy-to-Marcus Bellon pass on the second play of the second half) and a parting-gift touchdown (10 yards to Bellon by Bianco) with 8:43 to play. This was just the second game all year (the other was a 27-0 loss at Minnesota) where the Pack didn't have at least one rushing touchdown.

KEY PHILOSOPHY FAILURE 

The Wolf Pack, it seems, concentrated on stopping Hawaii's passing game a bit too much. Schager attributed his rushing success on Saturday to: "They were dropping eight (in coverage) and rushing three a lot" (posted on Hawaii's YouTube channel). "Whenever they drop eight there's nobody accounting for me and that's just something I exploited." Hawaii, and especially Schager, had struggled to run the ball all season long before Saturday night. Their high for the season was 149 yards against Northern Iowa (an FCS school). Hawaii had just 99 total rushing yards on 53 carries in its previous two Mountain West game combined against Boise State and San Diego State. In two games against Washington State and UCLA combined, it had 155 yards on 50 carries. Schager had 91 yards rushing on 75 carries all season heading into Saturday.

KEY HISTORICAL NOTE

This, of course, has happened before. The Pack has now lost three games in a row to Hawaii. It has lost games to Hawaii it simply shouldn't have in recent years (namely 24-21 in 2020, 54-3 in 2019, 27-21 in 2010, 28-26 in 2007). It lost seven games in a row against Hawaii in Honolulu from 1968-2010. Nevada even lost the Hawaii Bowl in 2009 and 2011. The USS Nevada also had a rough go of it in Hawaii. In short, the fact that Hawaii recently agreed to become a full-time member of the Mountain West isn't necessarily a good thing for the Wolf Pack.

UP NEXT

The Wolf Pack (3-6, 0-3) will host Colorado State (5-3, 3-0) and former head coach Jay Norvell at Mackay Stadium on Saturday at 5 p.m. Colorado State is tied with Boise State at 3-0 atop the conference. The Rams have won three games in a row (31-24 over San Jose State, 21-13 over Air Force, and 17-6 over New Mexico). Nevada has lost two in a row and three of its last four.