Nevada News Group
A look back at the key moments, players and plays from the Nevada Wolf Pack's 49-16 victory over the Eastern Washington Eagles at Mackay Stadium on Saturday:
KEY PLAYS
The key play was obviously when the Wolf Pack scheduled this game back in November 2021 (according to Nevada Sports Net). But if there wass a moment or two on the field that buried Eastern Washington for good it was back-to-back runs of 30 and 27 yards by Nevada's Savion Red on the seventh and eighth plays of the third quarter. The Pack just saw a 44-yard touchdown pass from Brendon Lewis to Marcus Bellon wiped out by a face mask penalty on offensive lineman Josiah Timoteo. Now facing a third-and-30 from its own 41, the Pack calmly handed the ball off to Red. The Texas Longhorns transfer then exploded for runs of 30 (for the unlikely first down) and then 27 yards (down to the 2-yard line) to completely demoralize the Eagles. Patrick Garwo then did the honors, scoring on a 2-yard run for a game-ending (for all intents and purposes) 28-3 lead before Eastern Washington touched the ball in the second half. Forgive Eastern Washington for looking a little dazed and confused after the Pack's opening drive in the second half. The Wolf Pack actually scored what was likely a school-record three touchdowns on their first drive of the second half but the first two were wiped out by penalties.
KEY MINDSET
The Wolf Pack clearly came out on Saturday with the intention of destroying the Eagles and making a statement. The Wolf Pack, showing a boldness and aggressiveness fans haven't really seen since the Jay Norvell Air Raid days, had quarterback Brendon Lewis throw the ball deep down the middle to wide receiver Cortez Braham on their very first play from scrimmage. The result was a pass interference penalty on the Eagles' Cage Schenck, handing Nevada a first down at its own 42. Lewis would attempt just 22 passes the entire game as the Pack discovered it simply had to hand off the ball to gain huge chunks of yardage. But that boldness, aggressiveness and fearlessness on the very first play continued to show up throughout the game as Nevada scored touchdowns on seven of its nine drives.
KEY MESSAGE SENT
Did the Wolf Pack run up the score on the overwhelmed Eagles? Was Wolf Pack coach Jeff Choate sending a clear message to his former Big Sky Conference coaching rival (Aaron Best of Eastern Washington) at the end of the game when the Pack, already up 42-16, marched 80 yards on 12 plays to score the final touchdown with 1:46 to play? It was a final touchdown, by the way, that came on a fourth-and-goal run from the 3-yard line by Red. Red hadn't even carried the ball on the previous 11 plays of the drive and was inserted into the game, it appeared, just to get a stat-padding second touchdown of the game. The Pack, it must be noted, inserted backups at the start of the drive with 8:18 to play, handing off the ball to seldom-used running back Caleb Ramseur nine times (56 yards) and having backup quarterback A.J. Bianco throw two passes (21 yards). But why put Red back in the game to run it in? After Red's score you had to wonder if the Pack would go for the 2-point conversion in order to reach 50 points.
KEY CONCERN
The Wolf Pack, once again, had a problem remaining disciplined even in a game when the opponent barely put up a fight. The Pack was called for eight penalties, resulting in 95 more negative yards. Two of the penalties (a face mask on redshirt freshman offensive lineman Josiah Timoteo and a hold on redshirt tight end Andrew Savaiinaea) wiped out Pack touchdowns (a 75-yard run by Ky Woods and a 44-yard pass from Lewis to Marcus Bellon). The Wolf Pack has now been called for 45 penalties (444 yards) this season in five games, an average of nine penalties for 88.8 yards a game. The Pack is tied with New Mexico for the most penalties this season in the 133-team FBS. The Pack's 444 penalty yards are by far the most (Massachusetts has been penalized 376 yards on 40 penalties). The Pack is on pace for 117 penalties this year, resulting in 1,154 yards in losses. The most penalties the Pack has ever had in one season since 2000 is 107 (in 2000) for 884 yards (also 2000). The school record for yards penalized in a season is 1,060 in 1976 (Chris Ault's first year as head coach).
KEY SIGH OF RELIEF
The Wolf Pack entered Saturday's game having scored just three points over its previous seven quarters (three points in the last three quarters against Georgia Southern and none in four quarters at Minnesota). The last time the Pack scored three or fewer points over seven consecutive quarters was when they scored just three points over eight consecutive quarters in 1975. They didn't score in the final two quarters of a 17-10 win over Cal State Hayward on Oct. 25, 1975, had three points in a 28-3 loss to Idaho State on Nov. 1, 1975, and then didn't score in the first two quarters of a 49-6 loss to Boise State on Nov. 8, 1975. The Wolf Pack fired coach Jerry Scattini after the 1975 season, replaced him with Chris Ault, and the Pack offense never had a seven or eight-quarter drought like the one in 1975 until this season. The Pack scored 14 points in the first quarter against Eastern Washington to wake up its offense.
KEY HIDDEN STAT
The Wolf Pack offense put together an immaculate second half, scoring touchdowns on all four of its drives. The last time the Pack scored touchdowns on all of its second-half drives was in 2009 when it found the end zone on all four of its drives in a 62-7 win at San Jose State. The Pack scored touchdowns on seven of its nine drives overall against Eastern Washington and on nine of its 10 drives against San Jose State in 2009.
The Wolf Pack came close to an immaculate second half on offense also in 2009 against Idaho when it scored touchdowns on its first six drives of the second half and then simply ran out the clock on a five-play drive on its final drive. The Pack also had touchdowns on its first four drives of the second half against Air Force in 2013 before kneeling down for a one-yard loss to end the game on its final possession.
KEY PLAYER
Quarterback Brendon Lewis rebounded from his worst game as a Pack quarterback (three interceptions, four sacks) in a 27-0 loss at Minnesota to methodically devour Eastern Washington the very next week. Lewis was 16-of-22 for 193 yards, two touchdowns, two sacks and one interception and also ran for 65 yards on a dozen carries against the Eagles as the Pack scored 49 points. Lewis only misfired on two consecutive passes once the entire game when he had an incompletion and an interception on his final two throws of the first half. Three of his five incompletions were intended for wide receiver Cortez Braham.
KEY BREAKOUTS?
Redshirt sophomore running back Ky Woods, a transfer from Texas this past offseason, might have given Pack fans a glimpse of the future on Saturday when he carried the ball once for six yards and caught two passes for six yards. He also had a 75-yard touchdown run nullified by a Wolf Pack penalty.
The 5-foot-9, 176-pound Woods, who redshirted his freshman year at Texas and appeared in three games on special teams last year for the Longhorns, had not run the ball or caught a pass for the Pack before Saturday, though he has appeared in all five games this year. The run and the catches are his first in college football.
Tori Daffin, a 5-foot-8, 175-pound fifth-year defensive back, also made his presence known to Pack fans likely for the first time in his career despite playing in seven games last year (just two tackles) and all five this year. Daffin, who spent his first three seasons (2020-22) at East Central Community College in Decatur, Miss., led the Wolf Pack with seven tackles on Saturday. Daffin had just six tackles over the first four games.
KEY HISTORICAL NOTES
The Wolf Pack's 49 points were its most since a 52-10 win at Colorado State to close out the regular season in 2021. It is the most Pack points at Mackay Stadium since a 51-20 victory over UNLV on Oct. 29, 2021. The Wolf Pack's 534 total yards on offense were its most since 586 against Idaho State in a 40-10 win on Sept. 11, 2021, and its 320 rushing yards were its most since it had 352 against Buffalo in 2016.
UP NEXT FOR NEVADA
The Wolf Pack, now 2-3 overall and 0-0 in the Mountain West, will have a bye this week. The Pack's next game is Oct. 5 at San Jose State to open Mountain West play. Nevada will next play at Mackay Stadium on Oct. 12 against Oregon State in its sixth and final non-conference game of the regular season.