Nevada scored a 49-10 win over Idaho State on Saturday to improve to 2-0 this season. Here is a Monday review of the game and a look-ahead to Nevada's next opponent, Kansas State.
Just the facts
Nevada had few issues with Idaho State, running a wire-to-wire win highlighted by Colin Kaepernick making a halftime appearance as part of the Wolf Pack's Hall of Fame celebration. The Wolf Pack wasn't super sharp in the first half but took a 21-7 lead into halftime after scoring a touchdown with 43 seconds remaining before intermission. Idaho State quarterback Tyler Vander Waal suffered a game-ending left shoulder injury early in the second half, and that basically ended the competitive portion of the contest. Nevada threw for 441 yards and five touchdowns, picking up a 586-283 edge in total yards and 26-18 edge in first downs. The Wolf Pack was whistled for 10 penalties, including eight in the first half, a number coach Jay Norvell would like to see curbed, but this was a routine win over an FCS foe.
Murray's take
This was a fairly competitive game in the first half with Nevada needing a four-minute drive situation late in the first half to put some distance between it and the Bengals. Carson Strong had a couple of spectacular touchdown passes in that first half, including one to Cole Turner to open the scoring and another to Elijah Cooks, with both players making high-degree-of-difficulty catches. Any chance of this being a competitive game disappeared after Tyler Vander Waal's shoulder injury on Idaho State's first possession of the second half. From that play forward, the Bengals ran 35 plays for 113 yards (3.3 yards per play). It had 170 yards on 33 plays before the injury (5.2 yards per play). Nevada's 41 points were its most in the Carson Strong era and its most since a 49-10 win over Colorado State in November 2018. Ultimately, however, this will game will be remembered as the night Colin Kaepernick returned to Reno.
Overall MVP
Carson Strong sliced and diced the Idaho State secondary, completing 34-of-43 passes (79 percent) for 381 yards and four touchdowns, and that's despite missing a couple of deep balls. But it was still a great showing for Strong, who has made 300-yard games the expectation. Strong has hit the 300-yard mark in nine of his last 13 games dating to the end of the 2019 season. During that 13-game stretch, which is the typical length of a college football season if you include a bowl game, Strong has thrown for 4,023 yards, 35 touchdowns and five interceptions. It's one of the most impressive stretches for a Nevada quarterback. Strong became the sixth Wolf Pack quarterback with double-digit 300-yard games in his career, joining a list that includes David Neill (program-record 17 300-yard games), Chris Vargas (15), Mike Maxwell (14), John Dutton (10) and Eric Beavers (10).
Offensive MVP
Strong and Elijah Cooks weren't on the same page very often in the season opener at Cal, which is understandable given Cooks missed almost all of last year. But their link was much stronger against Idaho State. The fifth-year senior wide receiver was one of 11 players with a catch against the Bengals and led the team in receptions (seven), receiving yards (89) and touchdowns (two). It was the fifth two-touchdown game of Cooks' career. He also had two touchdowns in 2018 wins against Air Force and Hawaii and 2019 wins against Purdue and UTEP. Nevada is 5-0 when Cooks scores multiple touchdowns in a game. He's up to three touchdowns this season after missing last year with a shoulder injury.
Defensive MVP
Nevada's defensive front had a spectacular game against Idaho State, and the charge was led by Triston Nichols, a 6-foot-4, 245-pound defensive tackle pass-rushing specialist. Nichols entered the game with six of his 10 career tackles being sacks. He added to that stat with a career-best three sacks on four tackles against Idaho State. One of those forced a fumble that was picked up and returned 13 yards for a touchdown by Dom Peterson. Nichols had a fourth sack that was called off due to an offsides penalty on Daniel Grzesiak on the other side of the defensive line. Only two Wolf Pack players have ever had a four-sack game. Jorge Cordova had 4.5 sacks against Washington in 2003 and Ian Seau had four against Hawaii in 2005. Nichols almost joined that list, and now has nine sacks on 14 tackles in three years at Nevada. Speaking of sacks ...
Fun stat
8 — Nevada had eight sacks against Idaho State, the second time in three games the team has posted eight sacks (it also had eight sacks in its bowl win over Tulane to cap the 2020 season). Prior to that game, it had been 17 seasons since Nevada had an eight-sack game, doing so in 2003 at Washington. In addition to Nichols' three sacks, Christopher Love had two sacks and Lawson Hall, Tyson Williams and Daniel Grzesiak each had one.
Up next
Nevada inched up a tad in the Top 25 polls, earning 28 points in the AP Top 25 (ostensibly 34th) and 18 points in the USA Today Coaches Poll (ostensibly 40th). The team ahead of it in the AP Top 25's "others receiving votes?" That'd be Kansas State, which received 30 points. Nevada travels to Manhattan, Kan., to take on the Wildcats on Saturday at 11:05 a.m. Kansas State opened its season with an impressive 21-7 win over Stanford, a team that demolished No. 14-ranked USC despite being a 17-point underdog on Saturday. So that win over Stanford is solid. But Kansas State backed it up with a narrow 31-23 win over FCS foe Southern Illinois last weekend in a game it led by one point before a touchdown with 1 minute, 57 seconds remaining. Kansas State lost its starting quarterback, Skylar Thompson, to a non-contact leg injury on Saturday. He won't play against Nevada, which is a big blow given his experience (37 college games).
Video recaps
"Review" - Google News
September 13, 2021 at 10:21PM
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Nevada's Monday Review: Wolf Pack passing game torches Idaho State - Nevada Sports Net
"Review" - Google News
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