BYU Cougars @ Nevada Wolf Pack Football Recap

So many people said it. Now, the Nevada Wolf Pack have proved it. The "other" prominent team in the Western Athletic Conference now deserves to be included in the top 25 of the national collegiate football rankings.

Yes, the statement was bandied about a lot by pigskin pundits before Saturday afternoon's game at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah: If Nevada could go on the road and beat a solid (though hardly spectacular) opponent in a stadium where it's not all that easy to win, coach Chris Ault's club would deserve to vault onto the top-25 leaderboard.

Now, the deed has been done by the roster from Reno. In a mature, steady and workmanlike performance, Nevada brought its lunch pail and its hard hat to the shadows of the Wasatch Mountains, beating BYU in the trenches en route to a 14-point triumph that has Nevada football riding high. Meanwhile, the defeated and outclassed Cougars are scrambling to regroup after a particularly dispiriting setback.

This season started on such a note of encouragement for Brigham Young. Coach Bronco Mendenhall's club delivered a 23-17 win over Jake Locker and Washington in the season opener, but it's been all downhill for the Cougars ever since. Losses at Air Force and Florida State brought this team crashing down to earth, but a return to home soil gave the locals the hope that Mendenhall's men would be able to turn back Nevada. It was one thing for the Wolf Pack to frolic on their home field in a win over an opponent - Cal - that has been balky on the road for a long time. It was another matter altogether for Nevada to roll into Provo and produce a good result. However, the best-laid plans of mice and Mendenhall did not unfold on Saturday. Instead, it became clear that this Nevada team can Pack a punch away from home.

The first and last statistic you need to take away from this game is that Nevada outrushed BYU, 239 yards to 91. That one fact tells you all you need to know. The pistol offense used and developed by Ault is a system that does indeed rely on some finesse elements plus some sleight-of-hand ball manipulation near the line of scrimmage, based on the quarterback's read of the opposing defense. Nevertheless, the ability of Nevada's offensive line to generate 239 yards on the road is still very impressive. Moreover, Nevada's ability to surrender less than 100 yards to the BYU ground game is even more eye-catching. On a day when BYU needed to run the ball so that freshman quarterback Jake Heaps could grow into the position, Nevada didn't allow that to happen. The Wolf Pack forced the struggling Heaps to win this game in the air, and it was all too obvious that Heaps wasn't up for the task.

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BYU's offense petered out on Saturday. Five different Cougar drives all worked their way inside the Nevada 25, yet scored a total of three points. BYU reached the Nevada 10, 12, 16, 20, and 23 on five separate occasions, yet managed just a lonely field goal from all those forays. Heaps couldn't outmaneuver Nevada's linebackers, who played assignment football and didn't get caught out of position. The Wolf Pack's ability to be stout against the run put all the pressure on Heaps, so when a fourth-and-three or a fourth-and-four situation came calling, BYU's signal caller lacked an adequate answer, as did Cougar offensive coordinator Robert Anae.

Meanwhile, Nevada - behind the expert guidance of veteran quarterback Colin Kaepernick (278 yards of total offense) - burst out of the chute with 24 first-half points and then made a statement midway through the second half. The Wolf Pack, relying on their ground game, reeled off a 21-play, 75-yard drive that took 8:53 off the clock and produced a field goal. The dominating "small-ball," move-the-chains march gave Nevada a three-possession lead at 27-10 while keeping the Cougar offense off the field for more than half a quarter. The Chinese water torture drill - with first downs being generated in slow, drip-drip-drip fashion - gave Nevada scoreboard leverage while denying BYU a legitimate chance to make a comeback. It was the stuff of an upper-tier team... a team that is now ranked in the top 25.

Nevada has proven itself to the college football community. In late November, Boise State needs to watch out when it travels to the town of Reno.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer