Butler’s return a big boost
Nevada’s 27-20 win over UNLV Saturday marked the return of senior linebacker Ezra Butler to the lineup.Butler was a force on the field in leading the team with 10 tackles and disrupting the Rebels by frequently hurrying quarterback Travis Dixon.
“I think he arrived this week,” coach Chris Ault said of Butler. “We’re not blessed with guys with that kind of talent on our sideline, so he’s got to play and he’s got to be a producer for us.”
Senior Matt Hines said Butler was a leader on the field.
“He gives us that emotion out there,” Hines said.
Butler said the fact it was his first full game back and it was going to be his last chance to beat UNLV energized him.
“You don’t want to be remembered as the senior class that gave the cannon away,” Butler said. “I felt like I needed to reestablish myself.”
Butler was suspended for the season opener against Nebraska for an undisclosed violation of team rules.
He played half the game against Northwestern, but suffered a mild quadriceps injury and was held out of the Nicholls State game the following week.
“I think today was the start of his senior season,” Ault said.
Pack-ed house
Nevada’s third consecutive win over UNLV Saturday was watched by a sellout crowd of 25,278, including a packed student section that was on its feet the whole game.
Nevada coach Chris Ault said the fans made a big difference in the game.
“I thought it was electric,” Ault said of the crowd. “We felt it coming into the stadium and we felt it when we went out to our run-through.”
He said he was especially pleased with the student section.
“I tell you what I’m real proud of though, we came back to practice at 10:30 (a.m.) and you got a student line out there wrapped around the stadium,” Ault said. “You got something going on. When they (students) do it right, they really energize the crowd and that’s the fun part of college football.”
Kicked around
Both teams frequently started drives with excellent field position Saturday, a product of some bad kicking and good returns.
Nevada kicker Brett Jaekle’s first two kickoffs flew out of bounds, resulting in UNLV getting the ball at the 35-yard line.
Nevada got better field position on kickoffs than UNLV, on average starting from the 40-yard line while UNLV started from the 36-yard line
Sophomore running back Dwayne Sanders helped Nevada get better field position than UNLV, returning three kickoffs for a total of 100 yards.
One of those came at a crucial time.
After UNLV scored a field goal to take a 13-10 lead in the fourth quarter, Sanders returned the kickoff 45 yards to the UNLV 49-yard line, taking the momentum away from the Rebels and setting up an eventual game-tying field goal by Jaekle.
“I thought Sanders did a great job for us returning the ball,” Ault said. “In fact, our kickoff return team played the best they have in our four games.”
Injuries
Two key Nevada starters were injured during Saturday’s game.
After putting a big hit on UNLV wide receiver Ryan Wolfe in the first quarter, stopping him for a no gain, sophomore cornerback Jonathon Amaya had to be helped off the field because of a strained knee.
Ault said he is probable for next week’s game against Fresno State.
The second injury was to wide receiver Arthur King Jr., who suffered a mild concussion and shoulder separation in the second quarter. Ault said he is unlikely to play next week.
Also, Ault said senior defensive end Erics Clark is in the hospital with a serious case of pneumonia and will likely not play next week.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 12:33 am and is filed under Football, Sports.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Print this post
Email this post© 2008 The Nevada Sagebrush
