FOOTBALL NOTES: Defense steps up
Nevada’s defense stepped up and made several big stops against No. 13 Hawaii’s high-powered offense on Friday.
The defense held Hawaii to 430 yards of offense, more than 100 yards less than its average output.
“The defense played well, especially in the fourth quarter,” Nevada coach Chris Ault said. “They kept them in check in those third and fourth down situations.”
One important stop came midway through the fourth quarter when Nevada stopped Hawaii on 4th-and-3, pressuring backup quarterback Tyler Graunke to throw and incomplete pass.
Ault said he was impressed with the pass defense despite the fact that it gave up several big plays.
“We had some breakdowns there’s no question about it, but we played with some energy and consistency,” he said. “I thought that consistency was key. That’s something which we had not done on pass coverage before.”
Nevada held Hawaii 75 yards under its season passing average.
“I think we did a great job containing them,” cornerback Paul Pratt said.
Passing problems
Nevada’s passing game has been something it can count on game in and game out, but Friday night serious problems emerged.
Colin Kaepernick had trouble dealing with Hawaii’s pass rush and over or under threw a number of wide-open receivers.
He passed for just 134 yards and completed nine of 20 passes for a 45 percent completion rate.
“I thought in the first half Kaepernick was not seeing the blitz well at all,” Ault said. “They caught him a couple times and it really put us in a tough situation.”
Kaepernick said the loss was his fault.
“I just keep replaying plays in my head that I could have made to help our team out,” he said. “Keep drives alive, touchdown plays that we should have had. I’ll take blame for this loss.”
Nevada had a chance to run out the clock and win the game when its offense received the ball with 5:18 to play in the game, but it was able to move only 13 yards.
“Fourth quarter we were confident with what we were doing, we just didn’t finish the game,” Kaepernick said.
Rotating quarterbacks
Hawaii had three different quarterbacks take snaps Friday, eventually handing the reins to junior Tyler Graunke.
On the Rainbow Warriors first possession, Graunke, Colt Brennan, and Inoke Funaki all some time at quarterback.
Ault said Graunke’s success at quarterback is a product of Hawaii’s offensive system being so good.
“You’re talking about stopping that offense whether it’s Graunke or Brennan,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of weapons, so again that’s a very difficult offense to defend.”
Lippincott keeps rolling
While Hawaii kept Nevada’s passing game in check, it couldn’t stop Luke Lippincott.
Lippincott rushed 25 times for 140 yards and one touchdown Friday for his fifth straight 100-yard rushing game and seventh of the year.
Lippincott has 1,194 yards on the season and 11 touchdowns.
He ranks 17th in the nation in average yards per game with 117.
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