Pack defense ‘non-existent’ in loss to Aggies
Nevada lost its Western Athletic Conference home opener Saturday to New Mexico State 48-45.
“Defensively speaking, we were non-existent,” Nevada coach Chris Ault said. “We did not make plays defensively. It’s a real disappointment, just to play as poor as we played, it’s haunting.”
New Mexico State (3-2, 1-0) scored a touchdown in three of its first four possessions. The Aggies threw for 409 yards, ran for 104 yards and were 3-for-3 on fourth down.
“A lot of it was us not doing our job,” junior linebacker Mike Bethea said. “We got to be able to get off the field on those third-and-longs and fourth-and-longs.”
Nevada (3-3, 1-1) still had a chance despite its poor defense.
The Wolf Pack grabbed a 31-28 lead in the third quarter after quarterback Colin Kaepernick hooked up with running back Vai Taua on a five-yard touchdown pass.
Nevada’s defense then forced the Aggie offense into a three-and-out, which forced a punt. The punt by Aggie redshirt freshman Kyle Hughes soared deep into Wolf Pack territory. Nevada return man Jonathon Amaya was under the punt and surrounded by Aggie defenders, but still attempted a return.
“Just fair catch it. Just fair catch it, that’s all you do,” Ault said. “In fact he had Antoine (Thompson) yelling across, ‘fair catch it, fair catch it,’ I mean he was telling him. Jon (Amaya) doesn’t drop those, but he did this time.”
The junior muffed the punt, which was recovered by New Mexico State at Nevada’s 20-yard line and led to a field goal that tied the game at 31.
After the Aggie offense turned Amaya’s fumble into three points, the Nevada offense drove to New Mexico State’s 15-yard line and was primed to score the go-ahead touchdown.
Kaepernick then fumbled a shotgun snap that was picked up on the run by senior Aggie defensive tackle Oren Long, who rumbled 83 yards the other way for a touchdown that gave the Aggies a 38-31 lead.
“That was 100 percent my fault,” Kaepernick said. “The ball went through my hands and that was the turning point in the game. It was a 14-point turnaround for us.”
It was not all bad news for the Wolf Pack. Running back Vai Taua celebrated his 20th birthday Saturday by having the best game of his young collegiate career. Taua carried the ball 20 times for 188 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught five passes for 49 yards and two touchdowns.
Nevada will try to rebound next week as it hosts the Utah State Aggies at 1:05 p.m. in its Homecoming Game.
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on Saturday, October 11th, 2008 at 7:06 pm and is filed under Breaking News, Football, Sports.
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