The Nevada Sagebrush

Nevada runs all over Rebels, breaks school rushing record

By: Juan López

Saturday, October 3, 2009 - 6:25 PM

Nevada running back Mike Ball, left, and quarterback Colin Kaepernick celebrate during the Wolf Pack's 63-28 win over the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Saturday. Photo by Casey Durkin/The Nevada Sagebrush

Nevada football head coach Chris Ault says he doesn’t worry about stats.

But even Ault can’t ignore this one — the Wolf Pack ran for a Nevada single-game record 559 yards and seven touchdowns on Saturday against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Although Nevada had three players rush for more than 100 yards — Mike Ball, Luke Lippincott and Colin Kaepernick — Ault said the credit for the team’s success fell to the offensive line.

“The o-line was the difference maker in the game,” he said after the game. “That’s the heart of the football team. Not Kaepernick, not Luke, not Ball, that o-line. They were outstanding. And I mean outstanding. (Offensive line) coach (Chris Klenakis) and his guys did as good a job as you could do coaching.”

The rushing totals were a big part of why Nevada trounced the Rebels 63-28. The 63 points were the most Nevada has scored in a game since putting up 67 on Oct. 14, 2007 against Boise State.

The person who accounted for many of those 63 points was Ball. The redshirt running back carried the ball 15 times for 184 yards and scored five touchdowns. His five touchdowns were second-highest single game total in Wolf Pack history.

The game was the first in Ball’s career in which he has seen major action (he had one carry for zero yards on Sept. 5 against Notre Dame).

“I give a lot of credit to the offensive line because all the holes that were there, they were huge,” Ball said. “Real big. Like my mother could have drove through there.”

Ball scored from all over the field, getting in the end zone on runs of 10, one, 32, four and 89 yards.

The Wolf Pack blew the game open in the fourth quarter.

After playing sloppily in the first three quarters (Nevada fumbled the ball away four times), the Wolf Pack took a slim 35-28 lead into the final period.

Here’s where the running game was taken to a new level.

In the fourth quarter, Nevada rushed for 238 yards on just 13 carries, an average of 18.3 yards per carry.

Lippincott said the running lanes opened up by the offensive line made it easy for him to run.

“You just see it and you hit it,” said Lippincott who rushed for 170 yards and a touchdown. “That’s why we work so hard at practice, so when we see stuff like that, the holes open up, we don’t freak out or try and do something we’re not capable of doing.”

With the win, Nevada picked up its first victory of the year, just one week before it will start Western Athletic Conference play.

The win gave the Wolf Pack its fifth consecutive victory over the Rebels and kept the Fremont Cannon blue for at least one more year — something which Lippincott said was on his mind for the entire game.

“Inside the lockerroom after the game was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had here,” he said.

Nevada will look to make it two wins in a row next week against Louisiana Tech (2-2, 1-1 Western Athletic Conference). Kickoff is slated for 6:05 p.m. on Friday at Mackay Stadium.

KEYS TO NEVADA’S WIN

RB Mike Ball: 15 carries, 184 yards, five touchdowns

RB Luke Lippincott: 19 carries, 170 yards, one touchdown

QB Colin Kaepernick: 17 carries, 173 yards. 15-of-18 passing, 208 yards, one touchdown

This marks the first time in school history Nevada had three players rush for more than 100 yards in the same game.

The Wolf Pack went 7-for-7 on third down.

Nevada ran the ball for school-record 559 yards on 55 carries (10.2 yards per carry).

The 773 yards of total offense the Wolf Pack had was its highest total since 2001 and the most in a Football Bowl Subdivision game this season.

The Nevada defense had eight tackles for loss, four by defensive end Dontay Moch.

Juan López can be reached at jlopez@nevadasagebrush.com.