The Nevada Sagebrush

Boise State running back Doug Martin, left, ran for 128 yards against Nevada in his team's 44-33 win over the Wolf Pack on Friday night. Photo by Casey Durkin/The Nevada Sagebrush

BOISE — The Nevada football team couldn’t have been more confident going into its Western Athletic Conference title game on Friday against No. 6 Boise State.

The Wolf Pack was riding an eight-game winning streak, in which it won by an average of 29 points per contest.

Well, it took Boise State just 15 seconds to strip Nevada of any momentum or belief it had. Broncos wide receiver Titus Young returned the game’s opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, giving his team a 7-0 lead at the 14:45 mark in the first quarter. The touchdown started a Boise State onslaught which ended with the Broncos leading 20-0 after the first quarter.

“(The kickoff return) puts you behind the eight-ball and it’s ridiculous,” Nevada head coach Chris Ault said after his team’s 44-33 loss to the Broncos. “(Young) bobbled the ball (when returning the kickoff). The coverage was there the rest of the night, but you got to have it that first time. You can’t let them go the first play of the game and put you behind the eight-ball right away. That’s tough because the demoralizing part of it, is the morale of the football team. You got to pick that up by your play and you’re not going to all of a sudden run up and down the field on Boise State.”

The Wolf Pack (8-4, 7-1 WAC)  did battle back, though. After falling behind 27-3 in the second quarter (courtesy of Young’s kickoff return and three touchdown passes from quarterback Kellen Moore to linebacker Dan Paul), Nevada scored 16 unanswered points to pull within 27-19. The Wolf Pack’s two touchdowns during this run both came on passes from Colin Kaepernick (one to tight end Virgil Green, the other to wide receiver Brandon Wimberly).

But Nevada could not get any closer. It let two key opportunities slip by in the third quarter. The first was when the Wolf Pack trailed 27-19 and got the ball on its own 37-yard line. Nevada managed just two yards on the drive and was forced into a three and out.

The second missed chance came two drives later with Boise State leading 34-26. Wolf Pack safety Jonathon Amaya forced Broncos wide receiver Kirby Moore into a controversial fumble. Officials reviewed the play and determined the ball was indeed fumbled and recovered by Nevada linebacker Brandon Marshall. But the Wolf Pack offense, again, stalled and gave the ball back to the Broncos (12-0, 7-0 WAC).

Wolf Pack running back Luke Lippincott attributed some of Nevada’s problems on offense to the noise of the crowd.

“The crowd was loud so we were having to do everything on silent count so we had to be looking at the ball,” he said. “That was a hard adjustment, but we made them at halftime… it was just too late at that point.”

Lippincott, who surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing total last week, had just one carry for six yards the entire game and was part of a rushing attack that, aside from a 71-yard touchdown, was to held to just four yards per carry by the Broncos’ defense.

“I think they just played sound defense,” said Nevada running back Vai Taua who had a game-high 160 yards on the ground. “Their guys didn’t really make mistakes. They have some really good athletes. Their guys did their job.”

With the game in the books, Boise State will finish its regular season next week against New Mexico State while Nevada will wait to see what bowl game it lands in.

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

STATS:

Boise State:

QB Kelle Moore: 17-of-33, 262 yards, five touchdowns

RB Doug Martin: 16 rushes, 128 yards

LB Dan Paul: Three catches, 22 yards, three touchdowns

Nevada:

QB Colin Kaepernick: 12-of-22, 141 yards, three touchdowns

RB Vai Taua: 24 rushes, 161 yards, one touchdown

WR Brandon Wimberly: Four catches, 58 yards, one touchdown

–Nevada rushed for 242 yards on 44 carries. It came in averaging 373 yards on 48 attempts per game.

–Kaepernick completed his first second half pass with about 10:00 left in the fourth quarter.

–Kaepernick carried the ball 16 times for just 31 yards (1.9 yards per carry).

–The Wolf Pack punted six times against the Broncos. Coming into the game, it was averaging just three punts per game.

–Boise State racked up nine tackles for loss in the game.

Related Posts:

• Quick summary: Nevada vs. Boise State
• Pack’s ground game falters
• Pack plays ‘best game of the year’ in eight-touchdown win over Spartans
• Forget defense, let’s see some more points
• Vai Taua plays big in return