Nevada leaves cold winter for Hawaii
It may not be the bowl game the Nevada football team set out for prior to the season, but at the end of the day, the Wolf Pack will be spending its winter break in 80-degree temperatures on a beautiful island.
Don’t feel bad for Nevada for making the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.
As for the game itself, it took little deliberation for many football fans, myself included, to come to the conclusion that this game will be one of the highest-scoring bowl games and, hopefully, most exciting.
LIGHT UP THE SCOREBOARD
Nevada’s opponent in the Hawaii Bowl is Southern Methodist University (7-5, 6-2 Conference USA).
The Mustangs have pretty much the opposite mentality about offense than the Wolf Pack. SMU likes to pass, pass and pass.
The Mustangs rank 26th in the country with 431 passes thrown this year, while rushing just 354 times (109th in the nation). The Wolf Pack, on the other hand, ran 573 times (fifth in the nation) and threw just 264 times (113th in the nation).
And luckily for both of these offenses, they’ll be taking on poor defenses.
SMU is 88th in the country in rush defense (169 yards per game) while the Wolf Pack is 119th in the nation in defending the pass (284 yards per game).
Both teams know what they do well and there is no reason why they should change their game plan.
Don’t be shocked if more than 1,000 yards of offense are racked up and this game and the final score resembles a college basketball game.
SANDERS WILL BE A PROBLEM
Thirteen receivers caught for more than 92 yards against the Wolf Pack defense this season. Nine of those receivers topped 100 yards.
From past experience and watching the Nevada secondary falter time and time again, there will likely be another pair of receivers added to this list.
The first one is Emmanuel Sanders, who is one of the best receivers in the nation. Sanders averaged 101.3 receiving yards per game this year (eighth in the country). The speedy senior is a very exciting player to watch and can turn a short pass into a long touchdown.
The second is Aldrick Robinson. The junior wide receiver was second on the team with 624 receiving yards this year and five touchdowns. It’s been a down year for Robinson, who had 1,047 receiving yards as a sophomore, but expect him to break out in a big way against the Wolf Pack.
WAIT, THEY RUN, TOO?
But the Mustangs aren’t as one-sided as they sound.
SMU’s running back Shawnbrey McNeal rushed for 1,125 yards this season and nine touchdowns in his first year with the team since transferring over from the University of Miami.
McNeal is small at 5-foot-10, 190 pounds, but he’s shifty. He’s very quick and his speed will be tough for the Nevada defense to combat.
However, the Wolf Pack defense plays better against fast, smaller running backs than big, powerful ones. Nevada’s defenders are small and fast themselves so they are able to bring down these backs much better than big, bruising ones.
Juan López can be reached at jlopez@nevadasagebrush.com.
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