The Nevada Sagebrush

SHERATON HAWAII BOWL                             Q1    Q2    Q3    Q4        T

Nevada (8-5, 7-1 WAC) ———————————– 0       0        3         7          10

Southern Methodist (8-5, 6-2 C-USA) ——– 17     14       7          7          45

Southern Methodist University wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders had seven catches for 124 yards and a touchdown in his team's 45-10 Hawaii Bowl victory over Nevada on Thursday in Honolulu. Photo by Casey Durkin/Nevada Sagebrush

HONOLULU — Nevada can’t blame this one on turnovers. It can’t blame this one on penalties or the referees or anything else for that matter.

Southern Methodist University obliterated the Wolf Pack 45-10 in the 2009 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl on Thursday night at Aloha Stadium.

In its previous four losses this year, the Wolf Pack could attribute its woes to self-inflicted wounds like penalties and turnovers.

But that wasn’t the case Thursday where Nevada entered as a 14-point favorite.

Simply put, SMU, which was playing in its first bowl game since 1984, manhandled Nevada in every phase of the game.

The Mustangs outgained the Wolf Pack 332 to 101 in the first half and jumped out to a 38-0 lead midway through the third quarter.

It took the Mustangs just three offensive plays to score its first touchdown of the game, which came on a nine-yard touchdown run from running back Shawnbrey McNeal. The score was set up by a picture-perfect 71-yard pass and run from quarterback Kyle Padron to wide receiver Cole Beasley.

After shutting Nevada down on offense, the SMU offense came on the field and scored another touchdown, again on a short run to the right side by McNeal.

Being down two touchdowns was not an unfamiliar sight for Nevada, who came back from a 14-0 deficit on Oct. 31 against Hawaii to win 31-21. But the Mustangs did not let up.

SMU’s defense kept up its stellar play and shut down the Nevada offense as the Mustangs rolled into halftime with a 31-0 lead.

The top-notch Nevada running game, which came in averaging more than 360 yards per contest, was silenced for just 66 yards on 19 attempts.

SMU kept up its intensity for the entire game and narrowly missed a shutout.

For the Wolf Pack, this marked its fourth consecutive bowl loss and ended a down week in Hawaii in which it saw its star running back Vai Taua become academically ineligible, one of its players suspended and another kicked off of the team.

QUICK STATS:

Nevada:

QB Colin Kaepernick: 15-of-29, 177 yards, one touchdown, one interception. 13 carries, 23 yards

RB Lampford Mark: 15 carries, 90 yards

WR Brandon Wimberly: seven catches, 80 yards, one touchdown

Southern Methodist:

QB Kyle Padron: 32-of-41, 460 yards, two touchdowns

RB Shawnbrey McNeal: 12 carries, 63 yards, three touchdowns

WR Emmanuel Sanders: seven catches, 124 yards, one touchdown

WR Aldrick Robinson: nine catches, 176 yards

EXTRA NOTES:

–Nevada was held to just 137 yards rushing. It came in averaging more than 360 rushing yards per game.

–SMU quarterback Kyle Padron threw for a school record 460 yards. Padron, a freshman, was named the game’s Most Valuable Player for the Mustangs.

–Nevada defensive end Kevin Basped was named the Wolf Pack’s MVP for the game. He recorded two sacks

–Wolf Pack quarterback Colin Kaepernick threw an interception in the fourth quarter of the game. The interception was his first in 139 passing attempts.

–This marks Nevada’s fourth consecutive bowl loss.

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

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