Damn the Smurf Turf
Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2007 @ 1:42 am
Nevada coach Chris Ault’s prophecy was almost fulfilled.
Since returning for his third stint as head coach for the Wolf Pack, Ault made good on promises by restoring the Mackay Stadium advantage and beating UNLV three straight times.
Taking down Boise State was the last item on the checklist, and the Wolf Pack almost earned the improbable win tonight before falling 69-67 in four overtimes in what has to be considered the best college football game this season.
Entering tonights game, the Wolf Pack didn’t figure to have much of a chance. The Broncos had owned the “rivalry” over the last seven years, winning by almost 40 points per game.
Instead the Wolf Pack’s offense pounded Boise State’s No. 6-ranked defense for more than 600 yards of offense and 67 points.
The big news of the night was the emergence of redshirt freshman Colin Kaepernick, who guided the offense with 243 passing yards for three touchdowns and 177 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
More importantly, the Wolf Pack showed that the gap is narrowing between Boise State and the Wolf Pack. The Wolf Pack haven’t even put up much of a fight over the last seven years against the Broncos, tonight they almost won in Boise.
Last season the Broncos showed their class up front, demolishing the Wolf Pack in the trenches. Running back Ian Johnson did his best human slash-and-burn interpretation on offense, and former Wolf Pack quarterback Jeff Rowe was barely getting to the back of his drop before he had to scramble.
This season, the Wolf Pack’s offense line destroyed the Broncos defensive line. The Broncos had yielded just 2.2 yards per carry entering the game - Nevada racked up 400 yards rushing for seven touchdowns and an average of more than seven yards per carry.
The line blew the Broncos off the ball and created plenty of time for Kaepernick to sit and throw. In short, the Wolf Pack finally has the big bodies up front necessary to compete against the nation’s best and the athletes to take advantage of holes and seems.
As good as all that is, however, this game is going to end a giant collection of miss opportunities.
Aside from trying to exorcise personal demons, the Wolf Pack would have been the first WAC team to ever beat Boise State on Les Blue since the Broncos joined the conference.
The win would have been one of the biggest in program history, along with the 2005 upset of then-No. 16 Fresno State to earn a share of the conference championship, and would have loosened the Broncos hold on the conference.
But as exciting as the game was, as good as the Wolf Pack looked on offense - as amazing as Kaepernick played - losing like that is a bitter, disappointing outcome that really hurts the Wolf Pack’s bowl chances.
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