Cal vs. Nevada recap

First of all I want to say congratulations to the team and thanks to the fans. In all my years of Nevada football, I can not remember very many times when the fans were more into the game than they were last night. That being said I have a few things to get off my chest.

1. When Cal tied the game at 7-7, a girl behind me said "This is a whole bunch of sucks. Why did we even come to the game, we're going to lose." First of all, it's the 1st quarter, second of all why did you come to the game if you're just going to be negative?

2. His name is pronounced Kap - er - nick. I'm tired of hearing kapernikus, coppernick, kapernis, and many others. Learn your team's quarterbacks' name.

3. When we are up by 10 in the second quarter, it's too early to start chanting "overrated".

4. When OUR offense is in the redzone, coming into the student section, you don't get as loud as you can. You be quiet so the players can hear the audibles that need to be made.

5. It pissed me off to hear everyone on campus talking about how "we are going to get smoked" and we have no shot of winning before the game, and then after the game everyone is saying how amazing we are. I don't want Nevada to be a band wagon team. If you want to say Nevada is amazing, then come BYU and Boise st., I better not hear "we don't stand a chance".

Now about the game. I did not see it being a blowout, I thought there was a 0.01% chance that that could have happened and I'm sorry for not having more faith in the team. Why do I call it a blowout? Because that's what it was. If it weren't for 2 huge rushing plays given up, and 1 unfortunate fumble by Kaepernick (#10) giving them the ball in the redzone, the score would have been 59 - 10. But mistakes happen and you have to learn from them.

The secondary played pretty damn well against the pass, not great but much better than previous.

Oh and to the Cal fans who kept bringing up that they have the #1 defense in the country? I told you that it's too early to use statistics to make a statement in this game. You played U.C. Davis, the worst team in the FCS. The Nevada offense was methodical and persistent, with hardly any resistance put up from the Cal defense. Sorry, but you're not even close to the #1 ranked defense.

Conversation for the BYU game coming soon.

Picture credit goes to my buddy B.Y.. And for the record, I called Nevada scoring 54 in the game and I'm kinda pissed I was off by 2, where was that safety when we needed it ;)

Cal vs. Nevada only a day away

There's been a lot of talk on some forums that Nevada won't even get 100 yards on the ground in this game. Are you nuts? This is the number one rushing attack in the nation, we only lost our second string running back past year and the new offensive linemen are quickly earning their place in the union. The fact that people think Cal's defense can completely stop the rush is like saying that a 2-inch thick piece of glass will stop a train traveling 60mph. It won't happen. Sure it will put up a good fight but let's be real here.

Amazingly that's not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the fans and how I find us to have some of the worst fans there are. Now coming from Vegas I know where not the worst but were definitely not where we should be for having the great team that we have. It's gotten better this year but tomorrow will be the real test. The place is sold out, but how heavy is Cal traveling? Is it going to be another Boise st. game where they take over some of our sections? Great fans would never let that happen.

A message to the fans. Tomorrows game is huge. This is a team that WILL capitalize on ANY mistake we make. This means that if it's the 3rd quarter and we're up by 21, on their 3rd downs you better be on your feet and loud. This also means unless we're up by 50 with 5 minutes left in the game...don't leave. We need you. The team needs you. This city needs you.

This season has the potential to be the greatest season in Nevada football history for a long time, so take pride in it and let everyone know that you were there this year for the team. It's time we had the fans this team deserves to have.

Cal vs. Nevada

Let's talk football. This Friday is the game that can make or break the season, up to this point that is. The Pack must go into this game like the season depends on it because it does. I'm also getting tired of hearing people say how the team is going to get "smoked" on Friday by a far superior team. Guess what? they are not far superior, I find these two teams to be very evenly matched. I think it's a little too early to look at scoring and defensive statistics so we won't go there. What I am going to talk about is what needs to happen.

This game is going to be close, I see it a one-possession game going into the 4th quarter. This favors the Wolf Pack due to their depth at running back, after all we are a ground and pound team. But we can not rely on the running game to win the game for us, we have to use the running game to open up the passing game which will be crucial. Virgil Green is arguably one of the best catching tight-end's in college football which will open up the passing game even more, another plus. If you followed the Pack last year, you know who Brandon Wimberly is, unfortunately he hasn't been utilized much this year so far, but there hasn't been a need to. He will be a huge impact on this game's outcome. Expect to see at least 7 receptions from him and somewhere around 100 yards out of him. If the Bears give him any open space, they will quickly see what he can do.

I don't see the running game having any problems in this week's match-up. Vai will get his 100 yards and kaepernick will add on another 100.

The biggest question is the defense. There is no secret that we have had a problem with the secondary but last week was a shimmer of hope. Sure we played a lesser opponent, but in previous years even that opponent would have gotten 2-3 long passes good enough for 6. The secondary last week stood its ground and if they play that good this week, we might be talking about how "we killed Cal" last weekend. Realistically though, they will give up 2 long plays, but that's better than giving up 5. The rest of the defense will play strong and cause the Bear's offense a lot of trouble. Look for MLB #52 James-Michael Johnson and OLB #33 Brandon Marshall to make big stops and big plays once again.

Outcome?

If you still think "Nevada is going to get smoked" just look at the betting lines for this game. I don't make these numbers, professional odds-makers do and they are saying Cal wins BUT only by 3 points. Now look at the over/under for this game, they also think there will be 110 points on the scoreboard by the end of regulation. If you do the math you'll see it doesn't add up, but with a little understanding you can see that they are calling the outcome of the game:

Cal 57 - Nevada 53

What's my call?

When it comes down to it, the Nevada defense is underrated, I'm not saying they are great, I'm saying they are underrated. The defense will make a late stand when they need to and the offense will score one more touchdown to put the game away in the last 2 minutes.

Cal 45 - Nevada 54