3 X 3000?

Earlier this year, Nevada became only the second team ever in college football to have three running backs reach the 2,000 career yards mark in the same season.

And everyone knows that this year Colin and Vai have crossed the 1,000 yard mark and if Luke gets just 154 yards in his last 3 games, they will become the first team in NCAA history to have 3 different players rush for over 1,000 yards in the same season.

Now here's another little nugget of info we thought about:

With Luke at 2,846 career yards running, Kaepernick at 2,738, and Vai at 2,692 the Wolf Pack could have three players go over the 3,000 career rushing yards mark in the same season.  We believe that would be a second "never been done" accomplishment for the Pack.

Luke will need 154 yards (there's that number again!) which would mean 52 per game including the bowl game.  That's 35 yards below his season average per game.  And when you consider he didn't carry against Notre Dame then you have to believe he'll get there.

Kaep will need 262 yards which will mean 88 per game including the bowl game.  This is 13 yards below his season average per game.  This will probably be the most difficult one for the Pack to achieve as you know teams will be gunning to keep Kaep in check.

Vai will need 308 yards which will mean 103 per game including the bowl game.  Vai has ran for over 100 yards in 6 consecutive games.  That number is 15 yards below his season average, and considering he did not carry against Missouri then you to believe he'll get there as well.

This pistol offense that coach Ault has firing sure has been exciting to watch.  There are a lot of very interesting and historic things taking place right now on the field for the Nevada Wolf Pack.

In Memoriam

Every fan of Wolf Pack football lost a dear friend this weekend. A man who never failed to make us smile, lift our spirits or brighten our day with his sense of humor and general outlook on life. A man who quite literally had a hand in helping to bring pride and dignity back to college football in Reno. The phrases "class act" and "credit to his profession" are thrown around a lot these days, but in this case both are completely justified. I'm speaking, of course, about UNLV head football coach Mike Sanford.

Yes, loyal reader, I'm afraid it's true. In two weeks, after what will have been five seasons of completely and utterly sub-par football, our friend Mikey will be shown the door. In his place another ambitious rube will commit another five years to continuing the Rebels' long and proud tradition...of completely and utterly sub-par football. The Circle of Life is beautiful in its simplicity.

Oh Mikey! You graced the Pack with your presence once a year for five years, and provided us with many happy memories which will not soon fade from our hearts. Who could forget the 2005 game in which you so graciously returned the Fremont Cannon -- all critical pieces intact and accounted for -- to Reno? Or your tireless efforts to help bring the largest crowd in rivalry history into Sam Boyd Stadium in 2006, and quickly out again after the second half began? There was the 2007 game, and your refusal to plan for another scoring drive even as the Pack scored the winning touchdown (you were always such a kidder, Mikey!). Remember the 2008 game, and all your hard work getting your players to believe their own hype just so Nevada's players could appreciate dropping 49 points on them that much more? We do, too. And what about Mike Ball? He and his mom both swear up and down they think you're a nice guy. Honest.

And let us not forget any of the smaller, but no less poignant reminders we'll always have of why we love you. Little things like...

• Giving Nevada students an excuse to rush the field.
• Giving Nevada students an excuse to rush the field in Las Vegas.
• Rocky Hinds, and how he could've walked on water if he'd only stayed healthy.
• Kicking a field goal with less than five minutes left in the game to courageously prevent a shutout.
• Snapping a field goal over the holder's head.
• Seeing you claim -- with a straight face -- that you beat the "school up north" in head-to-head recruiting.
• Frank "The Tank" Summers and his rolls of neck fat.
• T-shirts that said "It Takes a Tank to Win a Cannon."
• The pleasure of seeing your players bite on the same fake hand-offs over and over...and over...and over...and over...and over...and over...and over...
• Taking time out of your busy schedule in order to help rewrite Nevada's record books for rushing stats.
• Listening to Rebel fans sitting around us wonder out loud -- without a clue or a trace of humility in their voices -- "How did this quarterback end up in Reno?!"
• Rebels2k3, and the wonder that is The Beatdown thread on Silver and Blue Sports.
• The one time Colin held out the ball on a read option, and his running back accidentally ran behind him...and Colin still picked up five yards on the play. Seriously Mikey, it takes a special kind of defense to bite on a fake hand-off to an invisible running back!
• Giving Nevada punter Brad Langley a breather for the entire 2009 game.
• ...and over...and over...and over...and over...and over...and over...and over...and over...

But as warm and fuzzy as all of those memories will continue to be, nothing -- absolutely, positively, Scout's honor, no bull, NOTHING -- can top the Iowa State Meltdown:

Yes, we're aware that Sanford wasn't told the play had already been reviewed and confirmed...but therein lies the beauty/comedy/tragedy of it all. The cluelessness, the trip and fall, the insistence upon making a scene in order to get what you want -- that, in a nutshell, is UNLV football.

And while the meltdown in Ames will never be topped, at a press conference yesterday our friend Mikey tried his hardest to do just that. And frankly, he almost succeeded:

After outlining the choice we all have between being a victim and using circumstances to help make one's self a better person...he then throws his entire athletic department under the bus for not giving him enough time and resources. That's not very nice, Mikey! We do appreciate what you said about Nevada's facilities being better than yours, though -- you're honest about one thing, at least.

So goodbye, Mike Sanford. Goodbye to your quick smile, your quicker excuses, your naive optimism and your totally unjustified confidence. Enjoy your fate as a skid mark on the underwear of college football coaching, and please let all of us here at Pistol Whipping the WAC know how "out-recruiting" the "school up north" is working out for you.

Cause If You Don't Know, Now You Know

Oh yeah baby.  One of the smack talkinest fan bases in the WAC saw their team go down HARD this weekend at the hands of the #1 rushing offense in the country as the Wolf Pack exerted their dominance over the Fresno State Bulldogs by a score of 52-14 in front of a good crowd at Mackay Stadium.

The win takes the Pack to 7-3 on the season and 6-0 in the WAC.  Next up is a little payback trip to the New Mexico St Aggies.  A game that is being shown on ESPNU at 7:30 pacific time next Saturday.

Now, next weeks game is great and all, but we aren't finished with rubbing a little salt in the wound of our other red wearing friends from the south.

Yeah, we heard it all this week.  Won't be able to stop Mathews.  Gonna find which team in the WAC really knows how to run the ball.  Hands down Fresno is better than Nevada, etc, etc, etc.  You remember last year we did a story comparing the Bulldogs of Fresno to Uncle Rico?  Listening to their fan base you would think they could throw the ball over a mountain.  Or at least run all over Nevada while stopping the Pack rush attack.

Let us tell you something boys and girls:  Before Mathews got hurt, Mathews was getting STUFFED.  He had one memorable carry for 20 yards on Fresno's second drive.  Subtract that and his remaining 7 carries netted him 12 yards.  In fact, checking the play-by-play, he had 3 carries of -1 yard each.  But that's right.......Nevada only has a good run defense because they haven't played anybody.  Their stats are inflated.  They aren't that good......We hope Ryan Mathews is ok.  That was a nasty collision with safety Jonathon Amaya.  We just wish he could have finished the game so his 100 yards rushing streak could have been broken without the excuse of the injury.  At the 4ypc he was averaging before the injury, he would have had to carry 17 more times with his team being behind 10 points at the time he left the game.

You want to keep talking ooc games?  Who cares.  0-3 vs. 0-3. 

So you played Wisconsin in Wisconsin to a 34-31 game.  And Cincinatti in Cincinatti to an 8 point game.  You played Nevada to a 52-14 whipping in Reno is what you did there.  Who cares if Nevada got drubbed in week 1 at South Bend.  Like that really has anything to do with Nevada in Reno in week 11.  Get over yourselves already.  La Tech played LSU to a 24-16 score tonight in one of, if not the toughest stadium to play in in college football.  La Tech is 3-7.  It means NOTHING!  We're sick and tired of the whole, "boo-hoo, Nevada embarassed the WAC in ooc.  We hate you because you make our conference look bad."  Oh yeah?  Well guess what....We hate you because you melt down in our conference every year and never live up to the self made hype you project all season.  Or maybe we love that about you.  We aren't sure yet.

And as for ourselves.  Well it looked to us like you knew what was coming and you were powerless to stop it.  Lippincott had 14.9 per carry and a buck fifty.  Taua at 10.5 per and a buck seventy five.  Kaepernick chipped in 95 and, well, we guess you could say you were mildly successful in that you held him to 7.9 per which is actually below his NCAA leading 8.3 per.  We didn't even have to wear you down.  We were getting playstation numbers on the ground during the first quarter.

BTW, since we return most everyone as does Boise St next year.....and with Idaho getting better and Utah St and La Tech being young, well coached programs.....enjoy your stay at "middle of the WAC team" for the next couple of seasons.

We'll stop there.  It's pretty harsh but that's what happens when you run off at the mouth all season.  It gets slapped.  All those Fresno fans walking around Reno this weekend who would stop and bark at fans wearing the silver and blue all the sudden got real quiet Saturday afternoon.  Just like we like em.

Undoing History is Hard Work

Just a quick entry today on the eve of what should be an epic showdown with Fresno State tomorrow afternoon.

By now I’m sure you’ve heard the big news out of Legacy Hall: Nevada and Cal will play a three-game series in football, and the Golden Bears are coming to Reno next year for the first third of the series.

In the last four years alone, Nevada has secured home-and-home series with the likes of Northwestern, Texas Tech, Missouri, Oregon and Arizona and two-for-ones with UCLA and now Cal, all while playing a paltry number of FCS opponents. Furthermore, as per the athletic department’s press release announcing the series, Nevada is seeking out one last game to complete what would be a 13-game schedule for next year, and the program’s first seven-game home slate in nearly twenty years!

I’d like to be the first – and if not the first in general, then at least the first to do it in cyberspace – to declare that Nevada’s senior associate athletic director, Rory Hickok, deserves a raise. Yes, times are tough and money is tight everywhere you look, but this guy deserves a lot more praise and positive attention than what he’s currently getting. He’s done nothing but work minor miracles with Nevada’s football scheduling, and this recent agreement with Cal is perhaps his finest achievement to date. Because of his efforts, Nevada has finally orchestrated a series with one of the two BCS teams in its backyard that has inexplicably avoided it on the gridiron for more than seventy years. Yes, Cal and Nevada played in Berkeley in 1996, but only because the team originally slated to visit – Pacific – dropped its entire football program beforehand, and the Pack answered Cal’s call for a replacement opponent.

Whether Cal’s athletic director strong-armed Bears coach Jeff Tedford into this series or if he finally gave his own consent is unknown, and frankly, doesn’t matter. The fact that it’s a two-for-one and not a home-and-home series? Fuhgeddaboudit! Berkeley is the easiest football road trip a Pack fan could possibly ask for – even easier than San Jose – and in the next six years you can look forward to making it twice. Doublemint was right: double your pleasure, double your fun.

And to those of you who believe Nevada is "settling" for a two-for-one series here, in the immortal words of my best friend from high school: don't get your panties in a bunch. As my twin friends here illustrate, two really is better than one in this case. Besides, I seem to recall the men’s basketball team “settling” for a two-for-one series with Kansas a while back…

So if you ever happen to see Mr. Hickok in person, be sure to thank him for everything he’s done to elevate Wolf Pack football. Heck, take a few minutes out of your day and send him an e-mail to let him know just how freaking sweet this all is. A pat on the back or a handshake is easy compared to reversing seventy years worth of history.

Guest Poster Get's in the Mix

And recaps the beatdown of San Jose that was doled out on Sunday.



An Introduction, and a Road Trip Report from San Jose


Before I begin, an introduction is in order. I am a recent Nevada graduate, a current season ticket-holder for Wolf Pack football and men’s basketball, and an aspiring blogger who has (perhaps foolishly) decided to apply for work in this monkey organization Packfan7 is running. In addition to attending as many home games as I can manage, I’ve traveled all over this great land of ours to watch the Pack play. Seattle , San Jose , Stockton , Fresno , Las Vegas , Boise , Logan , Chicago and South Bend have all bared witness to my borderline clinical obsession with the Pack, and I vow to add even more locales to that list in the coming years.


I’m looking forward to my future contributions, and to dialoging with any and every reader who happens across this blog. Packfan7 has granted me the ability to blog about basically whatever I want regarding the Pack – a decision he will come to regret.

With that throat-clearing out of the way, here are my observations (and pictures) from the beatdown that was San Jose 2009:


The tailgating scene next to Spartan Stadium. Give the Spartans this much credit: their fans throw a pretty good party. And consider this the next time you want to complain about parking at Mackay: a space in this lot? $30.

Vai Taua's dad and grandfather were kind enough to offer us some of the fantastic BBQ they were serving up, along with this all-important checklist.

How quant!

Not so quant.

You can barely see him, but the guy standing behind the girl on the right is wearing a Michael Vick jersey. Classy.

His career with the Raiders winding down, Tom Cable decides to try his hand at DJ. What loyalty he continues to show his (future) ex-team!

Bay Area sports fans...snooty? Surely you jest! Now pass me another merlot.

The proper way in which to settle any tailgating dispute -- dance-off!

The drunken dancing aside, this guy was terrible. Here he is trying to "rock tha mic" as you kids call it.

The view from what would've been my seat if I'd stayed put. Oddly enough, this is also what the stadium looked like for most of the night.

The closest the Spartans would ever get all night.

The Spartan Marching Band enters.

Downtown San Jose from the top of the east bleachers.

And this is how the Spartan defense felt for the entire game. Quick aside: why is Wolfie wearing pants, but Alphie isn't?

Drake's opening kick-off.

Our new seats afforded our group a better view of the players. Even while we made general fools of ourselves throughout the game, the players stayed focus. What troopers we cheer for!

Alonzo Durham had some cheerleaders of his own. What are the chances the athletic department could start a "'Zo Knows" ad campaign?

Good view of the players. Better view of the cheer and dance teams.

How good is Colin at running the Pistol? Even my highly trained (translation: not trained whatsoever) eye can't tell who has the ball on this play.

Coach Ault and Colin discussing something after another score.

In San Jose this is considered over 11,000. And I'm not making that up.

One of the cheerleaders who so kindly put up with our group repeatedly butchering the fight song that night.

Arguably the most underrated assistant coach in the WAC, running backs coach Jim Mastro.

The offense prepares to take the field again.

Given how often this offense scores, these cheerleaders probably ran several miles worth of end zone that night.

Even opposing band members like our cheerleaders.

The PAT that followed Vai's long TD run. Crushing spirits is fun!

Pulled out in the third quarter, Colin's greatest enemy for the rest of the game was boredom.

Tyler Lantrip prepares to lead the second-team offense.

Courtney Randall prepares to take a hand-off and remind us why he's the team's short yardage back.

Kevin Basped: "I dunno, we're just awesome, I guess!" (Disclaimer: I don't know what Kevin actually said, but pretending is fun)

For the sake of getting home earlier, we decided to head out right here. The team must've sensed we had left, because they didn't score again for the rest of the game -- how nice of them!

Thanks to all of my friends for taking part in what was a great experience. And great job, Pack -- keep the good times rolling all the way through Boise and whichever bowl game you end up in!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Hey, thanks a lot of the pics and thoughts PBAM.  If you keep doing more, we'll keeping posting them up.

No Forgiveness

So how many of you remember this image?  Apparently it's the only one the rest of the college football world remembers when the words Nevada Wolf Pack are mentioned.  Or so it often feels that way.

For whatever reason Nevada stumbled out of the blocks.

A team that was thought to be a BCS buster type was shut out on opening day against a Notre Dame opponent it was supposed to give a run for it's money.  It was then embarrassed two weeks later by a Colorado State team that has proved to be anything but spectacular.  And a week after that on national television once again, it looked like perhaps Nevada was finally going to get a win against an undefeated Big 12 opponent....only to stumble late to a team that has since lost 3 of it's last 4.

Going into this game Sunday night with the struggling San Jose St Spartans, Nevada needs to make a statement on national TV.  The Wolf Pack needs to stop the whole business of going into the half up or down by a score.  We need a good old fashioned "taken them to the woodshed" type of game out of the gates.  It won't be easy.

San Jose has played two of the top Pac 10 teams on the road (USC and Stanford), a ranked Utah team, and three of the top 4 WAC teams with two of those (Fresno St, Boise St) being on the road as well.  And if you didn't watch that game at Boise, then we'll fill you in.  It should have been a 10-7 game at the half in Boise.  A bizarre series of events that began with a poor call (resulting in a WAC official being suspended this weekend) and ended with 14 unanswered points in under a minute made it a much different ball game.

The last time Nevada was at Spartan Stadium it looked like the Pack was going to cruise to a victory up 24-10 at the half.  Two quarters, 17 unanswered points, and a missed 37 yard field goal later and the Pack had to make the long bus ride home as 27-24 losers.

That simply can't be the case this year.

Our message to the team for this weekend is this:  Don't leave your hearts in San Jose.  If you get your foot on their throats early, step down hard.  Keep blitzing.  Keep scoring.  Don't let up.  You are capable of it and you'll need all the momentum you can muster for the short week of practice heading into the final home game against Fresno St.

Good luck and Go Wolf Pack!

Trick or Treat

Boo!

Last year we did a Halloween post and it was loved by all.  We thought: lets do another one!  We wanted to celebrate the impending slasher film that is going to take place at Mackay this Saturday when the Wolf Pack offensive attack hacks, slices, and carves its way into more records against a decimated and depleated Hawaii defense.

If you're a fan of the Halloween movies, then you probably know the one rocker who loves the ghoulish holiday and it's demonic undertones more than Michael Meyers himself.  We asked Mr Zombie if he would tell us something about the Nevada Wolf Pack.  After some thought he decided to comment on coach Ault's Pistol Offense.  And here's what he had to say:

Wow!  We don't usually use that sort of language around here but we'll give you a break this time seeing as how you're a rock star and all.

And since Mr. Zombie was kind enough to talk about the Pistol, we figured we would honor him by talking about some of our favorite Wolf Pack players using Rob Zombie and White Zombie songs to describe them.

Kevin Basped / I'm Your Boogie Man:  Quarterbacks must feel like the Boogie Man is coming when they see Kevin line up in 3rd and long situations.  Like the kids say, "He's gonna get you.  The boogie man is coming."  We're pretty sure KB is coming at whoever manages to start for the Warriors this weekend.

Colin Kaepernick / Demon Speeding:  When defensive backs think they have the angle on Kaepernick only to realize he's blown by them on his way to 6, they must feel like he's demon speeding.  Or using some other form of supernatural power to suddenly shoot past.  Idaho coach Rob Akey called him superman.  Hey, maybe we need to do this list again some time using super heroes.

Luke Lippincott / Never Gonna Stop:  "Never gonna stop me, never gonna stop.  Scream if you want it.  Cause I want more."  Luke wanted more so badly he came back for a 5th year.  And as we've seen over and over.  Opponents can't stop him no matter how hard they try.

Dontay Moch / Superbeast:  When you have the most tackles for loss in the nation, it's safe to say you are a beast.  A superbeast.  Dontay has been playing the run and pass as well as any defensive end we can remember in recent history.  It should be another day of sacks and tfl's this weekend against a Hawaii team who has been struggling to protect the QB this season.

Vai Taua / Soul-Crusher:  The third of Nevada's current 2,000 yard backs may be it's most consistent.  As a sophomore he was named first team all WAC and lead the conference in yards.  With twelve 100 yard games already in his career, he's just one away from being tied with Luke even though he's a full year behind him in school.  With Nevada lined up in it's new two back set, opposing defenses must feel like their soul is being crushed.

Coach Ault / I Am Legend:  At 202 wins and counting, as well as a Hall of Fame career, it's safe to say that coach Ault is a Legend.  But that's not enough for a living legend.  Coach Ault is now the creator of the unique offense that is leading the nation in rushing at 320 yards per game.

Happy Halloween Wolf Pack Fans.  Enjoy the game this weekend and stay safe when you go out to celebrate afterwards.