What I've Learned About Nevada in 2008

From Playing NCAA 09.

1. Texas Tech is next to impossible to defeat, while Missouri is rather easy to defeat. Yet at the end of the season, Missouri will make a BCS game and Texas Tech will not.

2. Nevada will slaughter anyone who does not have a good passing attack. No back will produce a 100 yard game against the Pack.

3. Nevada will have to score on every possession when playing against any team who does have a good passing attack.

4. Brett Jaekle can't get a touch back on a kick off no matter how perfect he strikes it. Nor can he make a field goal over 47 yards without a strong wind to his back.

5. Brett Jaekle kicks the onside kick better than anyone and the Pack has a 50% or better recovery rate.

6. Virgil Green will be an absolute monster at TE this year and will have 10 TD's easy.

7. Colin Kaepernick will get run down from behind rather easily by any BCS defensive tackle.

8. Colin Kaepernick will be 75% on his passes and will have the school record for TD's in a season, but will also have 25 interceptions.

9. Luke Lippincott will consistently get 3 to 4 yards up the gut and will never fumble.

10. Luke Lippincott will be deadly when receiving the pitch when Nevada runs the option to the strong side.

11. Marko Mitchell is unstoppable on the 10 yard hook when the defense is in man coverage.

12. Marko Mitchell is also deadly on the WR screen pass.

13. Rocco Beene will be missed as he was a serious threat when running patterns to the flats on quick slant pass plays.

14. Mike McCoy will be unstoppable on the quick comeback when pass plays take place inside the 5.

15. Mike McCoy is still the best when it comes to dragging a foot on the sidelines.

16. Dwayne Sanders is good for a 6-10 yard gain coming out of motion over the middle. Every time.

17. Josh Mauga will lead the team in tackles. And in face masking penalties.

18. Mundrae Clifton will lead the team in sacks. And the team will rarely record a sack in a game, even though the offense is passing like crazy.

19. Jon Amaya will lead the team in interceptions and defensive touchdowns. He's actually one of the best players in the game for Nevada, period!

20. Coach Ault will be the National Coach of the Year and lead the team to the BCS championship game (they finish two in the standings) against Florida State. After multiple resets, they will win the whole darn thing!

There are a bunch more things we notice while playing this game. Like how magically the computer will create a turnover or call the exact correct defense when you are in the red zone late in the fourth quarter going for the go-ahead score. Or how every team in America apparently passes on 70% of their plays, and some on 97%. Playing on-line can be fun, but most people select top 25 ranked BCS teams and if you are even close to evenly matched in your playing skills, you have almost no prayer to win. WAY too biased towards BCS teams.

Freak

(Picture from AP)

I still remember the first time I saw Kevin Basped. It was during the spring before he attended the University of Nevada. I did a double take. Then a triple take. The reason: I thought I was seeing Jevon Kearse on Nevada's campus. That was two years ago.

Fast forward through a red-shirt year and frosh season in which he had 4 sacks (2nd on the team) and 11.5 tackles for loss (3rd best) and things are looking very bright for 6' 6" 240 pounder entering his third season in Nevada silver and blue.

So what about this young man has us so excited? (Besides the crazy picture where he looks like he's engulfing that Utah St back into a black hole never to be seen again.) Let's start with high school. KB recorded 18 sacks as a senior at Florin HS in the Sacramento area. He also played tight end and ran track, so you know he's not slow. Heck, according to his profile on Nevada's official site he even blocked a punt. Then he did as well as he did last year, but only started 5 games. In a full time role, with another season under his belt, we agree with Athlon Sports pick of Kevin as a preseason 1st team All WAC defensive player.

I'm going to throw out a prediction for the Freak on the season. 10 sacks. 15 TFL. 2 Fumble Recoveries.

By the time he leaves the program we think Kevin will go from Freak to Super Freak. Rick James would be proud to have the nickname carried on by such a worthy young man! We can see it now, Basped blowing up Kellen Moore in Reno and the crowd yelling in unison, "I'm Kevin Basped, b@#ch!" ala Dave Chapelle.

The Big Debate

After coach Ault's comments on the quarterback situation at WAC Media Day and the Reno Gazette Journal's article titled "Kaepernick Top QB Heading Into Fall Camp" http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080724/SPORTS/80723063/1018

There has a been a frenzy of internet posters and bloggers proclaiming their allegiance to either Graziano or Kaepernick and how they feel about the situation.

They use stats. They explain that injury should not result in losing one's job. They talk about who's the better passer. Who's the better runner. Who has the best shot at the NFL. Who's ready to lead the teams to wins today.

But the one common thing that many, many of these people forget is this:

They are BOTH Nevada Wolf Pack football players.

Unfortunately many fans take to cutting down one player to build up the other. It's just not necessary.

I believe I remember a couple of years back, Matt Leinart was drafter to the NFL by the Arizona Cardinals. His back up, Matt Cassel was also drafted by the New England Patriots and is still a member of that organization. Even in a one quarterback system in college (and yes, Nevada is not USC) a player who has the skills can still get their opportunity at the next level. And of course at the college level, as we saw last year, all it takes is one injury and someone is going to be thrust right into the spotlight. Lets hope that doesn't happen but also lets be ready for it if it does. Kaepernick showed he was ready last year as a freshman. Now Graziano will need to show the same readiness as a player coming off of an serious injury.

Good luck to both in fall camp (which opens in 10 days).

You Go Graham Watson!

If you haven't been following ESPN's Independents Blog and new writer Graham Watson's take on things, you are really missing out.

This morning Graham says she ran into Luke Lippincott and Mundrae Clifton, who both accompanied coach Ault to the WAC Media Event in Salt Lake City. Here is a quote from her notes:

"One of the first things Lippincott told me when I said I was from ESPN is that Nevada is going to be a lot better than people think.
I don't disagree. "

Heck, we don't disagree either Graham. Thanks for the updates and we'll be looking forward to reading more from your blog through out the next couple of days.

We really like the confidence that young Lippincott is showing in his team and hope to see that along with a bit of swagger as the season starts in just a short 5 weeks.

Also, from this mornings events we've learned that Nevada is picked third in both the media and coaches polls behind Boise and Fresno, which flip flopped their positions. Coaches felt Fresno is the team to beat while the media (somewhat surprisingly I think) felt the Boise was the team to beat.

Athlon Video Preview

Not a whole lot here about the Pack, but it's still worth taking a look.

http://www.athlonsports.com/college-football/2008-wac-conference-preview

WAC Media Day

Tomorrow officially starts the 2008 WAC Media Day events in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The real events that we are interested in begin (and quite honestly, end) on Wednesday when Nevada football players take questions beginning at 9:00 AM followed by coach Ault at 10:00 AM.

We are now just two short weeks away from the start of fall camp and all the answers we are looking for, like: Who will be starting corners? Who got ripped over the summer? And how will this defense gel and can it do it before Texas Tech comes to Reno?

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz...............

Wow is there a lack of football news or what?

Just in an attempt to satisfy you fans, here are some things going on and some others to look forward to in the upcoming weeks:

NCAA 09 released on Tuesday (got my copy) and unfortunately for those of you with Playstation 3, there is an issue with downloading and editing rosters which can F-up your system. Apparently they are working on a patch that will be downloadable and will fix that, although it may take a few more days to be available. I went ahead and edited my roster a little anyway and I have noticed that the announcers will voice McCoy, Mitchell, and Jaekle's names. Have yet to hear others. I was able to defeat some poor schlep who was playing as Mississippi State but when I played some guy who was using Missouri, it wasn't pretty. Obviously not a very real life like outcome (I pray).

You can buy the 2008 Fall Media Guide here: http://www.nevadawolfpack.com/pdf7/132864.pdf?ATCLID=1505279&SPID=4082&DB_OEM_ID=10000&SPSID=45380

The cover features Luke Lippincott, Jonathon Amaya, Brett Jaekle, and Marko Mitchell standing around the Fremont Cannon.

Speaking of the Fremont Cannon, it sounds like on July 26th (a week from Saturday) the Cannon will be in display in the Meadowood mall at the new Silver and Blue Outfitters store. Also scheduled to make an appearance at the store is Nevada Head Coach Chris Ault, some of the staff, and even (and most importantly) the cheerleaders! So bring the family down, buy some gear to support the team and a local business, and get some pictures while your at it.

You can see what sort of Wolf Pack stuff Silver and Blue sells by visiting their web site: http://www.silverandblueoutfitters.com/store/

Also next week is WAC media day, as we've mentioned before. Rumor is that Coach Ault will be taking Luke and Mundrae Clifton to Salt Lake with him. We are really looking forward to coach's and the players' take on how the summer has gone and what they are expecting from the team this fall.

Last but not least.............17 days until fall camp officially opens. 45 days to the main event!

NCAA 09 Out Tuesday

The latest version of EA Sports NCAA 09 is out on Tuesday and we can't wait to get our hands on a copy. Depending on which game system you have will depend on who is on the cover. For PS3, former Boston College QB Matt Ryan, for PS2 it's former Cal WR Desean Jackson, for the PSP is West Virginia FB Owen Schmitt, for Xbox 360 it's Arkansas RB Darren McFadden, and for the Wii it's Michigan St mascot Sparty.

Missing from the group of covers is former Hawaii QB Colt Brennan. Many speculated Colt would be on one of the covers but nothing ever materialized. He was probably the WAC's best shot at a cover this year.

Although a WAC athlete wasn't on the cover, we thought that even Sparty was a huge improvement over NCAA 2008's cover. Thank God for custom covers!

What a Tease

In case you have yet to see the 2008-2009 teaser you can watch it here:




Now is it August 30th yet?

28 Days Later

Just like in the movie, we zombies will have just 28 days to mill around feeling starved for football. But instead of dying off, we'll be fed the taste of crashing helmets and whistles throughout Mackay as fall camp kicks off.

Can you believe we are less than a month from fall camp? Why couldn't it be sooner?

There must be a conspiracy against Nevada Wolf Pack fans too I tell ya......hahahahahaha!

(BTW, don't forget that media day is just 2 weeks away now!)

No Damn Respect for Luke, Colin, or Marko

It appears our Nevada Wolf Pack's big three on offense just aren't going to get any national respect yet.

In case you are wondering what I am exactly talking about, the 2008 Maxwell Award Watch list came out this week. The award is supposed to be for the player who is deemed as the best in the United States.

Now before you get going on the whole notion that none of these players is realistically the best in the country, you have to see some of the other nominees to understand why we are a little more than irritated by this slight.

RB's ahead of Luke: James Davis, Clemson (400 yards behind Luke last year), Noel Devine, West Virginia (800 yards back), Arian Foster, Tennessee (200 yards back), Mike Goodson, Texas A&M (800 yards back), Keegan Herring, ASU (600 yards back), P.J. Hill, Wisconsin (200 yards back), etc, etc.

Look, the point is this. Luke finished 18th in yards rushing last season. Take out the seniors who graduated and players who left early for the NFL, and he is the #6 leading returning rusher in NCAA football and was the leading rusher in the WAC last season. WTF is up with him not getting a nod?

How about QB's next: The first biggest joke on the whole list is that Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame golden boy, is on the watch list. Why? For what? The Maxwell award is now given to the player in all of football with the most hype? This is the kind of thing that seriously takes away from an award. Just blatant politics.

Again, same situation as with Luke. 26 quarterbacks put on the list. Not Kaep. Even though he finished 10 overall in rating. And take out players who are gone and he is the 5 highest rated returning QB in the NCAA. Not to mention has the best TD:INT ration in the nation returning and his stats both running and throwing are more than respectable amongst returning players even when not accounting for that he really didn't play in the first 4 games of the season.

Most of the players (outside of Clausen) are deserving of a nod. So we'll blame the Notre Dame QB for taking Kaep's spot.

And last but not least, the WR: Considering Marko was #2. overall last year in the nation at YPC, and that he was #23 in the nation in YPG (12th best returning minus the 11 that have moved on) plus his 8 TD's puts him in the upper half of NCAA WR's we just don't get this one either. How can 23 WR's and TE's be given the nod ahead of Marko? sure there are a lot of good quality players on these lists. Isn't a man judged on his body of work any more? Does it mean nothing to be amongst the best statistically in your field?

So folks, there you have it. A conspiracy against Nevada Wolf Pack football players. You can't deny the facts. And I've provided those for you right here in black and white.

(P.S. Other WAC players named to the list are: Ian Johnson and Chase Holbrook. We understand IJ with all the TD's. Chase is a reach though. Too many picks on a losing team does not equal best in college football!)