Black Rain

Hmmmm, I wonder if that face mask was called? Not that it really would have mattered. In a constant down poor of rain (and Jeremy Maclin TD's), the Pack got hammered on Saturday:

69-17.

OUCH!

For the Nevada offense there were some positives early on. Against a team that returned 10 starters on defense and was a Cotton bowl winner defeating the Darrin McFadden / Felix Jones lead Arkansas Razorbacks 38-7 last year, we saw at times that the offense is capable of moving and scoring against a national championship type of team. The Pack managed 17 first half points with 227 yards and 14 first downs.

Think about it this way: If someone told us before the game that Nevada would have 34 points, 454 yards of offense, and 28 first downs against the Tigers we would have felt pretty good about that.

The problem is, the first half offense didn't match the second half. The offense got 0 points, 131 yards of offense, and only 7 first downs.

Oh, and of course there is the other problem. The BIG problem. The 69 points problem.

Give credit to the Tigers. They've got weapons. And more weapons. Chase Daniel was on fire, completing 82.1% of his passes for 4o5 yards and 4 TD's. Jeremy Maclin's line: 6 for 172 and 3 scores. Chase Coffman? 6 for 127 and a score. Those are three guys that could well be drafted in the first round this year all playing for the same team.

Some other interesting stats: Forced Fumbles, none. INT's, none. Sacks, none. QB hurries, none. Passes batted down, none. About the only exciting play was when Kevin Basped appeared to have Daniel wrapped up for a sack, only to be flagged 15 yards for face mask. What happened to the group that played Texas Tech so tough last week?

Missouri WR's appeared to have 5 yards of radius space around them at all times. It's no wonder Daniel 94% last week and 82 this week. There isn't a defender around. Meanwhile on the flip side of the ball, our WR's appear to have a man draped on them on every play. What is up with that?

This game is leaving us with two weeks worth of questions?

• How will this team bounce back from this?
• Why was Brandon Fragger returning kicks with Luke out for the season and can Vai Taua be an every down back now?
• Lampford Mark, are you ready?
• Will a TE catch a TD pass this year and what happened to Zach Sudfeld who was supposed to be an excellent pass catcher?
• Will Colin Kaepernick lead this team in rushing yardage? He is through 3 games according to ESPN.
• With NSU beating #15 Arizona State, are we in danger of? Dare we say it?......nope.
• Can Nevada be a serious contender in the WAC this year?

What a sick feeling it is going to bed tonight wondering these things and more.