Did You Know?

Nevada is the only team in the country who is returning two players who went for double digit sacks in 2008 with Moch and Basped anchoring the ends in 2009!

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Preview Review Part 2

The next magazine we review for the 2009 college football season is Lindy's.

As we flip through, we don't see anything pertaining to Nevada or the WAC until we hit the Coaching Changes section, where they review DeWayne Walker at New Mexico St and Gary Anderson at Utah State.

This is typical of these magazines and makes reading them some what boring for us.

Then we hit an interesting section loaded with a bunch of little factiods. New Mexico State gets a blurb for being the longest bowl drought at 48 years and counting. Boise State makes the list of top non conference games with their Sept match-up with Oregon. The list of top conference games is only BCS games. They do a look ahead to the first 50 picks of the 2010 NFL draft which contains only Kyle Wilson from Boise and John Estes from Hawaii from the WAC and then Weatherspoon from Missouri and Sam Young from Notre Dame as Wolf Pack opponents.

We are glad they don't feel we play much NFL caliber this year. We feel our game with Notre Dame is as big a non conference game as any when you consider the Irish's recent track record in openers and their national clout. New Mexico St: insert Nelson Ha Ha.

Next are a bunch of pages on the last years big three Heisman candidates and other BCS stuff and then it gets to their preseason list of top teams. They rate BSU at 13 and claim no one in the WAC will beat them. The next Nevada opponent is Notre Dame at 37, followed by Missouri at 46. Then Nevada checks in at 69 and the remaining opponents follow behind.

Again, we feel like we are not in the bottom 40-50% of college football. And we don't feel that the WAC's #2, regardless of who it is, should be rated such. Whatever!

Lindy's then covers the All-American Teams. They rate John Estes as second team center. Weatherspoon and Wilson make the second team defense.

Nothing much to talk about here!

Now we get to the individual player rankings:

At QB Kaep checks in at 16. Opponents are Kellen Moore at 21 and Jimmy Clausen at 23.

At RB we have Taua in the 21 spot. The only opponent on the list is Derrick Washington of Missouri at 24.

On the WR list Nevada does not have anyone. Unfortunately this list does feature multiple opponents. Golden Tate and Michael Floyd from ND are 15 and 20. Ryan Wolfe from the Webels is 19.

The O-line shows John Estes as the #2 center and Sam Young is #7. No Nevada players.

No one makes the Defensive Ends or D-Line lists. Nor the Inside Backers list.

Weatherspoon is #2 on the Outside backers list.

The final positions that features an opponent is Kyle Wilson as the #4 corner.

So stupid. Like Basped shouldn't be on this list? Like Kaepernick and Taua are that low? No Nevada linemen? This just irritates us.

Ranking the offensive units as Lindy's does, we'll just say it right now. Dumb. They have Notre Dame as the #4 WR unit. That's it.

Next is the recruiting, which doesn't give any respect at all to Nevada. Team wise or individual wise.

Finally we get to the conference and team reviews:

There is a paragraph about Nevada in the WAC write-up which claims Kaepernick is the best all-around play maker in the league and Taua is the best back in the conference. They claim Chris Ault's pistol formation is a loaded gun this year.

When picking the WAC they list Nevada at #2. The good news: Chris Ault's pistol offense has perfect QB at helm in Kaepernick. The bad news: Too often this team does things like lose to New Mexico State. Our call: If they can navigate the WAC without incident, a Nov 22 game at BSU could be fun.

So after reading this magazine, it's very obvious they have no respect for the WAC at all. Typical.

When picking the All-Wac Team:

1st Team: QB Colin Kaepernick, RB Vai Taua, TE Virgil Green, OL Alonzo Durham, DL Kevin Basped, P Brad Langley.

2nd Team: OL Mike Gallett, DL Dontay Moch.

They listed Green, which is interesting. We think he'll have a big year too, but it's surprising that a national magazine would know that.

As for the big games, they list Nevada at Notre Dame and Missouri at Nevada.

Well those are big games, but how can you not say the Nov 27th at BSU game is not THE big game on our slate this year?

Top 10 NFL Talent:

1. Kaepernick (Fifth person to rush for 1,000 and pass for 2,000 yards)

4. Taua (Led league with 1,521 rushing yards 15 touchdowns)

MVP: Kaepernick

Honor Roll:

Strongest Arm: Kaepernick

Best Scrambler: Kaepernick

Toughest to Bring Down: Taua

Best Pass Rusher: Moch

Now onto the Nevada Preview:

Players to watch are listed at Taua, Lippincott, Kaepernick, Basped, Moch, Amaya, Wellington, and Gallett.

Primary Strength is: offense, offense, and oh yeah, offense. Kaepernick is the reigning Offensive Player of the Year in the WAC. The Pack has the leading rusher from last season (Taua) and from two years ago (Lippincott).

Potential Problem is: the growing pains from the switch to a 4-3 defensive alignment were on display at times last season as Nevada lost - and won - several shootouts. The loss of Marko Mitchell and Mike McCoy will leave the receiving duties in some young hands.

The write-up breakdown of the team covers things pretty well. They believe the Pack will be able to score with even more ease this year. Wimberly and Sessions are listed as replacements for Mitchell and McCoy. They also talk about the running game and having Lippincott back for a 6th year. They talk about the growing pains of the 4-3 switch and some of the individual highlights like Basped and Moch, Amaya, Thompson, Johnson and Marshall. They also talk about Langley as a punter and the recruiting of Ricky Drake to kick.

For the fantasy portion of the magazine they rate the following:

Colin Kaepernick #8 QB

Vai Taua #23 RB

Nick Rhodes #15 K

That wraps up the magazine.

Overall, we didn't think Lindy's was that favorable of us, and therefor we didn't think it was that great. Guess the team is going to have to prove just how wrong they were during the season.

What The Hell Is Going On Around Here?

We started seeing threads earlier today pop up on www.silverandbluesports.com by Nevada fans talking about QB's (our QB's!) being drafted to MLB teams.

So we went over to MLB.com to check into this and did not like what we found:

Our new QB coming in this summer, Mason Magleby, gets drafted to the Baltimore Orioles today in the 41st round!

Then our starting and WAC 1st Team All Conf QB Colin Kaepernick gets drafted to the Chicago Cubs in the 43rd round!

Then, just before the anxiety struck, we realized there was nothing to worry about (and read a presser from Nevada's twitter page to confirm this). Fortunately it was lunch time and we were able to dump our sandwich and apple out and use the bag to help breath.


Our only comment after mulling all of this over now is directed to coach and staff. Getting these flame throwers at QB is great. But how about going after some future golden glovers at the WR spot to give them a hand!

Preview Review Part 1

We've got four magazines to review. We'll go aphabetical one at a time. So first up:

Athlon

Athlon starts by listing it's "BEST UNITS". It does not feature Nevada in any of these. In fact, the only WAC team to make any list is Boise at #10 DB's. Other Nevada opponents: ND #2 WR/TE.



How can you have two 1st team all conference RB's returning who have rushed for nearly 3,000 yards and 30 TD's the past two seasons, returning to the #3 rushing offense in the nation last year, and not be a top unit. Athlon was obviously leaning towards BCS teams when they formed that list! Other mags did get it right. We'll get to those later. Seeing ND at #2 WR/TE makes our tummies hurt a little.



Next up is the All American Teams. No Nevada. 1st team LB Sean Weatherspoon (the guy Kaepernick said almost broke his jaw) from Missouri is the only 1st teamer Nevada faces. Fresno St kick returner AJ Jefferson is on the 2nd team. Corner Kyle Wilson from Boise St is on the 3rd team.



We didn't really expect anything here. So no let downs. We were actually happy to see how few stars we have to face this year.



Next is the list (including 411) of new coaches. New Mexico St's DeWayne Walker and Utah St's Gary Anderson make the list.



Who cares! Good luck with those programs.



Finally we get to the preseason rankings. Nevada checks in at #64. BSU is 12, ND 24, Mizzou 37. Everyone else is behind the Pack.



We find it hard to believe that we will be in the bottom 50% of the nation. We also find it hard to believe that the #2 team from our conference would be worse than more than half of all schools. Athlon sucks! But if we loose to NMSU again they'll look like geniuses.



The next significant page is the WAC Conference page. Nevada is projected 2nd. Nice big picture of Kaep. (Take that Kellen Moore....yuck yuck yuck). Nevada's units are ranked:



QB 1

RB 2

WR/TE 5

OL 3

DL 2

LB 5

DB 8



1st Team Honors to:

Kaepernick

Taua

Durham

Gallett

Basped

Agaiava

Langley



2nd Team:

Wellington

Green

Moch

Michael-Johnson

Thompson



We find it fairly amazing that we have two first teamers on the D-line and a 2nd teamer and somehow aren't ranked #1. We think 7 first teamers is pretty respectable. Good job there Athlon, although we do think an O-lineman (Bender) and a safety (Amaya) should have been 2nd team.



Next up is the breakdown of Nevada. There really isn't anything new here and most of it is a recap of last year.



Boring! Nevada's offense is great. Nevada's run defense good. Nevada's special teams bad. Nevada's pass defense worst. Tell us something we don't know!



We are rated as the #8 recruiting class in the WAC and have no top 10 recruits.



Bullllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiioops!



Lastly is Athlon's fantasy football section. Here is how they rank them:

QB: Kaepernick #6 (6 overall)

RB: Taua #32 (71 overall) and Lippincott #65

WR: Wellington #35 (108 overall)

And in Athlon's staff draft Nevada players went: Kaepernick #3 overall, Taua #34 overall.



Obviously they rated them one way but when it came time to actually pick, Nevada players were a hotter commodity than anyone wanted to admit. We can't blame them! We would pick them too!

Nevada's EA Sports NCAA 2010 Ratings

Want to know what EA Sports NCAA 2010 ratings of the Wolf Pack starters are?

We got em!

We'll just do the starting roster:

Offense:

Kaepernick: 91 overall
Taua: 81 overall (listed as FB)
Lippincott: 84 overall (actually they have Fragger as an 85, highest RB)
Wellington: 78 overall
Wimberly: 67 overall
Green: 70 overall
Ackerman: 80 overall
Bender: 81 overall
Durham: 82 overall
Gallett: 88 overall

Defense:

Moch: 58 overall
Basped: 65 overall
Agiava: 80 overall
Bethea: 78 overall
Marshall: 49 overall
Harvey: 71 overall
Frey: 76 overall
Amaya: 73 overall

Special Teams:
Langley: 79 overall
Drake: 81 overall

Analysis:

Well, it's obvious they didn't rate based on actual facts. More like some stats and overall offense/defense ratings. Basped and Moch are WWWWAAAAAYYYYYY off. Some players are missing and some are out of position. Others just are off, like the two ends. We're sure they meant for Durham to be rated 88. They had some players like #4 WR rated real high. Another obvious mistake.

When it's all said and done, we will buy it.

Lots Of Love on a Wednesday

Wow, lots of nice comments about the Pack this week.

Unlike OBNUG, one blog we do like is Statistically Speaking. They just finished their analysis of the WAC and how it should shake out. They were pretty spot on last year. They like us again this year, although do pick the uglies up north to win the WAC.

Some things PWtW didn't realize: Nevada went for over 500 yards against everyone in the WAC but Boise and Hawaii. We knew the Pack was 120 out of 120 in pass defense, but we didn't know (yet not surprised) that we were also 115 out of 120 on opponents kickoff return average. Yuck!

http://leftyloon.blogspot.com/2009/06/wac-sdpi.html


The guys over at Football Nation Blogs had a brief paragraph about our depth at RB. Very Watsonesqe unfortunately.

http://footballnationblogs.com/2009/06/while-some-teams-looked-for-depth-this-season-others-realized-that-they-were-loaded/


Fantasy football web sites like Fantasy College Blitz, Athlon Sports, etc love them some Nevada offense. Fantasy College Blitz has Kaep rated #5. We've seen him as high as #2 behind Houston's Case Keenum but so far no one has gone lower than 10.

http://www.fantasycollegeblitz.com/quick-hitsan-early-look-at-the-top-qbs-for-2009/


BlueandGold.com, an Irish site, has been giving Nevada some props as well by claiming that Nevada boasts a top 5 player per position in regards to their schedule. Durham was the most recent player.

http://www.blueandgold.com/content/?aid=7084


College Football News writer Pete Fiutak says Colin Kaepernick is one of 5 players who you will be talking about in September. We'll probably be talking about him in October, November, December and January too!

http://www.scout.com/a.z?s=143&p=2&c=869443


Our favorite ESPN writer, Bruce Feldman, picks Nevada as one of his top 10 BCS Buster candidates for 2009.

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4221801&name=feldman_bruce&addata=2009_insdr_mod_ncf_xxx_xxx&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fespn%2fblog%2findex%3fentryID%3d4221801%26name%3dfeldman_bruce%26addata%3d2009_insdr_mod_ncf_xxx_xxx


Nevada fans are going crazy (and pretty hilarious too, special shout out to the funeral picture) with photo editing tools on Silver and Blue Sports. There are also some good recruiting articles and stories on the site as well.

http://www.silverandbluesports.com/SilverAndBlue/Forums/ViewThread.aspx?ForumID=4&ThreadID=6201


If you're ballin like a rock star, then you probably have a twitter account. Recently the Wolf Pack Sports group posted a link to a video of 2008 highlights. Similar to what is played on the big screen at Mackay before the games.

http://tr.im/nd9v

It might also be here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUFtTa--yuM


That's about it for now. We'll clean this up a bit later so that it's easier to read on link to the articles.

Can We Get a Little More Lisa, A Little Less Graham Please?

After about a dozen Boise State questions on Graham Watson's recent live chat on espn.com (including one in which she suggests the donks should move to the Pac 10 to up their schedule) she finally got to the Nevada questions:


Jacob (reno): Can we talk about something other than Boise St. please? Someone earlier asked about ECU's deep running core, however Nevada probably has the best depth at RB in the country. How good will Nevada's offense be this season?

Graham Watson: Sure. i think, and I've written this 100 times, Nevada is going to have the best running game in the WAC and perhaps the country. I do think that Kaapernick isn't going to try and be a pass-first QB with Taua and Lippincott in the backfield. I believe it when I see it. I think one of Kap's best traits is his running ability, but the kid has a rocket arm. He just needs to focus on control and accuracy. "


So, "I believe it when I see it" reminds us of a joke we once heard:

A blond prays to God every night that she will win the lottery. Finally, after months of praying and not winning the blond cries out, "God, have I not been a good Christian? Have I not done everything you've asked of me? What must I do, how far must I go for you to finally be rewarded with the lottery win?" To which God replied, "What must you do to be rewarded? Well you can start by buying a f###ing ticket".

In other words, Graham, you could watch a Wolf Pack game. I mean, your past comments about Lippincott returning being this load off of Kaepernick shows that you do not understand our offense, considering it's a single back set and Taua was the leading rusher in the WAC. And when Jacob asked about our deep backfield, he probably meant more than Kaepernick, Taua, and Lippincott. Everyone knows about them. He was talking about a healthy Brandon Fragger, and experienced Courtney Randal, and a youthful Mike Ball and Lampford Mark to plug in any time one of those other guys needs a spell. As for Kaepernick not being a very good passer...as a frosh he finished with a top 10 in the nation passer rating and last season was in the top 45.


Reno: Graham, then how would you compare Nevada's OOC schedule?

Graham Watson: ND, Colorado State, Mizzou, and UNLV. I think this is a better non conference schedule than a lot of teams in the WAC. I'm one of the few that thinks Nevada can beat ND in ND. Heck, if San Diego State can do it, why not Nevada? Now, whether Nevada thinks it can win is a different story. I think they'll have a better chance against Missouri, but that will probably still be a loss. Missouri is down this year, but the defense is still going to be tough. I think Nevada can sweep the MWC schools on the schedule.

So you think we can beat ND, but you don't think we think we can? And you think we have a better chance of beating Missouri than ND, but you think we will lose to the Tigers. So in other words you predict 0-2 against the big schools.


Mike Sanford (Sam Boyd Stadium): What are the chances that my Rebels go bowling this year? What games are must wins in order to do that?

Graham Watson: I like UNLV to go bowling this year. I think the Rebels will be much better than they were a year ago. And I also think Sanford has the right mindset of getting his team ready for high-octane spread offenses early so their not cramming on game week.

Totally F'ing unacceptable. We can't even say any more. Ick!