Boise State University (-21) at University of Nevada-Reno

Date: Saturday, November 12, 2022

Time: 8:30pm MT

Stadium: Mackay Stadium (30,000)

TV:CBS Sports Network

TV Commentators: Rich Waltz and Aaron Taylor

Radio: KBOI 670 AM

Commentators: Bob Behler and Pete Cavender

Know Thy Enemy

Nestled on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in an area called the Truckee Meadows, Mackay Stadium plays host to an old Wild West showdown. It’s Alphie and ‘The Pack versus Buster and the Broncos!

Saturday will pin the darlings of the Mountain division in Boise State against the doormat of the West division in Nevada. Nevada has had a rough season and there is no way around that. Things were off to a promising start, with two wins in a row, but insert a record scratch sound here, because after an improbable home loss to Incarnate Word of the Southland Conference, the Wolf Pack have been on a skid, losing 7 straight games.

On offense the Wolf Pack don’t really have a leader, they’ve started two different quarterbacks and neither one of them has really stepped up to claim the top spot. Their offense right now consists of handing the ball off to one of their two running backs and hoping that they will do something with it. Before their last game where they scored 28 points, Nevada was averaging just 14 points per game in conference play.

As mentioned before, the ‘Pack offense revolves around getting the ball to one of their running backs, especially fifth year senior Toa Tuaua. Tuaua is having a really good season for the Wolf Pack and should be priority #1 for the Broncos on Saturday.

On defense, the pack likes to move around. They will move their defensive line around to mix up the presnap “looks” they are giving the Broncos. Coach Koetter comments this week that he’s surprised that these guys have lost so many games, “They are real solid. Coach Wilson was with Avalos over at Oregon… It’s a similar defense… to what our team runs. They have a lot of new players…but they are playing real solid.”

Nevada is coached by Ken Wilson. Wilson is in his first season as a collegiate head coach and is 2-7 all-time. Before coming to Nevada, Wilson was the co-defensive coordinator at Oregon. Wilson was a longtime assistant with the Wolfpack from 1989-2012 before taking a job at Washington State.

Boise State’s rivalry with Nevada dates all the way back to 1971 when both teams were part of the NCAA College Division. These two teams have played almost annually since that first meeting and Saturday will be the 45 time in 51 years, the most the Broncos have ever played one opponent. Boise State has dominated this series winning 30 of the games including 12 on the road.

What Happened Last Time

Carson Strong threw for 263 yards and a touchdown, Toa Taua rushed for 124 yards and two touchdowns and Nevada defeated Boise State 41-31 on a sunny Saturday afternoon last October.

Nevada snapped a six-game losing streak to the Broncos, dating back to 2010. Nevada last won in Boise in 1997. It was also the first time since 2015 the Broncos had lost consecutive home games.

Trailing 21-20 at halftime, Nevada's defense needed just one play to flip the game at the start of the third quarter.

Tristan Nichols forced a fumble with a blindside hit on Boise State quarterback Hank Bachmeier. Five plays later, Toa rumbled into the end zone from 12 yards out. After adding the two-point conversion, Nevada took a 28-21 lead and never looked back.

Bachmeier passed for 388 yards and four touchdowns, but his two turnovers— one interception and one fumble — proved to be costly.

Players to Watch

Nevada-Reno

FIFTH YEAR., TOA TAUA, RB #35

Running back Toa Taua matched a career high with three rushing touchdowns Oct. 29 at San José State, bringing his season total to 10, tied for second in the Mountain West. Taua is also working his way up the respective Top 10s of a few all-time Nevada categories with his performance this season. Taua entered 2022 ranked in Nevada’s top 10 in career rushing yards, and currently sits seventh at 3,657 yards. His 793 career rushing attempts are fifth all-time, at Nevada, through Oct. 29. His 32 rushing touchdowns rank ninth in Nevada history.

FIFTH YEAR., BENTLEE SANDERS, S #20

Nevada safety Bentlee Sanders has earned significant national recognition in recent weeks, for his outstanding play this season. Sanders was named to the Associated Press midseason All-America Team, grabbing one of the safety spots. Sanderswas again honored, being named one of 12 semifinalists Paycom Jim Thorpe Award,given annually to college football’s top defensive back. Sanders has been a one-man takeaway machine in 2022, having a hand in eight of Nevada’s 17 takeaways. He is one of seven players tied for the national lead with five interceptions, and is tied for second in the country with three forced fumbles.

Rs.FR, DRUE WATTS, LB #32

This Saturday’s contest against Boise State features two of the conference’s leading candidates for Freshman of the Year in Nevada redshirt freshman linebacker Drue Watts and Bronco redshirt freshman quarterback Taylen Green. Watts is second on the Wolf Pack with 8.0 tackles-for-loss, and carries a streak of eight games with a TFL into Saturday’s matchup. At San José State, he made his third sack of the campaign, and brought his tackle total up to 43 tackles on the year.

BOISE STATE

Rs.FR., ERIC MCALISTER, WR #80

The young man from Azle, Tx has become increasingly involved in the Boise State offense over the past few weeks. He’s had multiple catches in the last two games and even scored his first touchdown of his college career last week with an amazing toe-touch grab. Taylen Green has shown he likes to spread the wealth when it comes to getting his receivers involved and Eric McAlister might be the next great one to come through Boise State.

Rs.SO., GABE HUNTER, EDGE #54

Another Texan highlights “players to watch” this week for the Broncos. Gabe Hunter from Hendrickson High School has played a lot the past two weeks after injuries and program absences. Last week he played more snaps on defense than he had played the rest of the season combined. Coach Danielson had high praise for the young man and is excited for him to get this opportunity. It looks like #54 will be seeing the field a lot more as the season winds down.

FIFTH YEAR., CALEB BIGGERS, CB #1

Caleb Biggers wears #1 and he is usually tasked with covering the opponents #1 receiver. Last week Biggers and the defensive secondary as whole hard a difficult go in defending against the pass, which they were ranked #1 in the country for before last week. This week Biggers goes against another top receiver, B.J. Casteel, a transfer from the University of Arizona. Casteel has had an uptick in production in the last few weeks and went off last week against SJSU with 7 catches, 149 yards and a score. Biggers has been susceptible to the deep ball this season. It will be up to him and the rest of the defensive backs keep the Wolfpack in check.

Focus Position Group: Defensive Line

The “not available” list for the defensive line is growing by the day for the Broncos and their depth along the defensive front is being tested. Last week after edge rusher Demitri Washington went down after the first play and his status for Saturday is still unknown. With Washington down and George Tarlas already ruled out for the season, guys like Gabe Hunter, Cortez Hogans, and Deven Wright are all getting more playing time.

QB pressure has been a goal and a hallmark of Spencer Danielson's defense. Coach said earlier this season that their goal was something like 10 quarterback pressures a game. Last week against the Cougars, Boise State had almost zero pass rush which gave BYU quarterback Jaren Hall all day to throw the football which we all saw what happened. This week the Broncos face another passing attack that could test them. It will be up to the defensive line to get some pressure if the Broncos want to win.

Rev's Route to a Bronco Win

RHYTHM OF THE NIGHT

Passing is all about rhythm and timing. If a quarterback gets in step with his receivers it can be a long night for the defense. Case and point the connection last week with Hall Puka of BYU. Last week Wolfpack quarterback Shane Illingworth, BJ Casteel and Dalevon Campbell were in perfect sync even though they lost the game. Boise State will need to disrupt that rhythm with pressure and solid coverage if they want to beat a Wolfpack whose confidence seems to be on the rise.

Cash Money

This is somewhat of a two part key to the game. The first part is converting on 3rd downs. The second part is scoring touchdowns in the red zone. Boise State’s average on converting third down is just over 41% which is third best in the Mountain West. This week they go against a Nevada defense who ranks dead last in that same category on defense. The Broncos have to keep the ball on third down and extend drives. The second part is scoring in the red zone. The Broncos are red hot in this category the last two weeks. Against Colorado State and BYU the Broncos are a perfect 11 for 11 in red zone opportunities and touchdowns. This week they need to continue that hot streak and score 7 when they get inside the 20.

Eyes On The Prize

Even with the sting of defeat still lingering, the Broncos have a Mountain West Championship to play for. The Broncos control their own destiny when it comes to playing for the championship and if they win out will get to host the game at Albertsons Stadium. This week they play a team that is just awful. There is no way around that. 2-7 over all and 0-5 in conference, and have a conference point differential of -69. This should be another Bronco beatdown, but they have to focus, they have to flush last week and keep going forward.

Editorial Note:

It’s never fun losing to a rival, especially one that on paper, is beatable, but like most rivalry games heart and emotion take over and crazy things happen. It’s too bad that the rivalry with the Cougars won’t continue because even in the loss it was a great game. But now we flush it and get on to this week with the #1 goal for each season still in full view.

Testy, testy

Listening to the press conference this week all three coaches seemed to have a bit more, “juice” if you will, while answering questions. You could tell the loss last week really got under their skin and you got the sense that they wish they could have that one back because that one got away and they know their team is better than than. Coach Spencer Danielson said, “frustrated with how Saturday night went…obviously not a reflection of who I feel we are as a defense and I take full responsibility with it.” Later Coach Koetter said, ““The object of the game is to win the game. No matter how you do it, no matter who gets the touches. Who gets the touches is not my main issue. Getting in the endzone is my main issue”

I for one liked the overall tone and message that it seemed this coaching staff was portraying. For a lot of fans, and the media, last week was a throw away week and it really didn’t matter win or lose, but you could tell this staff hates losing and they want to and expect to win every week. Hopefully their team heard that message loud and clear and will be ready to get revenge in Reno this Saturday.

Finish the Fight

The Broncos are 4-1 the last five times they have gone down to the “Biggest Little City.” This is good. In four of those games the Broncos have held at least a 16 point lead at some point in the game, also good. However, in each of these matchups the Wolfpack have outscored the Broncos 58-27 in the fourth quarter which has made these games a lot closer than they should have been. This go around could be more of the same as the, but hopefully the fourth quarter won’t call for pepto bismol.

Sunday Morning Sermon Title:

REVENGE IN RENO: Boise State gets back in the win column and revenges last year's loss to UNR.

Boise State 37, Nevada-Reno 30

Rev's Rundown

Boise State University (6-3, 5-0) (-21) at University of Nevada-Reno (2-7,0-5)