Depth Dossier: Nevada Wolf Pack (Week 10)

Show Notes

Nevada's Offense Vanished, and a Freshman Kicker Was the Only Thing Left Standing The Depth Dossier breaks down what Nevada's Week 10 game against New Mexico changed on the depth chart: injuries, snap shares and who is moving up or down.

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This is the Depth Dossier: the Nevada Wolf Pack, Week 10.

Nevada's offense basically vanished on Saturday, and the only thing standing at the end of the night was a freshman kicker making his first career field goal. The Wolf Pack fell 31 to 3 to number 22 New Mexico, finishing with just 97 total yards and minus 9 rushing yards on the day.

This one was as lopsided as that final score suggests. New Mexico scored on its first two possessions and then just sat on the football, holding it for over 38 minutes while Nevada converted only two of fifteen third downs and managed six first downs all game. Quarterback A.J. Bianco went 14 of 31 for 106 yards with no touchdowns, took four sacks, and lost 22 yards on those sacks combined with his scrambles. A third-quarter fumble, forced by a sack from linebacker Brett Karhu, handed New Mexico another score and killed any hope of a comeback. Nevada's only points came on a 32-yard field goal from a kicker who had never attempted one in a college game before that moment.

Let's put that 97-yard total in perspective, because it's actually worse than it sounds. Nevada gained just six yards of total offense in the entire second half. Not six yards a play. Six yards, period, over thirty minutes of football.

The third-down struggles and the time of possession gap are connected. Going two for fifteen on third down means you're playing three-and-out football, and that let New Mexico control the clock and wear down a Nevada defense that actually opened the game well, with six tackles for loss and two sacks early on before fatigue took over.

The turnover margin remains the story of Nevada's season. The Wolf Pack came in at minus 13 on the year, among the worst in the country, and added another lost fumble here. There's a small silver lining in that Bianco didn't throw an interception, snapping a recent trend of turnovers through the air. But an offense already producing almost nothing can't afford any giveaway, and that fumble forced by Karhu was the one that decided the game.

The one real moment of hope came and went quickly. Wide receiver Marshaun Brown hauled in a 46-yard catch that put Nevada inside New Mexico's 20-yard line late in the first half. Three straight incomplete passes later, that drive turned into a 32-yard field goal attempt instead of a touchdown. That kick, from freshman Jacob Fernandez after starter Joe McFadden went down with an injury, ended up being the entire offensive output of the game.

So let's talk depth chart, because the biggest news isn't at quarterback, it's at kicker. McFadden was hurt during the game, and while there's no word yet on how serious it is, Fernandez came in cold and made his first career field goal attempt under real pressure. That's a job worth watching if McFadden's status is in doubt.

Bianco's hold on the starting quarterback job doesn't appear to be in jeopardy after last week's shuffle at the position, but completing under 46 percent of his passes, taking four sacks, and finishing with negative rushing yards raises its own questions, even with an offensive line that gave him almost no help.

At receiver, Brown was again the only source of explosive plays, and his 46-yard catch made up more than half of Nevada's passing output by itself. With Damien Morgan managing only 20 yards on four catches, Brown's case as the clear number one target keeps getting stronger by default. At running back, Herschel Turner Junior managed just six carries for 12 yards, and Nevada's minus-9 rushing mark as a team says all you need to know about where the ground game stands.

Next week will tell us whether any of this turns around, or whether the offensive line trouble and the turnover margin keep feeding off each other.

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