College Football News Preview 2020: Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The Nevada Wolf Pack Offense
STOP TURNING THE BALL OVER. To be fair, the O cleaned things up over the second half of the season with five giveaways over the final five games, but it couldn’t stop screwing up early on. To be even more fair, almost everyone else in the Mountain West had a major turnover issue, too.
The Nevada O managed to go error-less in the win over Purdue – the Wolf Pack D came up with five takeaways – and then things got ugly with 15 giveaways over the following seven games. There’s enough talent back on the offensive line to give everyone time, and the skill players should be as good as any in the Mountain West. Now they just have to stop giving it up.
Biggest Key To The Nevada Wolf Pack Defense
Start getting into the backfield. The 3-3-5 alignment doesn’t have a sure-thing outside pass rusher, but that doesn’t mean that parts of the puzzle can’t get behind the line from time to time, All-star DE Dom Peterson did his part, but there weren’t enough big plays coming from the rest of the group.
This ties into the team’s biggest defensive need – stopping the run. Nevada was 6-0 last season when it was able to keep teams to 115 rushing yards or fewer, and is 11-1 over the last two seasons when it’s been able to do that.
Key Nevada Wolf Pack Player To A Successful Season
QB Carson Strong, Soph.
Former transfer Malik Henry was supposed to make all the difference in last year’s offense, but it was Strong who took over early, struggled with his consistency, and showed enough upside and talent to develop over the next few years. Now he has to become the type of star the program can build around.
The 6-4, 220-pound bomber doesn’t bring any mobility, but he cut down on his mistakes late in the year with just one pick one rate final five games, and he threw for 753 yards in the final two outings. They were both losses, but they weren’t his fault.
Key Game To The Nevada Wolf Pack Season
San Diego State, Sept. 26
It’s a not-that-bad start to the season with UC Davis and UTEP providing at least two almost-certain wins, but the Mountain West slate starts out with a bang.
Brady Hoke’s San Diego State team comes to Reno, and Nevada needs to pull off a win for the third year in a row or else there’s a problem with a trip to Hawaii to follow. Beat the Aztecs, and it’s a great-looking schedule the rest of the way.
– Nevada Wolf Pack Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 Nevada Wolf Pack Fun Stats
– First Quarter Scoring: Opponents 91 – Nevada 46
– Penalties: Nevada 96 for 772 yards – Opponents 77 for 678 yards
– Sacks: Opponents 33 for 220 yards -Nevada 23 for 173 yards