Nevada Post-Game Notes
vs. Idaho, Oct. 27, 2007
-- Nevada held the WAC’s leading rusher, Idaho’s Deonte Jackson, to 45 yards, 71 below his average of 116.1 yards per game.
-- Luke Lippincott scored his team-leading 10th and 11th touchdown of the season in the game. That sets a career high for touchdowns in a season for Lippincott.
-- Lippincott eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the third straight game and fifth time this year. He finished the game with 27 carries for 119 yards and two touchdowns and now has eight career 100-yard games in his career.
-- Nevada held Idaho scoreless in the first quarter, marking the first time this season that an opponent has not scored against Nevada in the first quarter. The last time Nevada held an opponent scoreless was against Louisiana Tech last season.
-- Brett Jaekle’s 37-yard field goal in the first quarter was the 11th of the season for the junior in 15 attempts (he missed a 26-yarder and a 54-yarder in the second quarter). He has made a field goal in nine straight games going back to the MPC Computers Bowl against Miami on Dec. 31, 2006.
-- Ezra Butler had an 11-yard interception return for a touchdown. It is Nevada’s first interception return for a touchdown since Jonathon Amaya’s 80-yard interception return against Nebraska on Sept. 1. It is Butler’s first interception return of the season and second of his career. His first was a 23-yard interception return for a TD against Arizona State in 2006.
-- Redshirt freshman Vai Taua scored his first career touchdown on an 11-yard run late in the fourth quarter.
-- Nevada has never been shut out as a member of Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I-A) and has not been shut out since Sept. 27, 1980, a streak of 325 games that is the longest in the nation. The last time Nevada was blanked was at Weber State, a 10-0 loss. That is the only shutout loss ever suffered by Hall of Fame coach Chris Ault.
Nevada Quotes
Nevada head coach Chris Ault on the defense:
"Defensively I thought we played well. We started to get better. I thought we played with some nice energy and Idaho played very hard. There was dumb penalties, we had three pass interferences and the roughing the passer. That’s tough, that’s tough to defend anything like that and we need to knock that stuff off."
"This is WAC football, you have to come prepared, the records mean nothing. Our defense played hard, our offense didn’t play particularly well with Idaho’s defense."
Ault on Colin Kaepernick's performance:
"Colin's performance was ok, we didn’t throw as much as I would liked. I thought second half once again he was better and made some nice adjustments and on the fourth quarter he made some nice plays. Colin’s technique needs a lot of work, he needs a lot of fundamental technique work."
Ault on fumble by Dwayne Sanders:
"It’s coming out the second half, you got a chance to get back in this thing. There are a lot of things you need to check at a time. I thought that was a fumble that can turn the game around."
Ault on the offense:
"Our offense is not based on Colin, our offense is based on the offense. It’s what we do."
"Idaho played a lot, they blitzed a lot, an awful a lot."
Ault on the fourth-down gamble:
"The first thing I told them was we’re going for it. It’s not one of things where you flip a coin. It’s a gamble. I think were confident on this stuff that we can run the football."
Ault on the kicking team:
"There’s no excuse. The balls were not where they want to be. When you miss something like that especially when the defense has to come on the field, there’s issues. There’s an obligation."
Ault on the team:
"The offense has been carrying this team. The defense needs to get up and play some consistent football and they did and I’m very pleased."
Redshirt freshman quarterback Colin Kaepernick on the game:
"There was a lot of things I did similar. First half was a little bit slow on our offense and a lot of plays. Second half I think we did a lot better."
"Our offensive line says it best, it’s all on us. We expect to put points on the board."
"There was a couple times where I needed to throw the ball away."
"We want to stay on the field as long as we can, we want to put points on the board. We have a lot of confidence in our offense, why not go for it?"
"The first two weeks, the whole line stepped up. I’ll take blame for not putting points on the board. Putting points is hard to do especially on a weekly basis."
Kaepernick on fundamentals:
"Coach wants my drops to be a lot quicker, he wants my arm up a little bit more."
Senior defensive end Matt Hines on the game:
"I think we are playing well, things are coming together, we’re all having fun out there. We came in and knew it was going to be a challenge, you got to challenge them and we came in and did well."
Senior linebacker Ezra Butler on the interception:
"It was a field blitz, I just felt that the play was kind of weird."
Butler on the team’s improvements:
"To tell you the truth, I don’t think we’re there yet, we’re just getting comfortable."
Redshirt freshman running back Vai Taua on his TD:
"I was telling the line, I was going to get the first one today."
"It feels good to be back."
Taua on the conference win:
"It feels good to get a win."
Taua on the difference between special teams:
"You go out there and do what you can for the team."
Junior running back Luke Lippincott on the team’s performance:
"I wanted to get ahead of them in this game, defense came to me and told me they wanted me to be number one."
Lippincott on getting back to .500:
"It is a good feeling to get a win, especially at Mackay Stadium."
"I feel like the last four games the offense has grown a lot into what we wanted to. Today our defense stepped up."
Idaho Quotes
Idaho coach Robb Akey on the game:
“It’s very disappointing. We have been banging away at a rock wall. We have been making progress, but we need to break that wall.”
Akey on coming back in the second quarter:
“We had every belief that we were going to win this football game.”
Akey on Nevada’s 21-play drive:
“We had plenty of opportunities to stop them.”
Akey on stopping Nevada’s run offense:
“Early on I didn’t like the way we handled the running game. We did a nice job fixing it until the tail end of the game. It’s something that has to be there the whole game.”
Akey on Butler’s first quarter interception:
“He (Quin Ashley) was trying to get rid of the ball and not get sacked. It was a screen play.”
Idaho running back Deonte Jackson on the game:
“They (Nevada) just came out with a very good and strong game plan. They did a good job scouting us.”
Jackson on Nevada’s rush defense:
“I knew they (Nevada) would focus very much on my side. I’m pretty sure all week they got after their running game.”
Idaho quarterback Nathan Enderle on coming back from a hand injury:
“Mentally I was excited to get out there and play. I’m excited that I got the chance.”
Enderle on the second quarter comeback:
“We play better when we fight back. That’s not a good thing. It lets you know that the team doesn’t want to quit.”
