THE SKINNY
Coming off the 32nd come-from-behind win in Coach Chris Ault's career and the Wolf Pack's third straight win overall, the Nevada football team returns home to Mackay Stadium to face Idaho for Homecoming ... After an 0-3 start, the Wolf Pack has evened its record at 3-3 and is off to a 2-0 start in Western Athletic Conference play ... Nevada continues to lead the nation in rushing at 292.83 yards per game ... Junior defensive end Dontay Moch leads the nation in tackles for loss ... Idaho leads the WAC at 3-0 in conference play and the Vandals are already 6-1 on the year ... The series between the teams dates back to 1924 and Nevada holds a 17-9 lead in the 26-game series ... Nevada has won four straight in the series and all four WAC games between the teams ... Ault is 14-4 all-time against Idaho and 8-1 all-time against the Vandals at Mackay Stadium ... This week's game will be played on the 73rd anniversary of Nevada's first-ever win in the series - a 7-6 victory in Reno in 1936 ... Idaho coach Robb Akey is 0-1 all-time against Nevada ... Idaho is one of just five opponents on Nevada's schedule that did not go to a bowl game in 2008 but the Vandals are already bowl eligible this year.
THE LAST TIME THESE TEAMS MET (Oct. 14, 2008)
MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) - Colin Kaepernick threw for two touchdowns and Vai Taua ran for three more as Nevada beat Idaho 49-14 on Saturday.
Nevada (3-2, 1-0 Western Athletic Conference) racked up 507 yards of total offense against the Vandals.
Kaepernick went 19-of-24 for 243 yards with no interceptions, and Taua had 94 yards on 21 carries.
Idaho (1-5, 0-2) had a chance to go up first when kicker Tino Amancio attempted a 39-yard field goal midway through the first quarter, but it was blocked by Nevada's Chris Slack.
Nevada took over on its own 22 and drove to Taua's 3-yard touchdown run.
The Wolf Pack made it 13-0 when Idaho punter T.J. Conley muffed a punt from the Idaho 1-yard line. Conley had the ball, but as he moved his arms into punting position he dropped it and Nevada's John Bender fell on it. Taua then ran in from the 1.
LAST TIME OUT
LOGAN, Utah (AP) - Colin Kaepernick threw for three touchdowns while the nation's leading rushing team continued to chalk up big yards as Nevada topped Utah State 35-32 Saturday.
The Wolf Pack (3-3, 2-0 Western Athletic Conference) had rushed an average 289 yards a game this season, but the team outdid itself, gaining 313 against the Aggies (1-5, 0-2).
Nevada took its first lead, 28-24, on a fourth-quarter 49-yard pass from Kaepernick to Brandon Wimberly. The Wolf Pack then got to 35-24 after Luke Lippincott ran for a 69-yard touchdown.
Nevada trailed 21-14 at halftime but came back for the victory -- the 32nd second-half come-from-behind win in Chris Ault's career.
USU tried to come back when Nnamdi Gwacham caught a 14-yard pass from Diondre Borel, who also tossed three TDs. After a successful two-point conversion that brought the score to 35-32, USU attempted an onside kick.
The Aggies recovered the kick but were hit with a penalty. The Wolf Pack snagged the second attempt and ran out the clock.
NOTABLE FROM LAST WEEK'S GAME
With the win, Nevada evened its record at 4-4 on the season and improved to 105-92 as an FBS school and 485-432-33 in its history (103rd season) ... Nevada won its third-straight game, which is the Pack's longest win streak than a three-game streak in 2007 (Utah State, Idaho and New Mexico State) ... The come-from-behind win was the Pack's first since last year (vs. Louisiana Tech) and the 32nd of Coach Chris Ault's career ... Vai Taua went over the 2,000-yard mark for his career and Nevada became the second team in history to have three rushers hit the 2,000-yard mark during the same season (more on this later) ... Virgil Green caught a TD pass in his third-straight game ... Nevada put two rushers over the 100-yard mark in Vai Taua (147) and Luke Lippincott (104) ... Junior quarterback Colin Kaepernick moved into fifth place all-time in total offense (8,317 yards); eighth place in career passing yards (6,133); eighth place in career passing attempts (782) ... Senior running back Luke Lippincott moved in seventh place in career rushing yards (2,477) ... A pair of tackles - sophomore Steve Haley and junior Jose Acuna - made their first career starts ... Junior punter Brad Langley booted a 58-yarder - his longest of the season ... Nevada had its two biggest pass plays of the season - first a 44-yarder from Kaepernick to Virgil Green and then a 49-yarder from Kaepernick to Brandon Wimberly, both for touchdowns.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Nevada's coaching staff usually names a Player of the Week on each side of the ball after each victory during the season. The winners:
UNLV: Virgil Green (offense) and Dontay Moch (defense).
Louisiana Tech: Colin Kaepernick (offense) and Kevin Basped and Jonathon Amaya (defense).
Utah State: Luke Lippincott and Vai Taua (offense).
BIG BLOCKER
In every game that Nevada wins, the Basalite Big Blocker is awarded to the offensive lineman
who grades out the best. The honorees:
UNLV: Mike Gallett, junior tackle.
Louisiana Tech: Kenneth Ackerman, senior center.
Utah State: Chris Barker, redshirt freshman guard.
BLACKSHIRTS
Each week, the Wolf Pack coaching staff awards a black practice jersey to those excelled on special teams during the previous game. The winners:
Notre Dame: Brad Langley.
Colorado State: Mike Ball, Brad Langley, Ahmad Wood.
Missouri: Mike Ball.
UNLV: Ricky Drake, Albert Rosette, Brett Roy, Duke Williams.
Louisiana Tech: Kaelin Burnett, Joe Easter.
Utah State: Brad Langley, Adam Liranzo, Brett Roy.
KAEPERNICK PASSES VARGAS
With a 21-yard run in the second quarter against Utah State, junior quarterback Colin Kaepernick moved into fifth-place all-time in total offense. Chris Vargas tallied 8,181 yards in his Hall of Fame career. Kaepernick entered the game 130 yards shy of that mark and came out of it with 8,317 yards of total offense.
Kaepernick also moved up on two other lists in the game. He went into eighth in career passing yards with 6,133 (passing Jeff Tisdel) and into eighth in career attempts with 782 (passing Tisdel).
THREE WAYS TO SCORE
Colin Kaepernick and Luke Lippincott are two of just five players in the nation who have rushed for a touchdown, passed for a touchdown and caught a touchdown pass this season. Kaepernick has done the first two multiple times in his career and this season but the receiving TD - a 6-yarder from RB Luke Lippincott against UNLV - was the first of his career.
He was joined in the group by his teammate as Lippincott hauled in an 11-yard touchdown catch against Utah State. Lippincott has rushed for a pair of scores this season and threw the TD pass to Kaepernick.
Players Rushing For a TD, Throwing a TD Pass
And Catching a TD Pass in 2009
Colin Kaepernick, Nevada
*Mike Kafka, Northwestern
Luke Lippincott, Nevada
Grant Stucker, Colorado State
A.J. Whitmore, Tulsa
* - same game (vs. Syracuse, 9/19)
100-YARD RUSHING GAMES
Four current Nevada players have rushed for 100 yards or more in a game and between the four of them, it has happened a combined 32 times. Senior Luke Lippincott leads the way with 13 career 100-yard games while junior Vai Taua is right behind him with 11. Junior quarterback Colin Kaepernick has seven and freshman running back Mike Ball has one.
Against Utah State, Taua and Lippincott each hit the 100-yard mark. Despite 22 previous combined 100-yard games, that marked the first time that Taua and Lippincott did so in the same game.
WIN NO. 200 (AND COUNTING) FOR CHRIS AULT
With a 37-13 victory over Louisiana Tech at Mackay Stadium on Oct. 9, Nevada coach Chris Ault won his 200th career game. He became:
o The 54th coach in NCAA history (all divisions) to win 200 games in a career.
o The sixth active coach in FBS with 200 wins. The other five are: Penn State's Joe Paterno, Florida State's, Bobby Bowden, Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer, Ohio State's Jim Tressel, and Texas's Mack Brown.
o The 30th coach in history to win 200 games at one school.
Ault notched his 200th victory in the 11th-fewest amount of games (294), behind, Joe Paterno, Tom Osborne, Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes, Jim Tressel, Pop Warner, LaVell Edwards, Bobby Bowden, Bear Bryant and Vince Dooley and tied with Amos Alonzo Stagg.
In terms of major college coaches, only 10 coaches have coached at one school for longer than Ault's 25 years at Nevada. And when you whittle that list down to active coaches, only Paterno and Bowden have been coaching at their schools for longer than Ault.
2000K CLUB
Against Colorado State, senior running back Luke Lippincott passed the 2,000-yard mark in rushing for his career. Against UNLV, junior quarterback Colin Kaepernick did the same. And most recently, junior running back Vai Taua joined them with a big effort against Utah State.
When that happened, the Nevada trio will become just the second group of three rushers to reach the 2,000-yard mark in the same season. It was done only once before, by Nebraska's Correll Buckhalter, Dan Alexander and Eric Crouch in 2000.
ON THE HORIZON FOR KAEPERNICK
Last year, Colin Kaepernick became just the fifth player in history to throw for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season. Earlier this year, he became just the 13th player in history to rush for 2,000 yards and throw for 4,000 yards in a career. And now the junior is on pace for more NCAA achievements in the near future.
With 36 points scored (rushing or receiving), Kaepernick will become just the sixth player in history to score 200 points and passing for 200 points a career.
With 251 yards rushing, Kaepernick will enter the top 20 all-time in career rushing yards by a quarterback.
MOCH LEADS THE NATION IN TACKLES FOR LOSS; BASPED COMING ON STRONG
With another stellar performance, this one against Utah State, junior Dontay Moch moved back into the national lead for tackles for loss. Moch registered 3.5 TFLs against the Aggies and now has 15.5 TFLs on the season, which includes 4.5 sacks. His average of 2.58 tackles for loss per game is tops in the nation.
Moch has 36.5 career tackles for loss at Nevada, which trails teammate Kevin Basped by 1.5. Moch has 19.5 career sacks, which is a half-sack more than Basped.
After a slow start in which he has faced repeated double- and triple-teams, Basped has come on strong as of late. He had 2.5 sacks against Utah State and now leads the team in sacks with 5.0 on the season. He is second on the team with 8.0 tackles for loss.
GREEN EMERGING AS PASS-CATCHING THREAT
Nevada's tight end trio of seniors Talaiasi Puloka, Kevin Bohr and junior Virgil Green has played a strong role in the Wolf Pack's dominant rushing offense over the years. But this year, Green has emerged as a dangerous threat as a pass-catcher as well.
Green has caught touchdown passes in each of the last three games for the Pack, including a career-long 44-yarder against Utah State. Green is fourth on the team in receptions this year, having caught 13 passes for 146 yards and the three scores. His average of 11.2 yards per catch is second on the team.
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