University of Nevada Athletics

Nevada Game Notes

Week #11 - Nevada (3-6, 1-4 MW) vs. San Diego State (8-1, 5-0 MW)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 12
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. PT
Stadium: Mackay Stadium
Location: Reno, Nev.
Television: CBS Sports Network
Radio: Wolf Pack Radio Network (Flagship: ESPN Radio 94.5 FM/630 AM)
Series: San Diego State leads 5-3
Last Meeting: L, 31-14 - Nov. 28, 2015

LAST TIME OUT
The halftime fireworks in the form of a lightning storm rocked the press box and momentarily extinguished the field lights late Saturday night, a prelude to a high scoring second half in which Nevada ultimately fell to New Mexico, 35-26.

New Mexico quarterback Austin Apodaca accounted for two second-half touchdowns to help the Lobos. Apodaca hit Emmanuel Harris for a 44-yard touchdown in the third quarter and followed that up with a 4-yard run in the fourth quarter to seal the game.

The teams waited out a one-hour, 49-minute delay that sent nearly every fan fleeing permanently from the stadium. And New Mexico came out strong after the extended break, scoring two quick touchdowns. The Wolf Pack rallied for two scores of their own, but missed on an extra point, and failed on a 2-point try that would have tied it at 28-all midway through the fourth quarter.

SERIES HISTORY
The Wolf Pack and Aztecs have played one another just eight times in their respective histories. The first meeting was back in 1945, a 44-6 victory in Reno for Nevada. Since then San Diego State has captured most of the wins as it leads the series 5-3. The Aztecs took the win last season in San Diego by the final of 31-14 and held Nevada to its lowest rushing total since 2004.

FUMBLE!
The Nevada defense is quickly becoming one of the most potent in terms of causing fumbles and recovering them. The Wolf Pack has caused 14 fumbles through nine games, which is the most by a Mountain West team this season and is tied for fourth nationally with Colorado and North Carolina State. Only Ohio (18), Temple (17) and Washington (15) have more. With those 14 causes, the Pack has recovered eight of them which is the most in the league.

TAKE THE REIGNS
With the news of a season-ending shoulder injury to starting QB Tyler Stewart, which he suffered in the first quarter against Wyoming, sophomore Ty Gangi has been named the Wolf Pack's starter moving forward. Gangi saw a lot of minutes after filling in for Stewart and nearly rallied the Pack to victory against Wyoming. In his first piece of extended action, Gangi threw for 300 yards on 27 completions, threw his first career touchdown pass and ran for another. He was the first Nevada quarterback to throw for 300 yards since Cody Fajardo threw for 306 on Oct. 4, 2014 against Boise State. He then became the first Nevada QB to throw for 300 yards in back-to-back games since Fajardo in the 2013 season after passing for a career-high 301 yards at New Mexico. He also threw three touchdown passes in that game.

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
The game at New Mexico in week 10 so some firsts for a couple of Nevada players. Sophomore WR Ahki Muhammad caught a slant pass in the middle of the field in the fourth quarter and took it 57 yards for the touchdown, the first of his career. Sophomore TE Brandon Scott also snagged the first touchdown reception of his career on a 19-yard fade into the endzone.

BUTLER KEEPS CLIMBING
During Nevada's 27-22 win over Fresno State, junior RB James Butler entered the top 10 in career rushing yards at Nevada. He passed both John Vicari and Anthony Corley and is currently ninth all-time with 2,966 yards. Butler finished the game with 175 rushing yards on a career-high 37 carries. Butler should hit a few milestones this week as he is 11 yards shy of 1,000 rushing yards for the season, 34 yards from reaching 3,000 for his career and is 49 yards away from passing Luke Lippincott for eighth all-time at Nevada.

BALL SECURITY
A hallmark in the Polian era has been ball security and the same has been true so far in 2016. Entering this week, Nevada is 31st in the nation in turnover margin at +0.44 per game. That mark puts the Pack third in the conference. The Pack is one of just two teams nationally that has lost one fumble and it ranks fifth nationally in turnovers lost with just seven through nine games. Last year, Nevada was 15th in the nation in turnover margin (21-12, +0.69). In 2014, Nevada was 11th in that category (27-16, +0.85) and also led the conference. In Polian's first season in 2013, Nevada was 23rd nationally in turnover margin (18-11, +0,58).

GET IT TO JERICO
It has been quite sometime since senior WR Jerico Richardson did not catch a pass in a game. To be exact it was Oct. 18, 2014 at BYU when Richardson did not register a reception. That is a string of 28 consecutive games with at least one reception, which is tied for 24th-longest in the nation. Excluding his freshman season there have only been two games where Richardson did not record a reception (Oct. 18, 2014 at BYU and Sept. 5, 2014 vs. Washington State). Richardson is currently third on the team with 24 receptions and 264 receiving yards.

HENDERSON APPROACHING 2,000 CAREER YARDS RECEIVING
Senior WR Hasaan Henderson is closing in on eclipsing 2,000 receiving yards for his career. He had his best game of the season against Wyoming, catching seven passes for 89 yards, all season high numbers. At New Mexico, Henderson passed Treamelle Taylor for 17th in career receiving yards and is just one yard shy of tying Damond Wilkins for 16th. He needs 128 to reach 2,000.

THE RUFUS ON FIRE
Sophomore FS Asauni Rufus may not have the flashy interception stats to his credit thus far, but he has been quietly wreaking havoc on opposing offenses. Rufus got in on a season-high 11 tackles against Wyoming to lead the team and followed that up with 10 at New Mexico. Rufus was the cause of two fumbles by the Purdue offense in week four. He now ranks in the top 25 in the nation in solo tackles, averaging 5.4 per game, which is fourth in the conference. More impressive are his three forced fumbles this season, 19th-most in the country. His two recoverd fumbles has him 11th in the nation. He enters week 11 as the team's second-best tackler with 71 total.

BOY OH BOY
Senior punter Alex Boy launched a career-long punt during the Cal Poly game, a 71-yard punt in the third quarter that started the next Cal Poly drive from the 20. For the year he has punted 39 times and is averaging 44.9 yards per punt, which ranks 13th in the nation and is second in the Mountain West.

• For his career, Boy now has 7,099 career punting yards, passing David Heppe (6,649) for third all-time. He trails Bret Dales for second by 868 yards. The all-time mark in career punting yards is 10,652 set by Derek Jones (2000-03).

• Boy's 2, 732 punting yards last season is the third-most in a single season in Nevada program history. The all-time best single season mark for punting yards is 3,331, captured by Tom Kolesar in 1974.

OPPOSING OFFENSES, MEET Malik Reed
Sophomore DE Malik Reed is on a tear since the start of conference play and is not making it easy for opposing offenses. Reed forced a fumble for a second straight game against Fresno State and recorded a sack in four straight games leading up to the New Mexico contest. He ranks in the top 20 in the nation with teammate Asauni Rufus in forced fumbles. In the past four games, Reed has recorded 35 total tackles, 27 of which were unassisted, 7.0 tackles for loss, 5.0 sacks and forced three fumbles.

DEMPS CONTINUES TO SHINE
Junior Wyatt Demps continues to shine in his staring role at wide receiver. Demps set career-highs in a slew of categories against Fresno State including receptions (9), receiving yards (124) and receiving touchdowns (3). Since the start of league play he has made 29 catches for nearly 400 yards and five touchdown receptions. He leads the team with 43 catches for 524 yards. He has become a reliable target for Wolf Pack quarterbacks with seven touchdown catches, which is 30th in the nation and third in the conference.

LINEBACKING CORE
The linebacking core for Nevada went through many changes in the offseason with the departure of Jordan Dobrich, Matthew Lyons and Bryan Lane Jr. It seems like the new crop of starters at linebacker haven't missed a beat however. Senior LB Alex Bertrando currently leads the team and ranks in the top 15 in the nation with 9.9 total tackles per game. After missing the Wyoming game, he totaled a team-high 12 tackles at New Mexico. Additionally Bertrando's 5.8 solo tackles per game is 17th-best in the nation and ranks third in the Mountain West.

OH BABER!
When you rank second in the nation in anything, that's pretty good. Nevada's starting sophomore SS Dameon Baber is near the top of the list in fumbles recovered, scooping up three. He shot to the top following the Purdue weekend after recovering two fumbles during that game. He has also forced two fumbles this year, stripping his second against Fresno State. Baber is the team's fourth-best tackler, averaging 5.8 tackles per game.

MITCHELL TAKING KICKOFFS
Senior CB Elijah Mitchell did not play in week one but has been the one to field kickoffs ever since. He posted his second-longest return of the year in the third quarter vs. Wyoming, a 41-yard return. Mitchell now has 1,328 kickoff return yards for his career. He needs 11 kickoff return yards on Saturday to tie Paul Williams for third.

PACK'S TOP FIVE MARKS IN THE MOUNTAIN WEST
Nevada ranks in the top five in the Mountain West in the following statistical categories; 3rd down conversion percentage (3rd, 47.9), 4th down conversion percentage (2nd, 62.5), completion percentage (3rd, 59.9), fewest penalties (4th, 48), fumbles lost (1st, 1), fumbles recovered (1st, 8), net punting (4th, 38.6), passes had intercepted (4th, 6), passing yards allowed (2nd, 167.4), scoring defense (5th, 28.3), turnover margin (3rd, +0.44), turnovers lost (1st, 7).

SPREAD THE WEALTH
When you have a receiving corps as deep as Nevada's, why not get everyone involved. That's what Nevada quarterbacks have done through nine games this season. In the opener against Cal Poly senior QB Tyler Stewart found the hands of nine different receivers, which was the most receivers to catch a pass in a game in the Brian Polian era and the most since Sept. 8, 2012 versus South Florida. Against Wyoming sophomore QB Ty Gangi threw to nine different receivers as well. All together 11 players have caught at least one pass this season.

YOUTHFUL DEFENSE
At the heart of the Wolf Pack defense is a fairly young lineup. Between the front seven lie two seniors and the other four consist of one junior, three sophomores and one redshirt freshman. The defensive backfield starters include one senior, one junior and two sophomores. Aside from Alex Bertrando, the team's leading tackler and a senior, the following three leading tacklers on the team are Gabe Sewell, a redshirt freshman, Dameon Baber and Asauni Rufus, both sophomores.

EXPLOSIVE PLAYS
Nevada's offense posted seven explosive plays (20+ yard passes, 15+ yard rushes) during the loss to New Mexico in week 10. The team registered three pass plays of 20 or more yards and four run plays of more than 15 yards. The long rush of the game came from junior RB James Butler, a run of 20 yards. The long pass play was a 57-yard slant up the middle in the fourth quarter from sophomore QB Ty Gangi to sophomore WR Ahki Muhammad that went for a touchdown. It was the first touchdown reception of Muhammad's career and a career-long reception.