Game #9 - Nevada Wolf Pack (6-2, 6-2 MW) vs. Tulane Green Wave (6-5, 3-5 American)
Date: Tuesday, Dec. 22
Kickoff: 12:30 p.m. PT
Stadium: Albertsons Stadium
Location: Boise, Idaho
TV: ESPN
Radio: Wolf Pack Radio Network (Flagship: ESPN Radio 94.5 FM/630 AM); TuneIn app
Series: Tulane leads 1-0
Last Meeting: Sept. 26, 1992; L, 34-17

RENO, Nev. – It's the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl once again for the Nevada football team.

The Wolf Pack will face the Tulane Green Wave in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl this Tuesday, Dec. 22 at 12:30 p.m. PT from Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho. This is the second consecutive season that Nevada will compete in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, and the second time in the 2020 calendar year as it faced Ohio in last season's bowl game on Jan. 3, 2020. This is Nevada's sixth bowl appearance since joining the Mountain West in 2012. In addition to last season's Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Nevada also played in the 2015 and 2018 Arizona Bowls, the 2014 New Orleans Bowl and the 2012 New Mexico Bowl.
 
ON THE AIR
John Ramey and Mike Edwards will have the call in Northern Nevada on ESPN Radio 94.5 FM with a 60 minute pregame show prior to kickoff. Fans can also tune in to listen to Ramey and Edwards' broadcast online at TuneIn.com or via the TuneIn app.
 
Fans can watch the game on ESPN on Tuesday. Chris Cotter (play-by-play), Mark Herzlich (analyst) and Taylor Davis (sideline) will have the call on the television broadcast.

SERIES HISTORY
The series history between Nevada and Tulane is short, just one game that was played on Sept. 26, 1992 in the Superdome in New Orleans.

The Green Wave scored 17 unanswered points in the second half to break what was a 17-17 game and come away with a 34-17 victory over the Wolf Pack. Before Tulane held the Pack scoreless, Bryan Reeves scored the final touchdown of the game for Nevada in the early stages of the third quarter, returning a punt 78 yards for a score.

Tulane's running game was strong in the contest, totaling 265 yards on the ground.

LET'S GO BOWLING, DUDE
Back to Boise! For the second consecutive season, and in the same calendar year, Nevada has accepted a bid to play in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. The Wolf Pack will face American Athletic Conference member Tulane in the bowl game on Tuesday, Dec. 22 at 12:30 p.m. PT from Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho. Last season, but on Jan. 3 of 2020, Nevada suffered defeat in the same bowl game to MAC foe Ohio. 

Under head coach Jay Norvell, Nevada has reached a bowl game in three consecutive seasons and is in search of its second bowl win under Norvell after winning the 2018 NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl. This is Nevada's sixth bowl appearance since joining the Mountain West in 2012. In addition to last season's Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Nevada also played in the 2015 and 2018 Arizona Bowls, the 2014 New Orleans Bowl and the 2012 New Mexico Bowl.

The Wolf Pack has played in 12 bowl games since 2005 and 15 bowl games overall since it moved to Division I-A/FBS in 1991. Nevada also played in the Salad Bowl in 1948 and the Harbor Bowl in 1949. The Pack's overall record in bowl games is 6-11.

Born in 1997, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl debuted as the Humanitarian Bowl. Nevada has previously competed in the game three times, falling to Miami in 2006, to Maryland in the 2008 edition of the game, and losing to Ohio in the 2019 edtion, which was played Jan. 3 earlier this year.

NEVADA IN BOWL GAMES
Nevada is 6-11 all-time in its 17 bowl appearances, but has a chance to win its second bowl game in three appearances after defeating Arkansas State in the 2018 NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl, the first bowl win for head coach Jay Norvell.

NEVADA'S BOWL HISTORY INCLUDES THREE OT GAMES
The Wolf Pack has a history of playing close games in its bowl history. Going back to 1995, when the NCAA instituted overtime for bowl games that season, the Wolf Pack has played three overtime games, including college football's first OT game in the 1995 Las Vegas Bowl, a 40-37 loss to Toledo.

Nevada is 2-1 in overtime in bowl games – and 7-7 overall in OT in its history. Nevada beat UCF in OT in the 2005 Hawai`i Bowl and knocked off Arkansas State in the 2018 NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl.

FIFTEEN PACK PLAYERS NAMED TO ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST TEAMS
The Nevada football team placed a school-record 15 players on the 2020 All-Mountain West team, led by sophomore quarterback Carson Strong earning Offensive Player of the Year honors. Strong is the first sophomore to ever win the league's top offensive honor. He is the second Wolf Pack player to take home one of the Mountain West's top "Of The Year" awards in school history, joining Toa Taua, who was the league's Freshman of the Year in 2018.
 
Joining Strong on the All-Mountain West first team were junior wide receiver Romeo Doubs, junior tight end Cole Turner and sophomore place kicker Brandon Talton. Nevada had six second-team honorees. Offensively, junior running back Toa Taua and junior offensive lineman Aaron Frost were both honored on the second team. Defensively, junior tackle Dom Peterson and senior linemen Sam Hammond got the nod, along with senior linebacker Lawson Hall. Doubs was named to the second team as a punt returner as well.
 
Three Union members were among Nevada's six players receiving Honorable Mention in true freshman tackle Jacob Gardner, senior center Tyler Orsini and senior guard Jermaine Ledbetter. Punter Julian Diaz was also honored, along with defensive backs Tyson Williams and BerDale Robins.
 
Nevada's 15 overall honorees is the most since the Pack joined the league in 2012. The four first-team honorees ties the program record set in 2012.

Carson Strong (QB) - Offensive Player of the Year; All-MW First Team
Romeo Doubs (WR) - All-MW First Team (wide receiver); All-MW Second Team (punt returner)
Cole Turner (TE) - All-MW First Team
Brandon Talton (PK) - All-MW First Team

Toa Taua (RB) - All-MW Second Team
Aaron Frost (OL) - All-MW Second Team
Dom Peterson (DT) - All-MW Second Team
Sam Hammond (DE) - All-MW Second Team
Lawson Hall (LB) - All-MW Second Team

Jacob Gardner (OL) - All-MW Honorable Mention
Tyler Orsini (OL) - All-MW Honorable Mention
Jermaine Ledbetter (OL) - All-MW Honorable Mention
Julian Diaz (P) - All-MW Honorable Mention
BerDale Robins (DB) - All-MW Honorable Mention
Tyson Williams (DB) - All-MW Honorable Mention

SPECIALISTS SHINING
Nevada placed three special teams performers on the All-Mountain West squad with PK Brandon Talton earning first team honors, WR Romeo Doubs grabbing a spot on the second team for his punt returning and P Julian Diaz snagged an honorable mention.

Nevada excelled in the punting game in the regular season. Whether it was senior Julian Diaz or freshman Matthew Killam punting, the Pack leads the Mountain West and is fourth in the nation in net punting at 43.93 yards per punt. Diaz booted a 76-yarder in the opener against Wyoming, which is tied for the fourth-longest punt in the nation this year.

Diaz missed two games and part of another this season and as a result, the senior has only averaged 3.5 punts per game, just shy of the 3.6 required by the NCAA and MW to qualify for statistical ranking. His average of 47.7 yards per punt would be second in the nation overall and would lead the Mountain West by more than two yards per punt.

THE FORCE IS STRONG WITH THIS ONE
Carson Strong, the Mountain West's first underclassman to win Offensive Player of the Year honors, has established himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the nation following an eight-game regular season. Strong led the Mountain West in a number of categories including completion percentage (69.4), passing touchdowns (22) and passing yards (2,587) and ranked second in passing efficiency (155.6), passing yards per game (323.4) and total offense (310.9). All of those stats rank in the top 20 on a nation level, including completion percentage, passing yards and passing yards per game in the top 10.

In the game against New Mexico, Strong saw his streak of consecutive pass attempts without an interception come to an end in the second quarter at 299, a school record and the second-longest streak in Mountain West history. Strong tossed a career-high five touchdown passes against Fresno State, becoming the ninth player in Nevada history, and first since Colin Kaepernick in 2010, to do so.

TALTON SELECTED AS SEMIFINALIST FOR LOU GROZA AWARD
The Palm Beach County Sports Commission released the 20 semifinalists for the 2020 Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award presented by the Orange Bowl on Monday with Nevada sophomore Brandon Talton earning a spot on the list.
 
Talton has been near perfect this season making 15-of-17 field goal attempts and is 26-of-27 on extra point attempts. He connected on his season-long make of 49 yards in the win over Fresno State. Talton's field goal percentage of 88.2 ranks second in the MW and is 13th nationally and his field goals per game average of 1.88 is also second in the conference and is fourth in the nation. Additionally near the midway point of the season, Talton led the nation with 18 consecutive field goals made until his miss against SDSU from 51 yards out.
 
Though just a sophomore and having played in 21 games in his career, Talton has already begun to make a splash in the Nevada record book. The Vacaville, Calif. native ranks seventh in career field goals made with 36 and is ninth in career kick scoring with 161 points.

DOUBS MAKING HISTORY AT NEVADA
Junior WR Romeo Doubs became just the 16th player in Wolf Pack football history to surpass 2,000 career receiving yards, doing so against Fresno State on Dec. 5. Doubs now has 2,171 yards and ranks 14th in program history.

In addition to his career totals, Doubs has a chance in Tuesday's bowl game to become the 21st player in program history to record 1,000 yards in a single season. With 40 receiving yards against Tulane, Doubs will be the first Pack player to accomplish the feat since Rishard Matthews in 2011.

TOA 2K
Running back Toa Taua surpassed 2,000 career rushing yards against Hawai'i on Nov. 28. Taua recorded a season-high 131 rushing yards, 19 receiving yards and one touchdown against the Rainbow Warriors. His total career rushing yards now sits at 2,252. The game against Hawai'i marked Taua's second 100-yard rushing performance of the season. His last 100-yard rushing game was against Utah State (107). In addition, ranks second in the conference in total rushing yards and his average of 6.1 yards per carry leads the league, and is 25th nationally.

O ROMEO, ROMEO, WHEREFORE ART THOU
Junior WR Romeo Doubs established himself as one of the top wide receivers in the nation through the 2020 regular season. Doubs posted 100 receiving yards or more in five of the Pack's eight games, including a career-high 219-yard performance in game two at UNLV. His streak of five consecutive 100-yard games was snapped at Hawai'i, but was tied for fourth-longest in Mountain West history. He was recently named to the All-Mountain West first team for the first time in his career and also received All-Mountain West second team honors as a punt returner.

Through eight regular season games, Doubs led the conference in a number of receiving categories including yards per game (120.0), touchdowns (9) and total receiving yards (960). In each of those categories he ranks in the top 15 nationally, including a sixth-place ranking in receiving yards per game. With 40 receiving yards in Tuesday's bowl game, Doubs will become the 21st Wolf Pack player to record 1,000 receiving yards in a single season and the first to do so since Richard Matthews in 2011. He will have done so in just nine games.

DOM-INATING
Junior DT Dom Peterson entered the 2020 season as one of the top defensive linemen in the Mountain West, and in the nation, and did not dissapoint during the 2020 regular season. Against Hawai'i, Peterson moved into the Nevada record book, tying for 10th most career sacks (16.5). Despite suffering an ankle injury in the sixth game of the year, he is in the top 10 in the conference in sacks with a team-leading 4.5 on the year. He also recorded 7.0 tackles for loss as part of 27 overall tackles on the year. He's making a push for the Nevada record book too in his third season, sitting just outside the top 10 career tackles for loss.