![]() Their success rate isn't that much higher than normal on passing downs, but when they connect, it's a huge play. However, on passing downs, it appears they go deep. ![]() On non-passing downs, Nevada isn't very aggressive in the passing game-their 0.865 Passing S&P is lower than the national 0.884 and disproportionately lower than a lot of their numbers compared to the national average. Here's what I said about Nevada's passing game back in June: S Delstin Garward (Justin Garrett + Del Howard) Washington is a strong, physical runner, and he and Coffman are the two reasons I just can't really fear any specific defensive strategy. They'll just throw to Chase Coffman 12 times, and. Combined with tight, bumping coverage of the other receivers, you'd think Nevada would have a pretty good recipe for physically defending the spread. If they choose to give Jeremy Maclin the Crabtree Treatment, they can limit his effectiveness too. Aside from two plays, they held Michael Crabtree in check (unfortunately for the Wolfpack, those two plays went for 50 and 82 yards.ouch). Nevada was able to bump Texas Tech's WRs and confuse Graham Harrell into a 19-for-46 performance. I'm putting him here because of what I said during the score projections. It's all on Nevada's secondary to make plays.or at least not miss any tackles. I was going to put LB Josh Mauga here because of his blitzing prowess, but.well, until given a reason to, I just don't fear other teams' blitzes. He and CB Antoine Thompson-3 pass break-ups last week-are the biggest playmakers in Nevada's secondary, and a lot will be expected of them if Mizzou is going to be held under 5 TDs. SEMO thrived in the "quick delivery" department, and Mizzou's pass rush was somehow held in check last week, but I don't expect that to happen again.Īnyanwu had a solid game against Tech, with 6 tackles and 1 TFL. While Mizzou's blitzing has been entirely ineffective, Stryker Sulak and Tommy Chavis are poised for a big game if the O-line-the OT's in particular-can slow them down. Missouri racked up 5 sacks (four from the DEs) against a mobile QB in Juice Williams. Texas Tech racked up four sacks last week. Aside from maybe a Kaepernick scramble on a broken play, Mitchell represents Nevada's best chance at easy points, and he'll have to come up big at least twice for Nevada to have a chance. Mitchell was a fantastic deep threat last year, and this year has been more of the same so far-in basically 1.5 games against Texas Tech and Grambling, Mitchell has 12 catches for a 16.3-yard average and 1 TD. For the "long plays" part of that equation, it's all about Marko Mitchell. The key to keeping up with Mizzou, other than not settling for FGs, will be scoring as many easy points as possible-long plays, turnovers, etc. It's up to Kaepernick to will the ball into the endzone, and he hasn't proven he can do that consistently against a decent defense yet this year. They attempted SIX FG's against Tech, and as was discussed in the offseason, settling for FGs against Mizzou = slow death. One other thing-Nevada had numerous chances deep in Texas Tech territory and wasn't able to punch the ball into the endzone, with or without Lippincott. Missouri's given up quite a few yards so far this year, but if Kaepernick is careless with the ball, Mizzou is more than capable of making him pay. Also, after committing next to no turnovers last year, Kaepernick has three in the first two games of the year-2 INTs and 1 fumble. So far he's responded with decent stats-386 passing yards, 143 rushing yards in two games-but he needs to step up his game against the best team on Nevada's schedule. Luke Lippincott is out, and while Nevada's other RBs-Vai Taua, Brandon Fragger-are at the very least competent (Taua might eventually turn out to be as productive as Lippincott), LL's absence does put more pressure on Kaepernick to create on his own. I hate being predictable, but you have to put Kaepernick at the top of the list. Never in my life have I taken a 45-yard FG for granted (KNOCK ON WOOD), but that's where we've gotten with Wolfert. Two problems: 1) Nevada's settling for too many FGs (I'll address that below), and 2) Jeremy Maclin returns punts for Mizzou.Īnd once again, Mizzou has Jeff Wolfert-Nevada doesn't. The return game for Nevada has been more or less a wash this year so far-Dwayne Sanders hasn't had many opportunities to return punts, and Brandon Fragger's been decent but not spectacular in a handful of kickoff returns. You don't want to have weaknesses in your punting game when you come to Columbia. One problem, though: in two games, Nevada's had a punt blocked and a punt returned for TD. New punter Brad Langley has done a bang-up job so far, averaging 46.9 yards per punt. He missed two FGs last week, but he went 16-for-21 last year and is a decent option.
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