December 24, 2009, at 2:44 am
Record 3-2
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl- Nevada v. Southern Methodist
Ah, memories. Sweet memories. It was only a year ago that Jimmy Clausen looked like the quarterback everyone thought he’d be coming out of high school. It was only a year ago that I sat on my couch and said “maybe it’s not such a bad idea keeping Weis around for another year”. Oh boy, how things have changed. On a similar note, that game will probably be looked at as the turning point of Jimmy Clausen’s college career. Maybe the apex, unfortunately .
Despite the fact that, no, Notre Dame is not playing in this year’s edition- there is an ironic Fighting Irish connection. Nevada’s worst offensive performance of the season came in week one in South Bend. It was after this game, a 35-0 shellacking, that I called the Notre Dame dominant and decided to book my trip to the National Championship game.
Thank god for forgiving cancellation policies.
But how about something about the teams that are playing in this year’s game. Nevada boasts a dynamic offense behind a Hall of Fame head coach (betcha didn’t know that) and powerful rushing game. Normally, its impressive when a team has one 1000 yard rusher. It’s considered outstanding when they have two. Nevada? They have three.
Vai Taua, Luke Lippencott, and quarterback Colin Kaepernick all have over 1000 yards on the ground. Kaepernick ran for 16 touchdowns and threw for another 19. He also doesn’t turn the ball over, throwing only five picks this season. But good news for Southern Methodist. Neither Vai Taua or Luke Lippincott will play in the game. Lippincott is nursing an injury and Taua was ruled academically ineligible.
The Wolfpack got off to a bad start, loosing their first three games, but soon found a groove. They rattled off eight straight wins before falling to Boise State in the final week of the season. They put up an ungodly 70 points in a win over Idaho in late October. Kaepernick carried the ball 15 times in that game for 230 yards.
So the way to stop Nevada is pretty simple. Stop the run and you win. Even with only Kaepernick to account for, this is no easy task. Boise State allowed 242 yards rushing, but that stat is a little misleading because the Broncos jumped out to a 20-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. Notre Dame allowed 153 yards in the shut out. That was the closest that anyone came to stopping the run effectively.
Southern Methodist also has a 1000 yard rusher in Shawnbrey McNeal. Besides having the best name this side of Jacquizz Rodgers, McNeal gives adds another aspect to a dynamic passing offense. He ran for 1,125 yards and nine touchdowns.
A little more on the dynamic passing offense- True freshman Kyle Padron never gave his job up after taking over for the injured Bo Levi Mitchell mid season. Padron completed 64% of his passes and tossed eight touchdowns. He also had four interceptions. Stopping the passing game should be an issue for Nevada. They ranked second to last in pass defense this season.
I don’t see how this game isn’t high scoring. The question is, how much does the loss of Taua and Lippencott hurt the rushing game of Nevada. However, the Nevada running back situation doesn’t change the fact that Southern Methodist gives up almost 200 yards on the ground per game. When a team like Nevada has three 1000 yard backs in a season, that screams something about the system. I mean, its Nevada- not Miami. I still think SMU will have a ton of trouble with the run and that’s the difference in the game.
The Pick: Nevada
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