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Nevada Football: Three Keys And A Prediction For Wolf Pack Vs Colorado State
The Wolf Pack can clinch bowl eligibility on Senior Night in Reno if they can defeat Colorado State. Here are my three keys and a prediction.
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Three Keys And A Prediction For Nevada-Colorado State
The Nevada Wolf Pack will play their final home football game of the 2018 season on Saturday night as they host the Colorado State Rams. The game will be televised live on ESPNU and on the WatchESPN app and kick off is set for 7:30pm PT.
If the Wolf Pack were to defeat the Rams, Nevada would get their sixth victory of the season and become bowl eligible for the first time since 2015. That year was when Nevada earned a spot in the Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl where they defeated the Colorado State Rams 28-23.
It will be Senior Night in Reno as Nevada will honor 17 seniors that are on this 2018 edition of the Wolf Pack football team. Clinching bowl eligibility with a win on Saturday would an excellent way to send off the seniors on the Wolf Pack football team.
Here are my three keys and a prediction for the Wolf Pack’s contest with Colorado State:
The Wolf Pack must keep focus despite the emotions of Senior Night.
For the 17 seniors on this 2018 edition of the Nevada Wolf Pack football team, this will be the last time they suit up in front of the home crowd at Mackey Stadium. The emotions will be running high on Saturday night, but it is key that the Wolf Pack keep the focus on the task at hand: Defeat Colorado State and become bowl eligible.
The Rams are 3-6 and their season has been disappointing, but the Rams are looking to use a good passing attack to play spoiler on the Wolf Pack’s senior night. If the Wolf Pack can keep the focus on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, then the Wolf Pack can secure the win on Senior night and clinch bowl eligibility.
Stop Colorado State’s Passing Attack
The Rams are one of the best passing offenses in the Mountain West. They are second in the league in passing yards per game as they average 310 passing yards per game trailing only Boise State in that category.
Rams quarterback K.J. Carta-Samuels for the season has completed close to 62 percent of his passes for 2,712 yards and has thrown for 18 touchdown passes. Carta-Samuels has some talented receivers he is throwing to in junior wide receiver Preston Williams (71 catches 951 yards, eight touchdown) and senior Olabisi Johnson (43 catches 601 yards and four touchdowns).
Safe to say the Rams are a talented group when it comes to passing the ball. The Wolf Pack defense need big contributions from Malik Reed, Lucas Weber, Gabe Sewell, Asani Rufus and Dameon Baber to contain the Rams passing attack in order to win on Saturday.
The Wolf Pack must establish their rushing attack.
The Rams are one of the worst run defenses in the Mountain West as they are giving up an average of 207 yards per game on the ground. That statistic ranks the Rams tenth in the conference in run defense. The Wolf Pack is a team that likes to move the ball thru the air with Ty Gangi at quarterback passing the ball to his trio of receivers such as McLane Mannix, Kaleb Fossum and Elijah Cooks. But this game against Colorado State can give the Wolf Pack a chance to utilize running back Toa Taua, Devonte Lee and Kelton Moore to attack this porous Rams run defense.
Prediction: Nevada 34 Colorado State 23[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1360]