Wednesday Walkthrough: Nevada Week
Normally, the first road game of the season is a major test for any program, and there are some inherent challenges facing the Kansas Jayhawks entering Week 3. However, after a thoroughly impressive win over the Illinois Fighting Illini last weekend, a trip to Reno to face the Nevada Wolf Pack is a substantially less daunting task.
As we’ll touch on more thoroughly later, this Nevada team is down about as badly as a program can be. KU, meanwhile, is flying high and showing no signs of stopping, as long as it doesn’t slow itself down with self-inflicted mistakes.
The Jayhawks are one of the biggest favorites in major college football this week, and we’ll dive into why and what the program is saying about the matchup in the latest Wednesday Walkthrough.
Let’s talk Wolf Pack.
LISTENING IN ON LANCE
"We played really hard. That was a physical football game. I was really pleased with the way we went about playing."
While acknowledging that things shifted in the second half as miscues piled up for the Jayhawks, Lance Leipold said he was happy with how KU played against Illinois, a game that went a long way in solidifying the program’s national reputation in the early stages of this season. Unsurprisingly, he said there’s still “plenty to work on” and wasn’t happy with only netting two field goals in the second half, but it’s hard for anyone, fan or coach, to be too mad about a multiple-score win over a Big Ten team.
“It's something we haven't had to do here. We're working through some different thoughts. Our players will adjust well, I just hope I can stay awake long enough.”
KU doesn’t play games in the Pacific Time Zone very often, so there’s an understandable adjustment that comes with making a trip out west, especially for a night game. Michael Swain of Phog.net did a great job writing about the specific issues Kansas is facing regarding travel and practice time, but suffice it to say that Leipold isn’t thrilled either way.
"Much like I talked about last week, which I'll probably say week in and week out, we've got to be consistent at establishing the line of scrimmage and making teams one dimensional offensively, and making sure we can stay as multiple as we've been to execute everything we want to do."
We’ll get more into the specifics of this Nevada team shortly, but there is something here beyond Leipold’s typical gassing up of KU’s opponent. Things got sloppy for the Jayhawks in the second half last week, turning the ball over twice and settling for just two field goals in 30 minutes. Even against a vastly inferior opponent, Kansas will be at its best when it dictates the flow of the game and stays within structure both offensively and defensively. Nobody will be happy with another sloppy half of ugly football this weekend.
"If he was hurt and wasn't in there, what are you going to do? You're going to go to the next, and we've played seven different D-ends in there this year so now maybe we're down to six. Obviously, it's unfortunate for Austin. I guess it's somebody else's opportunity that's probably going to get a few more plays that they might not have otherwise."
Let’s check in with defensive coordinator Brian Borland for this week’s coordinator quote. Kansas won’t have defensive end Austin Booker due to a “controversial” targeting flag a week away. Which is obviously a major shame given how well he played in the win over Illinois. The silver lining is that this is why depth is so important along the defensive front and why it was vital for this group to take major strides during fall camp. So far, it looks like the Jayhawks will have enough juice up front shoulder the load in Booker’s absence (for a half, anyway).
KNOW YOUR ENEMY
When: Saturday, Sept. 16 at 9:30 p.m. CT
Where: Mackay Stadium, Reno, Nevada
Spread: Kansas -27.5
To be blunt, Nevada might be the worst team in the FBS. A few FBS teams lost to FCS opponents in Week 2, but only one school got housed by 27 points at home against the team picked to finish fifth in the Big Sky Conference. This was an eight-win team just two seasons ago and they made four consecutive bowl games under former coach Jay Norvell, now at Colorado State, but graduation, transfer portal attrition and a fleeing coach has left the Wolf Pack gasping for air in the Mountain West.
Nevada didn’t have a single player make the preseason All-Mountain West team, joining state-mate UNLV as the only programs in that conference with that dubious distinction this year. Quarterbacks Brendon Lewis and A.J. Bianco have split time under center through two games, with neither dazzling though Bianco has been more efficient in a smaller sample size. The Wolf Pack rushing attack has been almost completely ineffective through two blowout losses, with six ball carriers netting just 2.7 yards per carry as a squad.
Advanced metrics are, predictably, unkind to Nevada. Bill Connelly’s SP+ ranks Nevada 130th in the nation currently; in other words, the fourth-worst program in the country. Stats Perform’s TRACR metric, meanwhile, currently ranks Nevada dead last among all 133 FBS programs.
JAYHAWK TO WATCH
It’s been an excellent first two weeks of the season for running back Devin Neal, whose 214 rushing yards are good for third best in the Big 12. He made history against Illinois by becoming the 13th Jayhawks to reach 2,000 career rushing yards. If KU reaches a bowl game and assuming he plays every week the rest of the season, Neal needs to average just 58.5 yards per game to crack the top five in program history in that stat.
This week’s opponent is a good candidate for Neal to rack up yardage against, as Nevada is allowing 6.3 yards per rush so far this year and TRACR grades the Wolf Pack’s run defense as the worst in the country by far.
KU’s passing game should have plenty of its own opportunities for explosive plays, so don’t be surprised if Jalon Daniels and the receiving corps put up gaudy numbers, too. But Neal is off to a white-hot start to the season, and it’s a safe bet that he’ll continue that momentum against Nevada.
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