Originally Posted by
ManBearPig
I'm a Nevada fan I have seen everyone of Nevada's games this year and will be at this one tonight. There's so many things to say about this game and if you know anything about the history of Nev/Boise games you can throw all the stats out the window. If there's any team in the conference who has given Boise the most fits and has been the closest to beating them, it's us and they know it. Every single player on Nevada knows the importance of this game and the focus will be of the same for this one. They want nothing more than to spoil Boise's "magical" season and watch them leave Mackay with their tails between their legs. This is Nevada's Bowl Game/Championship whatever you want to say and they will approach it as such. Anyone who saw the CAL game knows what we're capable of at home when we're focused and playing the big underdog.
Sure, Utah st scored 35 pts in the 2H...you wanna bash them for giving up those points but no credit for building the lead to begin with. When you go up by that amount and have to come out and play another half the focus just isn't going to be there. They guys tried to coast and it cost them. This was more of an exception than the rule. Our defense isn't great but it's tons better than last year. We have some ability to stop the pass this year, which is a step up from none we had last year. It's obvious that the defense will need to have a bend don't break mentality.
They key will be the offense and getting going early. The games the last couple years have been close and this is after going down early and having to claw our way back. We must get on the scoreboard early and see that we can move the ball on them and get some stops on defense. We can't watch them score on every possession like they usually do and expect to keep it close. Boise's front line on D is killer and will cause problems with the pistol because the pistol is predicated on down hill running, which is right at that line. This is how we open things up elsewhere and I'm just not sure how we can rely on this the whole game. I'm curious to see how we react if it doesn't work. Hawaii did the same and we didn't make the proper adjustments until the 2H.
We are a much much better team than last year, but unfortunately so is Boise, I don't look at stats for this one because I know the emotion of this game will have a larger affect. To people on the outside 14 seems easy, and it could be, but don't think we won't keep this close. Don't underestimate the situation and what it means to Nevada. This isn't your typical sat afternoon game and I expect the best game of the year out of the guys.
I won't play anything on this, because I can't bet with my heart, but the total looks like the most promising bet. It's going to be cold but not as cold as it's been lately so scoring will occur.