Late Game Blunders Lead to 14-13 Loss for Nevada

For the first 53 minutes of the game, Nevada was in charge. The defense had a shutout going against Middle Tennessee, and despite only scoring in the second quarter, the offense held the lead.

But all it took was the final seven minutes for the script to flip. Middle Tennessee scored two touchdowns during that span, and although Nevada had a chance to win it at the end with a 56-yard field goal, the kick missed and the Pack fell just short.

Scoring Summary

2nd Quarter:

14:42: 47-yard TD pass to Ky Woods from Chubba

Purdy (Joe McFadden PAT)

Middle Tennessee 0 – Nevada 7

8:59: Joe McFadden 45-yard FG

Middle Tennessee 0 – Nevada 10

1:02: Joe McFadden 33-yard FG

Middle Tennessee 0 – Nevada 13

4th Quarter:

6:30 13-yard TD pass to Nahzae Cox from Nicholas Vattiato (Jacob Hathaway PAT)

Middle Tennessee 7 – Nevada 13

0:21: Nicholas Vattiato 5-yard TD run (Jacob Hathaway PAT)

Middle Tennessee 14 – Nevada 13

Final: Middle Tennessee 14, Nevada 13

Offense

Nevada’s offense started with a twist, as backup QB AJ Bianco took the opening snaps. Bianco and Chubba Purdy split reps in this one, with head coach Jeff Choate saying it was designed to help calm Purdy’s nerves.

“A lot of that had to do with what I felt like was Chubba, for lack of a better term, inability to kind of calm down as the game went on last week,” Choate said. “We knew we were going to play both of the guys in this game. Both of them had big pieces of the game plan, and the decision was more about trying to help Chubba calm down a little bit and get into the flow of the game.”

The offense was quiet in the first quarter, picking up 48 total yards. It picked up in the second quarter, with the Pack scoring all 13 points of the first half. Nevada’s first score came from a 47-yard dot from Purdy to Ky Woods to go up 7-0.

Nevada put some decent drives together in the first half, but the Pack had to settle for two field goals before halftime.

It was mostly Bianco in the first half, as he finished the game going 9-17 with 78 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. Purdy went 5-7, 88 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Both quarterbacks had a costly interception that Choate said gave too momentum to Middle Tennessee. Bianco’s mistake came on Nevada’s first drive of the second half. Bianco took a shot at the endzone at the opposing nine-yard line, where it was picked by safety Juwon Gaston.

Gaston was also responsible for Purdy’s interception. Early in the fourth quarter, Nevada had the ball near midfield, and Purdy threw it up as he was hit by a defender. The ball floated right into Gaston’s hands.

Nevada got good work from its running backs, including Herschel Turner, who led Nevada with 90 yards on 12 carries. Woods wasn’t far behind with 40 yards on three carries, while also picking up 47 yards through the air.

Nevada’s offense picked up 369 total yards, but an underwhelming 13 points overshadowed the rest of the stats. Between the two QBs, Nevada picked up 166 passing yards. I mentioned in my preview how weak Middle Tennessee’s secondary was against the pass, so it’s safe to say the Wolf Pack didn’t take advantage.

Nevada had a chance to win the game after the late touchdown by Middle Tennessee. Purdy led the team past midfield, and with just a few seconds to go, Joe McFadden lined up for a game-winning 56-yard field goal. The kick had the distance, but it was wide right, ending Nevada’s hopes.

“Could have, should have, would have, it wasn’t good enough,” Choate said.

Defense

Nevada’s defense was the biggest highlight of the game despite the loss. Middle Tennessee was shut out until the 6:30 mark of the fourth quarter and picked up 352 total yards of offense. The defense forced five three-and-outs and seven punts.

QB Nicholas Vattiato went 27-44 with 247 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He was sacked four times and Nevada’s defense made him uncomfortable the whole game with pressure.

“That was really critical, especially in the first half,” Choate said. “They went to some pocket movement stuff. They ran a lot of sprint outs, and I think it got the quarterback off the spot and out of his rhythm. But he [Vattiato] did a good job of holding the ball and using his legs at critical moments in the fourth quarter.”

Vattiato did just that: he adjusted well. In the first three quarters, he had 121 passing yards and was in the negatives in rushing yards. It all turned in the fourth quarter, as Vattiato collected 126 pass yards and 34 rush yards, including the game-winning touchdown run with 21 seconds left.

“I think that collectively, we’re not going to get too down on this,” linebacker Stone Combs said after the game. “I mean, we still have a lot of games to go through throughout the season, and we’re going to attack tomorrow. We’re going to look at ourselves in the mirror and be harsh critics on ourselves, and look at the things we can get better at day in and day out, fix those up and continue to emphasize things that we do well.”

Nevada’s defense collected 57 total tackles, four sacks, six TFL, one interception and four pass breakups.