42.5 F
Reno

Game notes: Pack rallies, downs Air Force in final minutes

Date:

image001-5626478-3861533– With the 45-42 over Air Force, Nevada moved above .500 on the year at 3-2 overall with its second win in a row and third at home … The Wolf Pack is 2-0 in Mountain West play and 3-0 at home … The win moved it’s all-time program record to 520-448-33 … Brian Polian is now 3-2 on the year and as a head coach.

– Nevada evened the all-time series with Air Force at 1-1 … This was the first ever visit by a service academy to Mackay Stadium.

CAREER DAY FOR CODY
Nevada junior quarterback Cody Fajardo set career marks in completions (38), attempts (54) and yards (389) and tied a career mark with three touchdowns in the win. Fajardo also ran for 81 yards on just 11 carries with two more scores.
Fajardo tallied 470 yards of total offense and accounted for five touchdowns in the game without a turnover.
Fajardo went over the 2,000 yard mark in rushing for his career. He is the second Nevada quarterback to hit that mark (Colin Kaepernick, 2007-10).
He also went over the 5,000-yard mark in passing for his career. He is the 10th Nevada quarterback to hit that mark.

RECEIVERS RUN WILD
With Nevada’s passing attack in full effect, Nevada’s receiving corps put up some impressive numbers.
Brandon Wimberly set a career high with 15 catches, the most by a Nevada receiver since Nate Burleson set the school record with 19 against San Jose State in 2001. He tallied his fourth career 100-yard game with 134 yards on the night, one yard shy of his career high.
Aaron Bradley had a career high 11 catches for 135 yards, which was also one yard shy of his career high. Bradley’s previous career high was eight catches against Wyoming last year.
All three starters – Wimberly, Bradley and Richy Turner – caught touchdown passes in the game. Turner had six catches for 44 yards and went over the 1,000-yard mark in receiving yards for his career.

CONSECUTIVE COMPLETIONS
Fajardo completed his first 12 attempts of the game which, combined with his eight straight completions against UC Davis, gave him 20 completions in a row. That is the second-longest streak in MW history, behind Boise State’s Kellen Moore’s 23 in a row in 2011.

WIM STREAK
Senior wide receiver Brandon Wimberly extended his nation’s-best streak of consecutive games with a reception to 45 straight – all 45 games of his career.
The Mountain West record for consecutive games with a reception is 47, held by UNLV’s Casey Flair and Wyoming’s Jovon Bouknight.

WIM STREAK, PART II
Wimberly has now caught a touchdown pass in four straight games. This streak has been helped along by three different quarterbacks. He caught his first TD of the year against UC Davis on a throw from Cody Fajardo. Last week, Nevada’s lone touchdown against Florida State came from the right hand of Devin Combs. Last week’s score was from Stewart and then he caught another TD from Fajardo in the first quarter against Air Force.

MOVING ON UP: A couple of Nevada players moved up on all-time top-10 lists at the school.
Wimberly moved up on Nevada’s career receiving charts with the performance against Air Force. He entered the game 13th with 2,211 receiving yards in his career and moved past Caleb Spencer (2,214, 2004-06) and Rishard Matthews (2,243, 2010-11) into 11th place all-time at Nevada.
Fajardo entered the game eighth all-time in total offense at 6,853 yards and he moved past Mike Maxwell (7,129 yards from 1993-95) into seventh place with 7,323 yards. Next up is another Nevada Hall of Famer in Chris Vargas (8,181 from 1990-93).
Fajardo, who is 10th all-time in passing yards, moved over the 5,000-yard mark for his career.
Fajardo moved past John Dutton (447, 1996-97) and into eighth place on the all-time completion list. He now has 471 in his career.

QB LUNCH/RADIO SHOW: Monday marks the fourth Quarterback Club Luncheon of the year. Doors open at the Peppermill at 11:30 a.m. and lunch is $17. Coach Polian will announce the team’s players of the week, recap tonight’s game and preview the Florida State contest.
The Wolf Pack Coaches Show rolls on this Wednesday with the fifth edition of the season from the Little Wal at 7 p.m.

EXTRA POINTS: Air Force won the toss and elected to defer to the second half … Nevada received the opening kickoff and Air Force defended the north to open the game … True freshman cornerback Elijah Mitchell started his second straight game … Nevada started the same 11 on defense as the previous week – the first time this season a Nevada unit was the same as a previous game … Nevada set a season high in passing yards … Nevada is now 3-0 all-time at Chris Ault Field at Mackay Stadium since the field was renamed.

ThisIsReno
ThisIsRenohttps://thisisreno.com
This Is Reno is your source for award-winning independent, online Reno news and events since 2009. We are locally owned and operated.

TRENDING

RENO EVENTS

MORE RENO NEWS