Yo, Pack nation. Ridge Corbell here, writing from the back of my truck outside Reno with my board waxed and the first snow of the season somewhere in the forecast. I rate football games like runs down a mountain. Some are fresh powder. Some are sheet ice. And some, like last Saturday in Fargo, start out as a perfect run and end with you face-first in a tree well.
Here's the trail map for this week. First, an honest look at the 31-17 loss at North Dakota State. Then a home game against San José State on a very big day: per the program's own history, Nevada football was founded on Oct. 24, 1896, as the Sagebrushers. Saturday is the Wolf Pack's 130th birthday. Let's send it.
Part 1: North Dakota State 31, Nevada 17
On Oct. 17 at the Fargodome, the run started perfect. AJ Bianco ran 15 yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter, Trace Estes ran in the two-point try, and Joe McFadden added a 39-yard field goal. Nevada led 11-0. Fresh powder, baby.
Then the tree well. NDSU's Nathan Hayes ran for a 5-yard touchdown, then threw a 21-yard touchdown to Mekhi Collins with 21 seconds left in the half. On the final play of the half, McFadden's long field goal try came up short, and Jackson Williams caught it and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown. NDSU led 19-11 at the break.
Nevada fought back. In the third quarter, Bianco threw a 19-yard touchdown to Gary Givens III. But the two-point try was returned the other way by Matthew Stenbroten for two NDSU points. Drew Klein kicked a 39-yard field goal, and Hayes threw a 12-yard touchdown to Reis Kessel early in the fourth.
The honest trail report. Bianco went 17 of 34 for 190 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, and ran for a score. Dominic Kelley ran 11 times for 60 yards and caught five passes. Jeremy Naborne-Owens made 13 tackles and EJ Smith made 12. NDSU committed 11 penalties for 98 yards, and Nevada still lost, mostly because it held the ball for just 21:51 to NDSU's 38:09 and gave up points in the kicking game. McFadden went 1-for-3 on field goals. That's hooking a toe on a blue run.
Nevada is 2-4 and 1-2 in the Mountain West. The Pack beat Western Kentucky 49-14, lost 20-7 to Montana State, lost 27-20 at Middle Tennessee, lost 36-33 to Air Force, won 30-13 at UTEP and lost at NDSU. The three-point loss to 5-1 Air Force still stings.
Here's the thing, though. Look at the losses. Seven points at Middle Tennessee. Three points to Air Force, which hasn't lost since. And Nevada led NDSU, a 6-1 team, 11-0 on the road before a last-second touchdown and a 100-yard return flipped it in about 21 seconds of game clock. That's not a team that can't ride. That's a team that keeps catching one bad patch of ice. Fix the kicking, fix the turnovers, and this board starts carving.
Part 2: San José State at Nevada
Saturday at 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. in Reno, at Mackay Stadium, streaming on MW+. San José State (4-3, 2-1) at Nevada (2-4, 1-2).
Our Gear
Nevada's pass defense is a legit black diamond, allowing just 155.3 passing yards per game, seventh in FBS. Opponents convert 32.6 percent of their third downs, 29th. The defense did its job against NDSU's offense for long stretches, too, until the kicking game and the clock got away from it. The run game is solid as well: 192.8 yards per game, 37th. Kelley leads it with 500 yards and four touchdowns on 87 carries. Givens leads the receivers with 15 catches for 260 yards.
Their Gear
SJSU throws for 246 yards per game, and Luke Weaver has 1,529 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and six interceptions. But against our seventh-ranked pass defense, that's a skier trying to carve on sheet ice.
Look at the rest of the SJSU trail map. The Spartans convert 34.4 percent of their third downs, 111th in FBS. They score 21.4 points per game, 111th. They run for 138.7 yards per game, 98th. Their pass defense allows 240.9 yards per game, 111th. And they hold the ball for 26:41 per game, 135th. That's a lot of bunny-hill numbers, dude.
I will tip my helmet to Viliami Teu, who ran for 156 yards and two touchdowns at UTEP last week, including a 67-yarder. Respect.
The Honest Part
We've got to fix stuff. Nevada's turnover margin is minus-8, 134th. Its red zone defense ranks 127th, allowing opponents to score on 94.4 percent of trips. The run defense allows 184.3 yards per game, 116th. And Nevada holds the ball for 26:55, 133rd. If Teu runs like he did in El Paso, this gets icy fast.
The Series
CollegeFootballData.com lists Nevada ahead 21-8. SJSU won 35-31 in 2024. Nevada won 55-10 last season. Fifty-five. That was a powder day.
Town Report: Reno vs. San Jose
Reno. "The Biggest Little City in the World." Reno had 264,165 people at the 2020 census and sits at about 4,400 feet in the Truckee River valley, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, about 23 miles northeast of Lake Tahoe. Dude, Tahoe is 23 miles away. I can be on a chairlift before San Jose finishes its commute.
The first Reno Arch went up downtown on Oct. 23, 1926, and the slogan first appeared on it in 1929. The city is named for Union Gen. Jesse L. Reno. Every year we host the Great Reno Balloon Race, Hot August Nights and the Reno Air Races. And Mackay Stadium, opened Oct. 1, 1966, sits at 4,610 feet. That's high enough to feel it, dude. Bring your lungs.
And when the Pack gets rolling, there's nothing like Mackay on a cool fall afternoon with the hills behind it. Saturday is a 2 p.m. local kickoff in late October. I'll be there in a hoodie, yelling for the defense on every third down. San José State comes from sea level on the bay. We'll see how their legs feel in the second half at 4,610 feet.
San Jose. San Jose is a big city, more than a million people at the 2020 census, and it's proud of its tech. In 1988, Mayor Tom McEnery adopted the motto "Capital of Silicon Valley." Adopted. They gave themselves the title. Dude, that's like giving yourself a trophy at the end of a run. In Reno, our slogan came from a contest.
San Jose was also founded in 1777, and in 1791, Wikipedia says, severe flooding moved the settlement about a mile south. A whole town that had to relocate because it got wet. Bro, we live near Lake Tahoe. We're not afraid of water.
Drop In
Here's the run I'd take Saturday. Make SJSU throw into our seventh-ranked pass defense. Run Kelley. Hold the ball, because a 21:51 time of possession is how you end up in a tree well. Make the kicks. And please, protect the football. A minus-8 turnover margin is a lot of yard sales.
It's the Pack's 130th birthday. Nobody wants to lose at their own party. Light the candles. Send it.
My call: Nevada Wolf Pack 26, San José State Spartans 20.