Nevada Football: Wolf Pack Blow Lead, Lose To Texas State 35-24
Nevada lead after the first half, but fell apart in the second half as they lost their 14th straight game.
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Wolf Pack Lose First Half Lead, Drop 14th Straight Game to Texas State 35-24
Nevada went into the locker room after the first half with a 17-0 lead on the road. Their first lead all season and there felt like this was the time for Nevada to get their first win in more than a year. It felt like everything was aligned for the Wolf Pack to get that elusive win against a talented Texas State team on the road.
Then the second half began and those hopes and dreams went crashing down for Nevada.
The Texas State Bobcats scored 35 unanswered points in the second half and flew past Nevada to secure a 35-24 win on Saturday. The Bobcat offense was stymied by Nevada’s defense in the first half going scoreless. But in the second half, Texas State’s offense came to life as the Nevada defense could not stop the Bobcat offense and the Wolf Pack offense struggled badly.
The Wolf Pack struggles on offense in the second half were not all bad. Nevada did score a touchdown late in the game to make the score somewhat respectable. But that late touchdown was the lone bright spot in a second half performance that saw Nevada turn the ball over three times. That poor performance on offense doomed Nevada as Texas State’s offense moved the ball with ease in the second half.
All the goodwill Nevada garnered after their resilient performance in a loss to Kansas went away in that second half against Texas State. Now the Wolf Pack have dropped their 14th straight contest and are going back to the drawing board as they head into conference play.
In the first half, it was all Nevada Wolf Pack as they jumped to an early 3-0 lead in the first quarter after Brandon Talton connected on a 30 yard field goal.
On Texas State’s first offensive possession of the game, QB TJ Finley’s pass was picked off by KK Meier. Meier returned it 98 yards to score the touchdown to put Nevada up 10-0 after the PAT. That interception was the first interception for Nevada in the 2023 season and it resulted in paydirt for the Wolf Pack.
In the second quarter, the Wolf Pack offense marched down the field on a 14 play, 78 yard drive that put them deep in the red zone. On 3rd and Goal from the Texas State one yard line, RB Sean Dollars fumbled the ball in the end zone but offensive lineman Zach Welch recovered the ball and scored the touchdown to put the Wolf Pack up 17-0.
Late in the second quarter, the Wolf Pack offense was on the move to score again but QB Brendon Lewis had a pass that was intercepted by Texas State’s Kaleb Ford-Dement. But two plays later, the Bobcat offense turned the ball back over when Finley was sacked by Ike Nnakenyi and the ball came loose and the fumble was received by Eli’jah Winson.
That was the last play of the second half and the last good thing Nevada did before the wheels came off in the second half.
In the second half, Texas State came to life on offense as they went on a 10 play, 75 yard scoring drive. That drive ended when Finley connected with Joey Hobert on a 25 yard touchdown pass to cut the Nevada lead to 17-7.
The Wolf Pack defense did show some playmaking ability in the second half as on the Bobcat’s next offensive possession. Texas State RB Jahmyl Jeter fumbled and his fumble was recovered by LB Drue Watts. But Nevada’s offense could not capitalize on that turnover and was forced to punt.
After Nevada’s punt, Texas State’s offense took only two plays to score a touchdown. Finley ( 25 for 35, 295 yards, two touchdowns, one interception) connected with Kole Wilson on a 77 yard touchdown pass to cut the Wolf Pack lead to 17-14.
The Wolf Pack offense was falling apart quickly as they turned the ball over on their next possession. RB Cross Patton fumbled and his fumble was recovered by Texas’ States Chris Mills. The Bobcats took the lead for good after that Nevada fumble when running back Ismail Mahdi ( 21 carries, 216 yards, two touchdowns) scored on a 46 yard touchdown run to put the Bobcats up 21-17.
The Bobcats took the lead in the third quarter and kept adding to the lead. The Wolf Pack offense crashed in a haze of turnovers and an inability to get out of its own way. Texas State tacked on two more touchdowns to bump the score up to 35-17 Bobcats. By then the game was out of reach for Nevada. QB AJ Bianco did come in for Lewis and lead a nine play scoring drive that ended with Bianco scoring a rushing touchdown from two yards out.
The final score was 35-24 Texas State and the Wolf Pack have returned to Reno with their 14th straight loss.
For Nevada, QB Brendon Lewis completed 21 of 32 passes for 151 yards and threw one interception and zero touchdowns. Lewis was also the team’s leading rusher as he ran for 89 yards on 12 carries. The leading receiver for Nevada was cornerback Isaiah Essissima as he recorded two catches for 67 yards.
The Wolf Pack defense played well in the first half but was horrid in the second half. Overall, the Wolf Pack defense gave up 574 yards of total offense. Of those 574 yards of total offense, Nevada gave up 276 of those yards on the ground and Mahdi for Texas State was responsible for 216 of those rushing yards.
Stop me if I am wrong but defense was supposed to be Ken Wilson’s calling card right?
Now the Wolf Pack will head into conference play on a 14 game losing streak. Nevada will be on the road again to face off against another potent offense in Fresno State. We will see if Nevada can slow down a talented offense for once this season. And maybe if Nevada has a lead, they will hold onto that lead for once.
