Ok , time to look at the nevada/unm game saturday afternoon. As you know, I have played Nevada on the moneyline ....... and I have also played them quite high in my confidence pool. I love this game. Here is why....
First lets take a look at new mexicos schedule.<TABLE class=tablehead cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=3><TBODY><TR class=oddrow vAlign=top><TD>September 1</TD><TD>at
UTEP </TD><TD>
L 10-6</TD><TD>0-1 (0-0)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=evenrow vAlign=top><TD>September 8</TD><TD>
New Mexico State </TD><TD>
W 44-34</TD><TD>1-1 (0-0)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=oddrow vAlign=top><TD>September 15</TD><TD>at
Arizona </TD><TD>
W 29-27</TD><TD>2-1 (0-0)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=evenrow vAlign=top><TD>September 22</TD><TD>
Sacramento State </TD><TD>
W 58-0</TD><TD>3-1 (0-0)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=oddrow vAlign=top><TD>September 29</TD><TD>
Brigham Young </TD><TD>
L 31-24</TD><TD>3-2 (0-1)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=evenrow vAlign=top><TD>October 13</TD><TD>at
Wyoming </TD><TD>
W 20-3</TD><TD>4-2 (1-1)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=oddrow vAlign=top><TD>October 20</TD><TD>at
San Diego State </TD><TD>
W 20-17</TD><TD>5-2 (2-1)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=evenrow vAlign=top><TD>October 25</TD><TD>
Air Force </TD><TD>
W 34-31</TD><TD>6-2 (3-1)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=oddrow vAlign=top><TD>November 3</TD><TD>at
TCU </TD><TD>
L 37-0</TD><TD>6-3 (3-2)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=evenrow vAlign=top><TD>November 10</TD><TD>
Colorado State </TD><TD>
W 26-23</TD><TD>7-3 (4-2)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=oddrow vAlign=top><TD>November 17</TD><TD>at
Utah </TD><TD>
L 28-10</TD><TD>7-4 (4-3)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=evenrow vAlign=top><TD>November 24</TD><TD>
UNLV </TD><TD>
W 27-6</TD><TD>8-4 (5-3)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
New Mexico started out by playing really solid ball in the month of september and their first game of october. Do not let the 10-6 loss to utep fool you. The lobos dominated that game but found a way to lose. There is also a quality road win over Arizona. But it should be noted ..... both UTEP and Arizona were playing their worst football of the year when they met new mexico. I dare say that Arizona would handle them easily now. After they beat a Wyoming team that went on to lose 6 of its final 7 , the lobos did not play well at all. They have been regressing.
A 3 point win over san diego state .... not many likely saw this game but the aztecs had this one won when their qb rushed for a first down that would have led to the victory formation .... but fumbled on the play and new mexico scored in the final seconds to pull out a victory. Now, SDSU was starting to get better but they are far from a quality football team. New mexico then defeated air force .... not sure how many of you saw that game but the lobos were thoroughly outplayed but air force turnovers handed the lobos the victory. Following these two undeserved victories, the lobos went to TCU and got bitch slapped. And then narrowly defeated a quitting , uninspired colorado state team. CSU went on to record a season total of 2 wins vs fbs competition. The lobos then travelled to utah where they were handled quite easily before ending the season with a convincing win against unlv ( go rebels ! ). Now, i happened to watch that unlv game and came away thoroughly unimpressed with the lobos. Unlv had receivers running wide open all game long but the rebels third string qb was like a deer in headlights and simply could not make a play. The lobos , despite the rebels troubles to get first downs .... still failed to capitalize offensively. This lobo team has not played well since the middle of october !!!!!!
Since their first game in november the lobos have not out firstdowned a single opponent. In fact , over their last 4 games the lobos have been outfirst downed by an average of 19.75 first downs per game by opponents to their 13.75 a game. Ouch. With the exception of unlv in the finale the lobos were also significantly outgained in each of their last four games. Including the unlv affair , the lobos were outgained in their last four games by a margin of 340.75 yards per game to 278.00 yards per game. ouch again. And keep in mind , as i stated before ..... the rebels had receivers wide open all over the field in the finale when the lobos outgained unlv. When you have to look all the way back to september to find a really quality game from a team, then you should be trying to figure out whether you are receiving enough points with them to warrant a play ..... only new mexico is laying here. The lobos also have not played since november 24. i will get to that later.
As you can see , New Mexico has been a BELOW AVERAGE team over the entire second half of the season. They regressed.
So now lets look at Nevada.
<TABLE class=tablehead cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=3><TBODY><TR class=oddrow vAlign=top><TD></TD><TD>at No. 20
Nebraska </TD><TD>
L 52-10</TD><TD>0-1 (0-0)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=evenrow vAlign=top><TD>September 8</TD><TD>at
Northwestern </TD><TD>
L 36-31</TD><TD>0-2 (0-0)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=oddrow vAlign=top><TD>September 15</TD><TD>
Nicholls State </TD><TD>
W 52-17</TD><TD>1-2 (0-0)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=evenrow vAlign=top><TD>September 29</TD><TD>
UNLV </TD><TD>
W 27-20</TD><TD>2-2 (0-0)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=oddrow vAlign=top><TD>October 6</TD><TD>
Fresno State </TD><TD>
L 49-41</TD><TD>2-3 (0-1)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=evenrow vAlign=top><TD>October 14</TD><TD>at
Boise State </TD><TD>
L 69-67</TD><TD>2-4 (0-2)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=oddrow vAlign=top><TD>October 20</TD><TD>at
Utah State </TD><TD>
W 31-28</TD><TD>3-4 (1-2)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=evenrow vAlign=top><TD>October 27</TD><TD>
Idaho </TD><TD>
W 37-21</TD><TD>4-4 (2-2)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=oddrow vAlign=top><TD>November 2</TD><TD>at
New Mexico State </TD><TD>
W 40-38</TD><TD>5-4 (3-2)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=evenrow vAlign=top><TD>November 16</TD><TD>No. 16
Hawaii </TD><TD>
L 28-26</TD><TD>5-5 (3-3)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=oddrow vAlign=top><TD>November 24</TD><TD>at
San Jose State </TD><TD>L 27-24</TD><TD>5-6 (3-4)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR class=evenrow vAlign=top><TD>December 1</TD><TD>
Louisiana Tech </TD><TD>
W 49-10</TD><TD>6-6 (4-4)</TD><TD align=middle></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Not a very impressive schedule to say the least. In fact, it is safe to say that new mexico has had the tougher schedule overall. Nevada was a very young football team coming into the year and it showed early but they relly turned it around starting with the game against fresno st. The wolfpack lost that game but take note of this ..... they had over 200 more yards of offense than fresno st and doubled the bulldogs in first downs. A quality game even in defeat. They then traveled to boise st .... again they lost but put up an admirable fight on one of the toughest homefields in the nation. Boise st had two more first downs than nevada and just 12 more total yards. Again, a quality game even in defeat. To make this easy .... just look at total first downs and total yards over nevadas last 8 games.
fresno st had 15 first downs and 475 yards , nevada had 30 fd for 702
boise had 30 fd for 639 yards , nev had 28 fd for 627 yards
utah st had 12 fd for 212 yards , nev had 27 fd for 472 yards
idaho had 17 fd for 212 yards , nev had 26 fd for 362
nmsu had 29 fd for 510 yards , nev had 23 fd for 522
hawaii had 21 fd for 430 yards , nev had 19 fd for 350 yards
sjsu had 25 fd for 432 yards, nev had 22 fd for 426 yards
latech had 12 fd for 238 yards , nev had 29 fd for 641 yards
This averages out to an incredible comparison .....
20.1 fd for 392 yards per game for opponents
25.5 fd for 510 yards per game for nevada
Both teams sport decent coaches ....... but if you asked ten solid cappers on this site to pick one over the other ..... you would have to think
ATLEAST 7 of those cappers would rather have Chris Ault.
How about motivation ?? How motivated can New Mexico be to play another home game ??? I spent my high school and college days down in the southwest ( utep alum ) and UNM is a basketball school. They just dont really get out and support the football program the same way. Nevada on the other ahnd started the season slowly and built their way to a bowl bid .. they were young and they bought into the program and the coach and the system. They know they are playing in a bowl and they have to do it on the other teams home field. There
HAS to be a motivational edge for nevada here.
Both teams are coming off of extensive lay offs , new mexicos a week longer than nevadas. I told you i would get back to this ...... and i think it is an important factor in capping all these bowl games. Nevada is younger and hungrier right now ... they are the players that are more likely to improve. One of the reasons that Florida beat ohio state last year .... their young talent just got better over the lay off and the senior talent of ohio state had basically peaked already. The same principle applies here in my opinion.
Injuries/notes -- well the key note is that rb ferguson for unm will not play in this game. Do not believe that will have a dramatic impact on this game. I like it the same with him there or not.
My Concern -- I have to be honest .... I do not have many ..... but one concern that i do have is that nevada has played poorly on grass this year. They played three games on grass at northwestern, at nmsu and at san jose st and they played poorly in all three of those games.
Tell me folks ... am I missing something here ??????? The wrong team is favored.
the play is nevada moneyline +120