'It's driving me crazy'

Posted: Saturday, Oct 04, 2008 - 11:42:11 pm PDT
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By MARK NELKE
Sports writer 

Idaho wastes opportunities, Nevada racks up 507 yards

MOSCOW -- Tight end Eddie Williams said you can't sugar coat it.

Quarterback Nathan Enderle said it was frustrating.

Coach Robb Akey said it's driving him crazy.

However the Idaho Vandals described it, the result was the same -- another loss for the Vandals, this time 49-14 to a talented Nevada Wolf Pack squad Saturday afternoon before an announced Dads' Weekend crowd of 15,013 at the Kibbie Dome.

The result wasn't unexpected, as Idaho (1-5, 0-2 Western Athletic Conference) was a 24-point underdog to Nevada (3-2, 1-0). But if a few things hadn't gone wrong for the Vandals in the first half -- a field goal try blocked, a punt snap dropped leading to a Nevada touchdown, and two fourth-and-one running plays that came up short, including one at the Nevada goal line, who knows?

"It's really frustrating," said Enderle, who passed for 226 yards and two touchdowns, both to Williams. "We thought we were doing some things. We could move the ball, but we couldn't keep drives going as well as we needed to to put points on the board."

The Vandals trailed 21-0 at halftime when it very easily could have been 14-10.

To recap:

• Idaho drove to the Nevada 22 on the first possession of the game, but Tino Amancio's 35-yard field goal try was blocked by Mundrae Clifton. The Wolf Pack drove 78 yards and Vai Taua ran the final 3 for a 7-0 lead.

• The Vandals drove to the Wolf Pack 39, but Enderle was stopped short on a sneak on fourth and one.

• On Idaho's next drive, punter T.J. Conley dropped a seemingly perfect snap from center, and was snowed under on his 1. Taua scored on the next play.

• Trailing 21-0 late in the half, Idaho drove to the Wolf Pack 1. On fourth down Deonte Jackson leaped for the goal line and was flipped head over heels. When he landed, the ball was ruled short of the goal line, and Nevada took over.

"I think 100 percent I got it (the touchdown)," Jackson said, "because I stretched the ball out before I got flipped. And when I came down, my knees were already in the end zone, but hey, I'm not the ref, so ... "

Early in the third quarter, Marko Mitchell raced past cornerback Isaac Butts down the left sideline and hauled in a 48-yard touchdown pass from Colin Kaepernick to make it 28-0 Nevada, and many of the fans started to think about something else to do with their afternoon.

"We had plenty of opportunities to have done some things to help ourselves out today -- plays that we left out there, plays that we did not make," Akey said. "It's not disappointing to me, it's not frustrating to me, it's driving me crazy."

The Vandals did a pretty good job keeping Kaepernick, the 6-foot-5, 215-pound sophomore who was the WAC offensive player of the week last week, from running all over them.

Directing the pistol -- Nevada's version of the spread option -- Kaepernick only ran the ball five times, for 57 yards -- including an 18-yard TD that made it 21-0.

Mostly, he handed it off to Taua and Lampford Mark, who took advantage of a nice surge from the Nevada offensive line to chew up chunks of yardage. Taua rushed for 94 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries, and Mark ran for 81 yards on 15 carries. Nevada totaled 264 yards on the ground.

"They got more yards than I wanted to see," Akey said. "We didn't consistently fit the run game up the way that we needed to. Going into the game, one thing I didn't want to see was No. 10 (Kaepernick) running with the ball in his hands, and we were able to do something about that. ... there was some times we made some very good plays, but there was some times we didn't get re-fitted to where we needed to be."

Facing little pass rush, Kaepernick completed 19 of 24 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns. Mitchell caught six passes for 121 yards.

Williams, a senior, had another big day for Idaho, catching 10 passes for 142 yards and the two scores. He lunged to his left at the goal line to snare a 10-yard pass from Enderle for Idaho's first score, cutting Nevada's lead to 28-7 with 6:04 left in the third quarter.

But, Williams said later, he'd rather have zero catches if the Vandals won the game.

"Really, there's no way to sugar coat it -- we have to play better," Williams said. "There were times when we showed flashes where we could move the ball, and that's where we're at. We have to break through that barrier if we're going to be any good this year. We're right on the brink. You can't really debate that; it's clear. We're right on the brink. We may show flashes and then we ... just cant finish. We have to be able to do it consistently to be good."

• Vandal-izers: Jackson's uncle, running back Steven Jackson of the St. Louis Rams, was at the Dome during the Rams' bye week to watch his nephew. Perhaps more importantly, Deonte Jackson said he was about 95-100 percent healthy, and "I really have no issues" with his back, which had limited his playing time in the first four games. Jackson finished with 52 yards on 15 carries. ... Former Vandal linebacker David Vobora, on the Rams' practice squad, was also at the game. ... Idaho was 3 for 3 recovering onside kicks coming into the game, but failed to recover the two it tried on Saturday. Eric Greenwood actually recovered one to start the second half, but the Vandals were ruled to be offside. They kicked the next one into the end zone for a touchback. ... Vandal free safety Virdell Larkins had a game-high 13 solo tackles, 14 total. ... Nevada outgained Idaho 237-87 in the first half ... The Vandals, who lost their fourth straight game, have now lost 15 straight WAC games, 21 straight games to Football Bowl Subdivision teams, and 21 of 23 overall.