Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

UNR fails to pack it in, stuns Washington

It would appear that last week's 16-12 loss to UNLV wasn't as devastating as some of us down here thought it would be for the Nevada-Reno football team.

If, indeed, it was a crushing defeat, it sure didn't take the Wolf Pack long to regroup. With unblockable defensive end Jorge Cordova leading the way, UNR manhandled Washington 28-17 Saturday.

Not George Washington, Washington & Lee or Eastern Washington. Washington as in the University of. On the Huskies' home field, no less.

All that rhetoric about the importance of the Fremont Cannon aside, it was easily the biggest win in Wolf Pack history in addition to being the first against a Pac-10 team in 56 years.

"This goes down in history," Cordova said after putting Washington's Cody Pickett, one of the nation's best quarterbacks, in a blue-and-silver burlap bag.

Cordova sacked Pickett five times. He had 16 tackles, 11 solo, forced a fumble and blocked a field goal as the Pack improved to 4-2.

Meanwhile, UNR quarterback Andy Heiser, who was more brutal than a Reno winter against UNLV, completed 19 of 29 passes for 299 yards and three touchdowns against the supposedly superior Husky defense. Maurice Mann caught seven passes for 168 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown.

The outcome was never in question. UNR was so dominant that it moved out to a 28-10 lead before Washington (3-3) pulled to within the final margin by scoring the game's final touchdown.

Although he was gracious in victory, the win had to be especially sweet for UNR's Chris Tormey, a Don James disciple and a former UW assistant who interviewed for the Huskies head job that went to since departed Rick Neuheisel in 1999.

Chris Ault, who as UNR's longtime head coach and now its athletic director has been on hand for virtually every major Wolf Pack conquest, predicted more are on the way, perhaps even as a member of the Mountain West Conference. UNR is one of at least three WAC members (Fresno State, Hawaii) said to be lobbying the MWC for inclusion, if and when it expands.

"There will be bigger wins coming," Ault told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "You never know when you are making a memory, but I think we just made one."

Washington beat reporters had trouble recalling a Huskies loss to a more "undistinguished" opponent, finally settling on a 1980 loss to Navy.

"This is a real low day for us," UW coach Keith Gilbertson told the Seattle Times. "A low day."

At the final gun, the UNR players raised their hands as a small section of their fans who made the trip from Reno celebrated in the chilly rain.

None of them, as far as we know, threw plastic bottles at the Washington coaching staff.

Now the home fans, on the other hand ...

The starting 11

Oklahoma 65, Texas 13: They -- or should I say ESPN? -- called it "Separation Saturday," which is exactly what happened before the big Red River Shootout, as Oklahoma and Texas players had to be separated after pushing and shoving broke out during pregame warm-ups. While the Texas players waved fingers and taunted their Oklahoma counterparts, Sooners coach Bob Stoops quickly moved in to defuse the situation. It was only the first of many things that Stoops and OU would do correctly as the Sooners posted their most lopsided win in the 98-year history of the series.

Miami 22, Florida State 14: After splishing and splashing and giving the Seminoles a bath in rainy Tallahassee, Hurricanes coach Larry Coker proclaimed that his team is now bowl eligible. Um, Larry, that's what they say at places like Southern Miss and UNLV when where it usually takes much longer than the first six games of the season to achieve six wins. Coker's statements notwithstanding, I'd bet one of Chris Rix's primo parking spaces that Miami has set its sights a little higher than the San Francisco Bowl.

Wisconsin 17, Ohio State 10: It was a game of streaks, or at least two streaks and a streaker. Ohio State's 19-game winning streak ended when Wisconsin's Lee Evans streaked past double coverage to haul in a 79-yard touchdown pass from reserve quarterback Matt Schabert with 5:20 left. With about a minute to play, a Badgers fan got a jump on the postgame celebration by running a naked bootleg in the middle of the field.

Notre Dame 20, Pittsburgh 14: Before the game, Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhodes said Notre Dame is no longer a power-running football team and now looks to primarily throw the ball out of a spread offense. This was before Julius Jones, who had gained just 152 yards the entire season, rushed for a school record 262 on 24 carries to lead the Running Irish to an upset win. Afterward, Rhodes was spotted re-arranging his tea leaves and checking E-bay for a crystal ball that works.

Virginia Tech 51, Syracuse 7: In that the Hokies are leaving the Big East and will no longer play Syracuse, they handed the Orangemen a not-so-lovely parting gift. It was a typical Frank Beamer victory, as Virginia Tech blocked two more kicks and Beamer devised a game plan that limited the Orange's Walter Reyes, the nation's leading rusher with a 170-yard per game average coming in, to 40 yards on 16 carries. Reyes scored on a 1-yard run to extend his streak of touchdown games to 10, but by that time, Tech was asking for directions to Tallahassee.

Georgia 41, Tennessee 14: The Bulldogs would have a been big hit at the senior citizen center on Saturday, as all their dominoes fell into place. While they were magnificent in handing Tennessee its worst home loss since 1994, Florida State, Arkansas and LSU, which began the day ranked ahead of Georgia, all were beaten. Of all the one-loss teams, Georgia still may be foremost on the minds of the BCS.

Florida 19, LSU 7: While it would be difficult to classify a Florida victory against LSU as a surprise, that what this was, as the Tigers came in ranked No. 6 and were 5-0 for the first time since Bert Jones was quarterback, and the Gators came in trying to save Ron Zook's job. I guess there's no need for Zook to pack up the pen and pencil set just yet.

Michigan 35, Minnesota 31: As the fourth quarter was about to begin in Friday's nationally televised Little Brown Jug renewal, one of the Minnesota players raised both hands over his head and extended four fingers on each, as per that goofy high school and college football custom (the pros know better). Maybe he was trying to show how many points Michigan would score in the final 15 minutes. The Wolverines settled for 31 to pin a crushing loss on the previously unbeaten Gophers. "We're all adults here, we've all lost before," Gophers senior safety Justin Isom said. Yeah, I guess at Minnesota they're used to losing. But not like that.

Purdue 28, Penn State 14: Purdue had not played a four-game homestand since 1893, and the Boilermakers improved to 5-1 with a methodical victory. But now they now they must go on the road to play three ranked conference opponents. What was it that Fram Oil Filters guy used to say: Pay me now or pay me later?

Missouri 41, Nebraska 24: You can add Nebraska to the teams who should forget about raising four fingers at the start of the fourth quarter. The Cornhuskers, who came in allowing just 7.6 points per game, allowed 27 in the fourth quarter alone at Missouri, as they suffered their first defeat to the Tigers since 1978. Nebraska was awful on both sides of the ball in the fourth quarter, as it was stuffed for minus 38 yards of offense.

Auburn 10, Arkansas 3: Maybe the Tigers are Top 10-worthy after all. Auburn shut down Arkansas tailback Cedric Cobbs (78 yards on 16 carries) and made few of the errors that characterized its 0-2 start. "What a day for us," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. "We didn't make mistakes and we didn't get foolish penalties." Arkansas did, as 68- and 78-yard runs were erased by penalties. "We could have been in there hootin' and hollerin' if we don't have two flags on the ground said Razorbacks coach Houston Nutt. Instead, the Hogs were just spittin' and scratchin' after a tough home loss.

Big men on campus

Stat's enough

Oklahoma scored at least 50 points for the fourth consecutive game, routing Texas 65-13. ... The returns are in: DeAngelo Hall returned two punts for touchdowns in Virginia Tech's 51-7 win against Syracuse. Hall's four career punt returns for scores tied a school record. Meanwhile, Ryne Robinson returned two consecutive punts for scores in the first quarter of Miami of Ohio's 59-3 win over Buffalo. Robinson had 237 yards on six punt returns, breaking single-game MAC and school records. ... Rutgers' 34-19 loss to West Virginia was the Scarlet Knights' 24th consecutive Big East defeat. Rutgers lost to West Virginia for the ninth consecutive time. ... Northwestern State turned four interceptions and a blocked field goal into touchdowns in an 87-27 victory against Southeastern Louisiana. It was the most points scored in one game by the Demons, wh o beat Division II Panhandle State 59-0 last week.

Couch Potato Bowl

Anybody can become a victim of the Sports Illustrated cover jinx, but Oregon would like to cancel its subscription and never renew it. In the three weeks since the Ducks beat Michigan to warrant the cover of SI, they have been blown out 55-16 by Washington State, lost 17-13 to Utah of the Mountain West and been blown out 59-14 by Arizona State. When it comes to taking so much and turning it into so little, I guess you'd have to put Oregon right down there with some of those underachieving Kennedy relatives.

Division I-A Lite

A look at the top teams in the non-BCS conferences:

1. Northern Illinois (MAC): Who will burst the Huskies' bubble? Not Central Michigan.

2. Utah (MWC): Urban renewal continues as first-year coach Meyer guides Utes past San Diego State.

3. Miami of Ohio (MAC): Redskins scoring more than Warren Beatty Joe Millionaire.

4. TCU (USA): Frogs sack South Florida's home winning streak.

5. Bowling Green (MAC): How many of those Michigan directional schools are there?

6. Colorado State (MWC): Cream rises to the top -- and spills over -- at BYU.

7. Boise State (WAC): Broncos "held" to 363 yards by Tulsa.

8. Air Force (MWC): UNLV beaten in Chance meeting as Harridge runs past Rebels.

9. UNLV (MWC): Wisconsin win beginning to fade thanks to spotty offense.

10. Nevada-Reno (WAC): Another BCS outsider beats up on the Pac-10.

Games we'd like to see

In this space each week the Sun will present a dream college football matchup, with statistics and highlights provided by Lance Haffner Games' 3-in-1 computer simulation. Readers who would like to propose future matchups can do so by contacting the Sun via e-mail at [email protected].

1971 Oklahoma 41, 1940 Stanford 27: It has been said that styles make prize fights, but what about football games? In a matchup of teams that introduced new-fangled offenses to college football, the 1971 Oklahoma Wishbone outscored 1940 Stanford and its T-formation, 41-27. Jack Mildren, who might have been the greatest Wishbone quarterback of all-time, rushes for 126 yards on 15 carries and the computer game's first two touchdowns, and pitches to Greg Pruitt for 82 additional yards. But the game fails to answer which of the offenses was more revolutionary, as Oklahoma's 'Bone accumulates 429 yards while the Stanford T produces 428.

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