Inside the Den: Can Nevada football pick up its first victory of the year versus Troy?

[Music] welcome back inside the den hey an amazing episode coming up today week zero just got done wrapped up in the books Nevada takes the loss to SMU 29 to 24 uh really close game I'm joined as always by by Chris Murray Chris a lot closer than we expected uh yeah I mean I think closer than you expected right what was your score oh 4921 so yes I had was it 49 I thought it was higher it might have been like 52 okay yeah yeah I mean certainly closer than I expected as well I had it 18o margin it was a fivepoint margin and honestly I think Nevada is going to look back at this game and say that they feel like they should have won it I mean really the first 50 minutes Nada played really good football I mean they were able to control the clock they were able to limit the big plays they were able to get some turnovers some extra possessions I think SMU was doing a lot to self-inflict itself with a lot of mistakes but um you got to take advantage of those and Nevada was doing that until uh you know about 10 minutes to go They're Up by 11 and they weren't able to hold on so you know it was an encouraging game for Nevada but it was also a missed opportunity um you know it's kind of always hard to draw too much insight into one game we don't know how good SMU is we think they're going to be pretty good we don't know how good Nevada is um you know a lot of things went n his favor in this game with SMU making some mistakes but also give credit uh to Nevada for creating some of those issues so I think it was a real positive First Step under Jeff Cho um but again you know if you were up by 11 with less than 10 minutes to go against Power for opponent at home you want to win that game um that would have been a huge signal to Wolfpack fans to Phil Macky Stadium to really support this team to do that as a 27 and a half Point Underdog so um I think it was a good result but it wasn't a great result Nevada could have had especially late in that game yeah it was uh you know definitely the first three quarters were shocking uh just just in terms of just the the ti shifting uh obviously SMU you know the talent W out uh but I remember being on the sideline just as SMU got the ball out uh you know first got the ball after in NADA three and out and I was like oh I told a guy I was like this should be quick early in the game yeah their first possession I was this should be quick and then you know the you know they go deep and and Charles Brown gets that interception oh yeah Chad sorry Chad Brown apologies uh Chad Brown got the interception and uh yeah you you know you're just like oh okay this team has some fight and that that uh secondary really was flying around it was kind of kind of surprising um well not too surprising considering the talent that they do have back there um but you know a great deal of fight that they they they showed and you know if you and we've talked about this in the past Chris like if you could just show some fight and and you know like scrap like that especially in the Mountain West you can you can get some wins um you know we talked about like how Air Force like that's kind of like how they've made their way in the conference these years without you know the luxury of nil or the luxury of really got getting a lot of like transfer players so you know I think the one thing we learned from from that first game is that you know Jeff Cho's guys they're gonna fight um and you know obviously he'd probably like them to clean up some aspects of of the game and you know less mental errors and all that cuz there was some snap Foods throughout the game that did cost them most notably in my opinion was the Aston Hayes little snafu at the the one yard line uh that cost him you know an eventual safety now you can argue with the the semantics of it did they the refs actually get it right or not um still just have having the situational awareness to avoid that and potentially you know going from a one-point game with SMU ball at seven minutes left to potentially driving downfield up three and you know possibly getting an upset um so those are just things you're going look out for for the rest of the season but uh yeah I think a good first step but yeah just walk us through that last quarter what went wrong obviously I mentioned the the haze thing but it just felt like everything shifted in that that final I think SMU just started playing to its potential I mean if we're being honest about it they stopped getting dumb uh penalties um you know they really cleaned up what they did in terms of pass protection and then they were able to find a matchup that was really good for them RJ Maryland against Aiden selli and once they started going to there could be an all American tight end that's when the game really turned I mean you look at Maryland zero catches in the first half more than 150 yards in the second half so um you know I think they were probably trying to get to that matchup earlier in the game obviously in the first half they switched quarterbacks and I don't think that's always the best thing to get into a rhythm and then they got down and they kept Preston Stone in the game he was the better throwing of the two quarterbacks I knew that they had to catch up so um you know I think that was a big thing and I think Nevada's push on the offensive line wasn't quite as strong um they were able to run the ball pretty decently with the running backs early in the game and then in the second half they weren't able to do that they didn't have any verticality with the p game at all they only had one traditional pass that went for more than 15 yards they had a trick play that went for 18 yards and on that one it was a third and one and there was a defensive bus so Nevada was not able to get the ball down the field against SMU smu's defensive line really started to heat things up in that fourth quarter and this isn't a group of guys that have been in that situation very often so I think that's a Learning lesson too um you know 20 losses the last two seasons 16 by double digits so it's not like they played a lot of close games where they had to execute late obviously that Ashton Hayes play that was a big uh you know mistake and it putting in a really difficult position but the wolf pack does give up the safety which isn't honestly the worst thing in the world rather than kicking out of your you know punting out of your own End Zone sometimes that that can be a problem um you know they're still up and then they went they got a defensive stop on a short field got the ball back and then they go three and out and they gave the ball right back to SMU and then they hit Maryland for that game winning touchdown down at that point you got about 85 seconds to go to go the length in the field for a touchdown and that wasn't how Nevada was playing that game they were trying to possess the clock they were trying to get three four yards per carry they weren't throwing the ball down the field so that wasn't a good situation for them so um you know I think after the safety getting that stop was big and then they get into you know like the six-minute offense where you want to melt the clock and they went three and out I just think that there wasn't enough going on with the pass game to really threaten SMU uh you look at Nevada's offense the the point total might look pretty good 24 points but they only had three drives out of 12 that went more than 20 yards so I still think this offense you know has a lot to prove if Nevada is going to be able to go and you know make it to a bow game and be competitive in the Mountain West but um yeah the defense I thought played really really well and you know for 50 minutes it was a really good showing and now we'll see if they can put together a fuller effort against Troy this weekend yeah it should be an interesting matchup coming up uh just to put a bow on the SMU game yeah just you know a good effort all around uh fell just short uh obviously yeah when you're going against a team of that Talent you you'd imagine that a talent will will eventually rise but a thing I wanted to point out is that you know Nevada had the luxury of you know the unknown the SMU coaching staff you know they could possibly you know like uh try to dig up some fall Camp things or you know pass things that Cho and Kane and the entire staff have done in the past uh but you know it's hard to to know what they're going to do ahead of of a week zero matchup um and in turn this week Nevada's kind of on the opposite end right because it's a an entirely new Troy team uh new coaching staff bunch of new transfers they have to dig through you know old old film on all these players and and and Coach the entire coaching staff to possibly predict what they're going to do come Saturday um it should be an interesting matchup uh do you put much stock in like that advantage or disadvantage well I think it's GNA be hard for Nevada to prepare for the game I mean Troy has the third least returning scholarship players in the FBS they have a new coaching staff uh and that head coach has not been a head coach before he was an interim head coach at Purdue in 2016 you're not going to pull much from that um they have gone back to kind of the West Virginia roots for this um game because the head coach the offensive coordinator the defensive coordinator at some point in their career they coached at West Virginia the guy who kind of got Troy on the map Neil Brown um he is now West Virginia's head coach so I think they've got some stuff to look at but I think this is going to be a big challenge game for the Nevada coaching staff to be able to make in-game adjustments be able to make halftime adjustments because um the Personnel hasn't put a lot of film out there obviously the coaching staff hasn't put a lot of film out there so I think it's going to be very difficult to know exactly what the Trojans are going to do at opening kickoff um which will put some pressure on Nevada to be able to identify that and make those adjustments and you did see that uh in the SMU Nevada game SMU kind of was on the back foot from the beginning because they weren't weren't you know quite ready for Nevada's physicality and maybe what they were doing schematically Brandon Lewis obviously was able to run the ball really really successfully and they were able to scheme up some of that stuff so um yeah that's a disadvantage for Nevada in this game but I think overall I think you know this is a very winnable game for the wolf pack I mean if it had been Troy of the last two seasons it would have been tough Troy won 23 games the last two seasons if might have won four but almost all those players your six-year starting quarterback your top running back your top two wide receivers your top two pass rushers a lot of your secondary those guys are gone um so there are actually only three players on this Troy roster that have started more than 10 college football games outside a kicker and punter also come back so um is a really big opportunity for Nevada to go out and get a win against the Troy team that will be playing its first game so they have not worked out the Kinks and they have not really played together that group um so you know from that perspective I think it's an advantage for Nevada that they've got that first game together and they should be a little bit more advanced uh for the opening kick off as a result yeah I was talking to Nevada football's Sid Aaron Warz and he was saying hey like you know that's obviously a disadvantage but there is also an advantage to having that week zero matchup um going full speed getting those reps sure you put your stuff out in film but the players have had a full 60 Minutes of full reps full game reps that can uh possibly translate to you know a better play coming up against Troy uh because you're really knocking off rust right and that's a that's a it's one thing to go you know all out fall camp and most most schools do not you know you're not really tackling to the ground right you're not you're not like you trying to like hurt each other out there right um so just having that extra 60 Minutes uh versus a team that's kind of wet behind the ears so to speak uh could play in an early Advantage for for Nevada obviously things you things are are different obviously just going on the road travel week you're playing in Alabama you know hostile environment uh so there's a lot of different things that you know different moving elements that you know the Nevada team has to end up being fluid because you know you never know and in Jeff Cho's Monday presser kind of mentioned that he was saying you know just I let the team know that things are going go wrong you know like maybe our flight's going to delayed or like you know our hotel is going to you know have this out or that so just got to be got to be fluid and you know be like hey if we have to go practice in the parking lot we're going to have to go practice in the parking lot so a cool mentality there um but I do see an advantage going towards Nevada's way just having had those snaps now on the other hand obviously Troy has the film can see what the the lpic offense and the K I own defense what their schematics are um but you know just give me your read on that you know like you know obviously we'll go to we'll talk about predictions later later in the episode but uh just kind of give me a read of like who has the advantage here really well I mean Troy is a ninepoint favorite so the sports books that I think that Nevada has uh you know the advantage I think if you look at all the intangibles in the game it goes to Troy you're at home you're not traveling half you know this is a very long trip for Nevada um you don't got to deal with the humidity uh that's something that Nevada will have to deal with it's going to be 90 degrees it's going to be hot the wolf Pack's not the deepest team so it sounds like they are going to try and rotate in some players earlier in the game to keep them fresh later in the game um I wouldn't say Troy's a super deep team either um but yeah you look at Troy having the home field advantage having kind of the unknown of what they're doing offensively and defensively and I'd probably rather have that than have the game under your belt certainly that helps um that you've you know worked out some Kinks but also where were Nevada be emotionally you know they were so invested in that SMU game huge underdogs playing at home ready to get after it uh now you go on the road a week later can you resummon I guess that emotional spirit for this game um whereas Troy is obviously going to be pumped up it's their first game it's their home opener they're going to have their fans there so from an intangent uh intal stand I probably would take Troy's situation but um you know both have advantages and disadvantages coming into this game from that perspective now you had a position preview that came out uh you actually gave Nevada some some checks uh obviously last week it was all tilted towards SMU just kind of kind of run us through where where Nevada does have you know a positional Advantage versus I think it's most of them just because Troy's got so many uncertainties on the roster so they've got a brand new quarterback he's not I guess brand brand new his name is goose Crowder um couple years at West Virginia he was a backup at Troy last year but he's never actually started an FBS game um he has played mop-up Duty and the numbers are actually pretty good so I'd say from that perspective Brendan Lewis is a little bit more known quantity I'd like to see him push the ball down the field successfully a little bit more but I'd give the check to Nevada based on that experience you got a guy going into his third year as a starter versus a guy starting his first game um you look at running back uh Troy's got one good running back back um but I don't think it's got quite the stable that Nevada has so I'd give the check mark to Nevada you look at wide receiver I did give it to Troy but it actually is pretty even um their best wide receiver at Troy transferred to Texas ANM their second best wide receiver 10 touchdowns last year unfortunately um diagnosed with cancer so he's going to be sitting out this season um they do have one starter back at the wide receiver position and their tight ends a pretty solid player as well from Nevada's perspective they've really got like a top two and if one of those two goes down with an injury they don't have quite as much depth behind them so I i' to give Troy the tech check mark there also gave it to Troy for the offensive line I think you look at this tro in offensive line that's really the only experience they have coming back they're starting uh Right Guard and they're starting center both back both of those guys preseason all Sun Belt picks um I think the tackles are pretty unknown but on offense um you know that's pretty even uh you know two check marks to two check marks there yeah um and I I think there is you know still questions about this Nevada offense I think they did really well in the Red Zone last week three touchdowns and four appearances plus a field goal and that helped push those numbers up in terms of the point total um but Troy's kind of known as being a great defensive team and I think this is going to be a big offensive challenge for the wolf pack yeah so uh you mentioned uh it's kind of like offensive depth there now obviously Nevada's pretty set with their outside receivers and in both Jaden Smith and Cortez Braham who both made some plays during uh you know their loss to SMU um but just kind of walk us through that depth below those two just in case you know anytime throughout the season that like one of those guys happens to go down well the SL receiver Marcus Bell and he's the trucky kid I actually thought he you know he's really good fun returner fun player yeah I think if you can get the ball to him in space he can do some stuff he can get some yards after Carri so he's kind of your third starter right now um beyond that I at the outside I would say Marshon Brown the Retro freshman uh wide receiver from Mano he played a little bit last year he's kind of your next big option and then after that it does fall off quite a bit in terms of guys who are ready to go out there and play right now you got a guy named Jerick Robinson he's a transfer from Colorado State he was on Nevada's roster you got Nate in the second um he's a second-year player still a little bit thin needs to get a little bit more physical but he's somebody you can see playing time if you see injuries at the wide receiver position you got Charles Brown um he's been kind of banged up kind of in and out of the lineup throughout the fall but he's a guy who Nevada's counting on to to give some good valuable reps so um really it's Marshon Brown and then a couple of other guys but uh Nevada needs those top two guys to be really good and and Jay Henry as well the tight end so um you know he scored a touchdown in the first game maybe you see them getting him the ball a little bit more I think they just didn't want to like screw anything up with the pass game against SMU because that pass rush is so good so a lot of it was safe throws I think as the season goes on you're going to have to get the ball down the field a little bit more to be successful and we'll see if that does happen if that's in the game plan for Troy because you look at the Troy Defense I think the linebackers are really good um I think the defensive line is kind of a question mark they lost two really really good defensive linemen one graduated one was drafted by the Buffalo Bills they can line for like 26 um sacks and I think it was like 38 tackles for loss last year uh the safeties are are pretty solid but the quarterbacks are a little bit inexperienced as well so you might be able to see with a younger defensive line and younger quarterbacks I think Nevada is always going to be run first this season but I think you might see them take some shots against uh you know some of those guys if they can get the pass protection they're looking for and then maybe take advantage of those younger quarterbacks yeah uh I mean just kind of a segue here but uh brenon Lewis was the leading rusher against SMU uh obviously had some moments as a passer matched his season total last year in touchdown passes in one game um so I mean like coach CH said he he really wasn't making mistakes crucial mistakes throughout the game uh he seems firmly entrenched at that qb1 position obviously before the season and throughout fall Camp much was made about the uh quarter back you know just uh not not controversy but battle um so to speak uh reportedly uh chubba perie was cleared to throw um do you see chubba as a possible you know man under sender down the line this season or it just depends on how Brendan Lewis plays I mean Brendan Lewis is the starter he earned that opportunity I think if he plays like he did in the first game has probably good enough to keep him at that position I think him running was Nevada's most successful offense in that game without his legs Nevada wasn't moving the ball very well um so I think like we've said that he's got to get the ball down the field that's not something they really did when he was at Colorado last year they took some deep shots but if you look at like yards per attempt it was in like the low fives you want yards per attempt in college to be around seven low fives it's tough to move the ball consistently it's tough to have those explosive plays um so I think Brendan Lewis firmly has the job but that can change if you have two bad games that could change if you start 0 and3 or 0 and four um you know chubba is not someone who's really thrown the ball for almost all of Nevada spring camp and fall Camp because of various injuries he's not somebody who's really gone through an entire season healthy this is fifth year at College too at Florida State to at Nebraska he's had injuries and all those years so um you know I think he's a really nice option an intriguing option I think his legs are a big asset as well I think he's a very good athlete um whether he actually becomes the starter will be dictated on how Brendan Lewis plays and then right now AJ biano is behind Brandon Lewis and I think that's going to be the pecking order even when chubba gets healthy until he gets into practice and can show what he can do now the tough thing is you're not really given three quarterbacks like first team reps in practice so the battle is kind of over at this point and how does chubba get back into that mix with limited practice reps and you as a staff are trying to get your number one quarterback as prepared as possible so I wouldn't rule it out certainly um but there is an uphill battle to climb to chba playing just because of unfortunately he did have to deal with that shoulder which knocked him out for most of fall in terms of the competitive throwing aspect of practice obviously his legs were still good and he was still doing stuff but running the offense and throwing the ball and all that stuff he was kind of not able to do yeah uh obviously I just the the QB def chart as it stands right now biano is probably your two your your true two right now um obviously this the these things could change throughout the season um but yeah I thought Lewis uh showed some promise on this past Saturday against SMU uh one thing I I noticed that like an uptick in in performance compared to years past is was uh Red Zone efficiency I think they got pretty creative down there uh nice little flat uh and for the you know to jaay Henry for that first touchdown uh you know that's a cool little wrinkle and then obviously Savon red pumping up the crowd and punching it in via the wild cat it was kind of funny I was in the Press fox and uh before they broke for the the Huddle they're on the sideline it was a timeout and I uh look over to Big Country or inser and I'm like I was like all right this next play is gonna be a wildcat play to Savon red touchdown and he's like okay they come out right away uh and they did it so I felt like no uh you know no Shamus for a second there um but uh anyways yeah that's that's the advantage of me going to fall camp and seeing yeah pays to go to practice it does pay to go to practice they had a couple of trick plays in there they had a pass from Jaden Smith a wide receiver to Marcus bellan that one went for 18 yards it was their second longest throw and I I think you're going to see a lot of that I think Jeff J's not afraid of um you know doing stuff like that they did go for a fourth down around Midfield that didn't work out um sha dollar got gobbled up behind the line of scrimmage but um yeah I think this staff's going to try and be creative they're going to try and do a couple tricks trick plays a game and they're going to see um you know how aggressive they can be on fourth down as well I think they're going to have to steal some possessions like that if they're going to beat some of the better teams on their schedule so I think that's always fun when you can see those trick plays and um actually in the the wide receiver pass uh the CBS crew kind of actually criticized it because Nevada had control of the game and they're like why are you taking that risk well it kind of opened up you know a deeper pass than what Nevada had seen for much of the game so yeah maybe one trick play a half or something like that for the rest of the season but also it depends where you're at in the game and you know kind of how your offense is moving and whether you you need to go to that and um yeah it'll be the offense is what I'm gonna be looking for in this game because you know I think it's gonna be a lower scoring game um while Troy is a very different team they're known for running the ball and they're known for having a really good defense so they kind of want to limit the number of possessions as well that's Nevada's formula to winning right now so um I would guess uh you know under might be a good bet in this game yeah uh that was a it was fun watching that the defense fly around out there obviously the secondary but shout shout out to some of the guys up front uh it was a chippy game uh but was kind of cool seeing Henry eah heo kind of Step Up and defend his teammate like that uh definitely kudos to that obviously you know want you don't want those type of mental mistakes it cost personal fouls on on both teams but you know like I think if you want to set a tone for the year just to to step up and protect your guy like that uh definitely sets a different tone than than Seasons P um before we wrap up Chris obviously got to get through some predictions we you talked about it being a low-scoring game game uh just kind of give me crystal ball here what's it going to look like uh down in mountgomery Alabama around 7:30 Troy Alabama is it Troy yeah who said Montgomery somebody told me that's where they're staying they're staying in Montgomery so they're going to Troy so we're taping this on Thursday the team's actually flying out on Thursday it's a day earlier than usual but it's a two time zone travel so if it's two time zones usually they'll go out Thursday for a Saturday game they're not doing that for the Minnesota game which is also two time zones but they're trying to save a little B bit of money there because they also got to go to Hawaii but yes the game's actually in Troy okay so I I miss I didn't miss hear it I just watched Jeff choz Monday presser and he said Montgomery and I'm like Montgomery so yeah they're about it's like a 45 minute drive from my understanding I've not personally been to Alabama Tory daffin's a Nevada player who grew up in Ozark Alabama about 35 miles from the stadium so he's going to have a lot of family and friends there Michael coats Jr grew up in Mississippi he's going to have a lot of family and friends there Tyson Williams he's on staff he's a former Nevada safety coach he's a graduate assistant he's from uh Alabama as well Dothan Alabama um so he'll probably have some family and friends there um I'm actually a little surprised it's a nine-point line it it opened up way higher during the summer which made sense because you just look like oh this team's won 23 games the last two years this team's won four games but like you got to look at the personnel and the Personnel for Troy is untested and they're unproven and the head coach is untested and he's unproven um 43 years old was previously the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame um obviously he's a very good coach but being a head coach is a little bit different got one opportunity in the interim role when he was at Purdue only 35 years old they went 0 and six that was actually the same year that Purdue beat Nevada 2016 ended up being Brian polans last year um but I actually think Nevada's gonna win this game I would say straight up I I mean if you can get the nine points might as well take them um but I would go moneyline on this one I think Nev is going to win 24 to 20 I do think I'm not fully bought in on this offense for the wolf pack just just yet um but I thought that the offensive line played pretty well uh so I think Nevada should be able to run the ball um I think they might be able to get the ball down the field a little bit more and I was really impressed by Nevada's defense I mean outside of that one matchup that SMU schemed up I think the Wolfpack defense from the front which was questionable I thought the defensive tackles which are you know kind of a question mark played pretty well I thought the linebackers played phenomenally kni matona and Drew Watts they both had um eight and nine tackles so 17 tackles together um they had three pass breakups a couple of tackles for loss I thought the cornerbacks played exceptionally well and I thought Keaton Crawford at safety was really really good so I think Nevada's defense is going to have a lot of success in this game um I think it's going to be a close one and I think Nevada is going to win so 2420 is my prediction wow what is yours that's that's pretty good you know with that result Nevada moves to one one but two and0 against the spread uh so that's uh you know take that Vegas uh so for me I I agree with your sentiments there uh just largely I mean it there's a high variance here you know it Troy could very well win by a couple possessions um like Vegas has predicted uh you know it could turn out that their transfers are pretty good and you know like they're they're clicking right away when they they hit the field but there's also a reality in which on the other end it's like you know they they still need to get their their is together um so to speak just to you know just just just with the entirely moving parts and like entirely new staff it's it takes a while to get to build that continuity and Cho has that experience of like you know the luxury of having coached at the you know at least the F FCS level and having seasoned vets as as a you know as a staff so I think that there there's a big coaching Advantage here and I'm G I'm GNA lean with you um I'll go a little higher though and they're going to do it by the Skin of Their Teeth 2827 Nevada uh so that's that's my prediction and yeah one and one two and0 against the spread so that's a that's pretty good um but yeah uh what do you make of that result you think it's uh I mean probably homers right yeah uh sounds like we're homers yeah I mean I'm kind of known for not being a homer so I'm kind of known for being a wolf pack hater I just pick what I think is going to happen and after going through the Troy roster I think Nevada's got a really good shot of winning this one now it's not easy winning on the road is you're rebuilding the program I think that's one of the last things that actually comes is being able to win Road games um when you inherit like a culture that wasn't really winning uh so I I think it's a difficult challenge against a team that's won back-to-back Sun Bel conference championships pick to finish second in the west division of the Sun Belt this year but uh I just feel like looking at the two rosters and with Nevada having that one game under its belt I'm I'm going to go with Nevada in this one and that's why I will place my pick all right I guess we'll see you on Saturday uh stick with us all day our Shan and Kelly is going to be down there and uh I'll be running social media so if you guys have any questions obviously reach out to us uh Chris thanks for joining uh we'll be back next time on inside the den guys remember to like rate subscribe wherever you guys get this podcast we'll be back next time