RENO, Nev. >> Eventually, it got embarrassing.
That happened when Nevada long-snapper Austin Ortega fired the football over punter Quinton Conaway’s head through the end zone for a safety with nine minutes, 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter on Saturday at Mackay Stadium.
The issue had long been decided — Hawaii was en route to hanging the worst loss in stadium history on the Wolf Pack, 54-3. No team had put such a beatdown on Nevada in Reno since Santa Clara hammered the Wolf Pack 55-0 back on Oct. 22, 1950.
This came three weeks after Nevada lost at Oregon 77-6. That was the worst loss ever for Wolf Pack football, which dates back to 1896. The Wolf Pack are 3-2 and the two losses are by a combined 122 points.
“I thought we had made a lot of progress here (since the Oregon loss),” Nevada coach Jay Norvell said. “But mental toughness is a fickle thing. We’ve shown real spurts of it this year in some cases, but we’ve also shown spurts of not having it. And that was disappointing tonight.”
What went wrong? Everything.
Hawaii outgained Nevada 512-203. In addition to the safety, the Wolf Pack also had a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown. Warriors quarterback Cole McDonald completed 25 of 30 passes for 312 yards and four touchdowns. Backups Chevan Cordeiro and Justin Uahinui were a combined 6-for-6 for another score. Fred Holly III rushed for 63 yards on 11 carries and the team rushed for 139 on 27 attempts.
The defense had two interceptions and a fumble recovery along with three sacks.
“We have to find a way to play better pass defense,” Norvell said. “The mistakes that we had on special teams are just very difficult to overcome. And then we did very little on offense. We didn’t run the ball effectively, we didn’t score any points of note.”
Nevada hasn’t completely settled who will be the starting quarterback. Carson Strong, a redshirt freshman, has been the starter for all but one game. He was 7-for-14 for 46 yards and an interception on Saturday before giving way to senior Christian Solano during the second quarter. Solano went the rest of the way and was 11-for-17 for 59 yards and an interception.
Norvell said that Malik Henry, who played in the Sept. 21 game at UTEP, is also part of the picture.
The Wolf Pack also were dealing with running back Jaxson Kincaide’s decision to enter the transfer portal after playing the first four games. Norvell ended his press conference with an animated complaint about the new rules that make it easier for players to leave.
“College football is built on sacrifice and team play,” he said. “These new rules, kids coming in and wanting to redshirt because they’re a role player and not a starter? These things are attacking the heart of college football.
“It’s not good for the game. Jaxson has decided to use the system and stop playing after four games when he was one of our most productive players. That’s his choice and that’s what these new rules allow these kids to do and we’ll just have to keep dealing with it the best we can.”
