Idaho hasn’t beaten Nevada since joining the WAC in 2005, but that doesn’t seem to bother the Vandals.
Spirits have not dropped and the focus has not waned despite a disappointing 2011 campaign as the Vandals (2-9, WAC 1-5) head to “the biggest little city in the world” to face the Nevada Wolf Pack (6-5, WAC 4-2). Kickoff is set for 1:05 p.m. Saturday at Mackay Stadium in Reno.
“A win — that’s all I want,” senior linebacker Tre’Shawn Robinson said. “I wanna win my last college game.”
Fellow senior Brian Reader shared his teammate’s sentiment.
“It’s our last chance to do it,” Reader said. “Huge game for me, huge game for the team, the university — it’d be a big win for us.”
Reader will start against the Wolf Pack after a decent showing against Utah State, which beat Nevada two weeks ago.
“They’re (Nevada) a good team and they’ve fallen short just a few games like a lot of teams in the WAC,” Reader said. “It’s been a while since I won a game as a starting quarterback so it’d be nice to come out and kinda have a good taste in my mouth as I play my last game.”
Nevada employs the No. 9 run offense in the country, averaging 254.2 yards
per game.
Senior safety Quin Ashley said the offensive line is a large part of the success of the Wolf Pack running offense. He said controlling the line and shutting the receivers in the secondary will be key if the Vandals want to leave Reno with their third win of the season.
Idaho coach Robb Akey said Nevada is a sound team with offensive personnel worthy of a nationally ranked rushing offense.
“They’ve got a good offensive line, they’ve had two good quarterbacks that are executing it for them, and running backs, they got the option with it as well,” Akey said.
Akey said Nevada doesn’t do anything special, but the addition of its option offense is enough to confuse defenses. “They’ve made it simple for themselves,” Akey said. “It’s similar play, but they bring other actions that make it hard on guys’ eyes that make it difficult.”
Akey said preparation for the season-ending match-up has been full of energy and his message to his team has been the same all week — make every minute worth your time.
“This is our last chance to go do it,” Akey said. “There has been a lot of life at practice and I think they’ve been excited about it. And you make it as much fun as you can as your last chance to play football and this will be our last game so we gotta enjoy every snap.”
The game plan has not changed for the 12th game of the season as the Vandals will attempt to finish strong going into the offseason and spring practice of 2012.
“Just to finish strong,” Ashley said. “For us to finish this season off with a win would help the next class start off on a better boat.”
Reader said he wants to be the quarterback who helped start the Vandals in the right direction.
“We didn’t have the best year in the world, obviously,” Reader said. “I think we’ve proved that we have the talent to win games — we just couldn’t pull it off in the end.”
The Vandals will not only attempt to end the season on a high note with a win, but could stifle
Nevada’s post-season chances if they hand Nevada a loss, ending its season at 6-6.
“This is the last one,” Robinson said. “This is it. It’s our last chance for our
seniors.”