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Northwestern Notes
With the victory, Northwestern evened the series between the two teams at 1-1. The Wildcats improved to 2-0 for their best start since 2005. Northwestern will try for its first 3-0 start since 2001 when it hosts Duke (0-2) in a primetime game next Saturday (7 p.m., Big Ten Network) at Ryan Field.
The Wildcats are now 4-2 in nonconference games under Pat Fitzgerald.
Northwestern overcame a 24-10 halftime deficit by outscoring Nevada 26-7 in the second half. That was the Wildcats' biggest comeback since overcoming a 24-7 deficit to Iowa in a 28-27 victory in 2005.
WR Ross Lane, who caught the game-winning touchdown in that 2005 win over Iowa, also delivered the game-winning TD against Nevada with a 13-yard reception with 21 seconds remaining. That gave NU a 34-31 lead.
RB Brandon Roberson recorded his first career 100-yard rushing game, gaining 128 yards on 13 carries for a 9.8 ypc average. His 76-yard run today is a career long, which also exceeds his career game rushing mark of 64 yards against Michigan State in 2005. Roberson's 76-yard run is NU's longest run from scrimmage since Jason Wright scored on a 77-yard TD run against Bowling Green in the 2003 Motor City Bowl (Dec. 26, 2003).
With 20 completions today, QB C.J. Bachér has completed at least 20 passes in three consecutive games and has totaled over 20 four times in his career. Today's game also marked his third straight with no interceptions thrown. Bachér threw to eight different receivers today. He equaled a career best with three TD passes. He also has thrown for 200 yards or more in all seven career starts (NU's last seven games).
Bachér's 60 yards rushing was a career best and made him NU's second-leading rusher for the game. His 20-yard jaunt on NU's game-winning drive was the longest of his career. Bachér, who directed an 80-yard game-winning drive in 51 seconds with no timeouts, accounted for all 80 yards, throwing for 45 and rushing for 35.
Bachér finished with 287 yards of total offense, a career best.
DE Kevin Mims' two sacks on the last two plays of the game gave Northwestern three sacks for the game after coming up empty for sacks in the season-opening win against Northeastern. Mims' last sack resulted in the first NU safety since the Wildcats tallied one against Iowa in 2001. Mims now has 6.5 career sacks. He finished the game with 7 tackles, two shy of his career-best, set against Michigan in 2005.
Despite leaving the game in the first half with a lower-leg injury, RB Tyrell Sutton still led all NU receivers with five catches for 59 yards. With his 14 rushing yards, Sutton is 29 yards shy of Jason Wright (2000-03, 2,625 yards), who is fourth on the Wildcats' career rushing list.
Sutton remains in 10th place on NU's career all-purpose yardage list. He now has 3,334 career yards, and is 29 yards short of ninth place, held by Mike Adamle (1968-70, 3,373).
Of the six Northwestern scoring drives, five were under two minutes. NU's first drive took 4:33, resulting in a 1-yard touchdown pass from Bachér to WR Tonjua Jones on the first drive of the game. It was the second straight game that Northwestern scored a touchdown on its first offensive possession. The TD by Jones was the first of his career, and just his third career reception.
RB Omar Conteh, who helped pick up the slack when Tyrell Sutton left the game with an injury, notched his first career reception and touchdown on the same play, a 16-yard pass from Bachér with 11:14 to go in the fourth quarter. That play gave NU a 27-24 lead.
SAF Reggie McPherson's interception marked the first NU pick this season and his 38-yard return was the longest of his three career interceptions.
PK Amado Villarreal converted both of his field goal attempts (46 and 29 yards) and all four PAT kicks for a career-most 10 points. The 46-yarder is his career long. He is 4-for-4 this season on field goal attempts.
P Stefan Demos had a career long 47-yard punt. In addition, three of his boots landed inside the opponents' 20-yard line.
LB Mike Dinard, who made his first start of the season, led the Wildcats with a career-high 11 tackles, including a TFL and a forced fumble.
Northwestern has not turned the ball over in its last 10 quarters of football (dating to the 2006 season-ending game against Illinois). The Wildcats also recorded their first takeaways of the season, a fumble and an interception.
Northwestern had a string of six-plus quarters (100 minutes, 31 seconds) of shutout football end when Nevada scored its first touchdown with 7:12 left in the first quarter. The Wildcats had last allowed points when Illinois scored a second-quarter TD with 2:43 left.
Northwestern kept up its red-zone success, scoring on all five red-zone trips vs. Nevada, giving it 18 straight scores when reaching the red zone. The streak dates to the Nov. 4. 2006 game against Iowa.
Nevada Notes
Nevada has never been shut out as a member of Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I-A) and has not been shut out since Sept. 27, 1980, a streak of 319 games that is the longest in the nation. The last time Nevada was blanked was at Weber State, a 10-0 loss. That is the only shutout loss ever suffered by Hall of Fame coach Chris Ault. During the streak, Nevada has shut out eight opponents, the last being a 42-0 win over Louisiana Tech last year in Ruston, La.
Sophomore QB Nick Graziano set career highs in completions (22), attempts (36), yards (337) and touchdowns (2). This marks the first 300-yard game of the sophomore's career.
Junior RB Luke Lippincott rushed a career-high 28 times for a total of 140 yards. That marked his third career 100-yard rushing game and his best effort since turning in a career-best 144 yards (on 25 carries) Nov. 11, 2005 vs. Utah State. He scored the 10th touchdown of his career with a 27-yard scoring run with 3:38 left in the fourth quarter.
Senior WR Kyle Sammons caught five passes for 102 yards and a TD, just one yard shy of his career-best 103 receiving yards set in 2005 at Colorado State.
Nevada racked up 541 yards of total offense, the most since the Wolf Pack gained 623 yards in a 49-48 victory over Central Florida in the 2005 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl (Dec. 24). Last year, the Wolf Pack's best effort was a season-high 472 yards of total offense at Hawai'i on Oct. 7.
Senior Erics Clarks recorded Nevada's first sack of the year with a 6-yarder of Northwestern quarterback C.J. Bachér in the first quarter. Senior linebacker Ezra Butler, the WAC's top returning sackman, recorded his first sack of the year in the third quarter, dropping Bachér for a loss of five yards.
Brandon Fragger's 14-yard touchdown in the first quarter was the sophomore's first touchdown since Oct. 7, 2006 (vs. Hawaii). It also marked the first touchdown of the season scored by the Nevada offense and the first touchdown allowed by Northwestern this season.
Adam Bishop's 24-yard touchdown reception was his first score since a 7-yard TD catch at Arizona State last season (Sept. 9, 2006). Bishop now has a touchdown catch in each of his four years at Nevada.
Nick Graziano's 48-yard touchdown strike to Kyle Sammons at the end of the second quarter marks the longest pass of his career. It eclipsed a 42-yarder to Marko Mitchell earlier in the second quarter.
Sammons' 48-yard touchdown reception was the longest scoring play by the Nevada offense since Fragger's 66-yard run over UNLV on Sept. 30, 2006.
Junior PK Brett Jaekle connected on a 37-yard field goal in the second quarter, extended his streak of consecutive makes to six dating back to the 2006 MPC Computers Bowl against Miami. The streak came to an end in the third quarter when his attempt from 42 yards was wide right.
Today's game was the final game of a home-and-home series between Nevada and Northwestern with each team winning on its home field. Last year, Nevada turned in its first win over a Big Ten Conference opponent with a 31-21 victory over Northwestern on Sept. 22 at Mackay Stadium.
After opening the year with two consecutive road contests, Nevada will not play another road game until Sunday, Oct. 14 at Boise State. The Wolf Pack will play host to its home opener against Nicholls State on Saturday, Sept. 15 at Mackay Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6:05 p.m. PT.