Boise State 30, Nevada 10: Ault calls offense ‘horrific’ in loss to Broncos

BOISE, Idaho — What do you get when you take Colin Kaepernick out of the Wolf Pack’s Pistol? Apparently, a mediocre offense.

Nevada had its worst offensive effort in five years Saturday in its 30-10 loss to No. 4/5 Boise State in front of 34,098 fans at Bronco Stadium.

The Wolf Pack compiled only 182 yards of total offense — its fewest since being held to 141 yards against Boise State in 2006, the last time Nevada played the Broncos without Kaepernick.

“Our offense was horrific,” Wolf Pack coach Chris Ault said.

In the first half, the Wolf Pack had 50 yards on 30 plays. It had as many botched handoffs as first downs (three). And had nearly as many penalties (five) as passing yards (eight).

The farthest the Wolf Pack moved the ball was to its own 36-yard line.

With Cody Fajardo out with an injured left shoulder, Tyler Lantrip started at quarterback for a fourth straight game and completed only 5-of-16 passes for 50 yards. He had an interception and two fumbles (one lost).

“We were just making mistakes,” Lantrip said. “If it was me or one other person, there was always somebody off their assignment and it’s a ripple effect for the entire offense.”

The offensive struggles spread far beyond the quarterback.

Nevada’s offense line — “the heart and soul of the team,” as Ault calls it — had its second straight poor effort. The unit allowed two sacks and 12 tackles for loss.

“All I can say is we didn’t come to play today,” junior guard Chris Barker said. “We saw a lot of things in practice and in real life the speed caught us off guard. I take full responsibility in how we played today.”

Ault was unhappy with the offensive line after last week’s loss at Texas Tech. He was even more disturbed after Saturday’s loss. The coach said he didn’t know the root of the issue, but would get to the bottom of it.

“There is no excuse for that group,” Ault said. “We’re not getting it done coaching them. There’s no doubt about that. That’s going to change.”

The offense was only marginally better in the second half.

Nevada had 111 yards of total offense prior to its final drive, when third-string quarterback Mason Magleby capped a 71-yard drive with a 53-yard touchdown pass to Rishard Matthews.

After ranking in the top 15 in the nation in scoring the past three seasons, the Wolf Pack is averaging only 19.6 points per game one-third of the way through this year.

Ault said Boise State’s defense, which ranked 31st in the nation in scoring defense entering the game, had a lot to do with Nevada’s struggles.

“This is called, ‘a pretty good football team,’ if you didn’t notice,” Ault said. “They happen to be the No. 4 football team in the country … So give them some credit. Give that defense some credit. That’s the best defensive team we’ve seen.”

While the Wolf Pack offense struggled on Boise State’s blue turf, Nevada’s defense held the powerful Broncos offense in check.

Nevada limited Heisman Trophy candidate Kellen Moore to the fewest passing yards of his career (142) and intercepted him twice — for only the third time in his career.

Even though Boise State’s average drive started on its own 41-yard line, the Wolf Pack held the Broncos to 31 points or fewer for the second time in the past two seasons.

“They played hard,” Ault said. “Those kids played hard. That’s all I’m asking them to do. I don’t feel like our offense played hard, and I’m really disappointed.”

The Wolf Pack now returns to Reno for its first home game of the season — against rival UNLV. Despite going 1-3 on its season-opening, four-game road stretch, the team said its confidence isn’t lost.

“Nobody can lose focus,” Barker said. “This is a bad loss for us. We just can’t quit. We have to keep working. This was a tough little road trip that we had. We just have to learn. Nobody’s going to be scared. We’re going to come back and get better against UNLV.”