Welcome to the Kill Era.
Aggie Football is now under
the leadership of Jerry Kill. He comes in with an impressive record of
turning around college football programs.
(Hopefully, he doesn’t leave here at the end of his contract in tears, a
broken man.) In an interview a couple of
days before the game, he genuinely didn’t seem to know how the team was going
to do, or how good the Nevada Wolfpack
was. Ron, who I was going to the game
with, predicted a 35-3 Nevada win. I was
a bit more hopeful than that, but did say we’d “evaluate” staying for the whole
game after the third quarter.
This game was extensively marketed to the community and
local businesses responded by picking up a large number of tickets. AD
Mario Moccia on the pregame was even having discussions about the absolute
capacity of Aggie Memorial Stadium
(29k). Total attendance turned out to be
23,000, which was still pretty awesome, especially compared to the last game I
was at (11-27-21). Being a “Week
0” game with few other games going, this game also got national coverage on ESPN2.
Unfortunately, that set the game time back to 8:00pm, which is why I put
in that “evaluation.” The Aggies will
accommodate anything to get on national TV.
Most of the day it had been threatening with storms in the area. By game time, it didn’t seem threatening at all. Ron and I went for dinner at McAlisters and arrived at the stadium an hour early. The Aggie Band was playing by the east side of the Pan Am Center when we got there. The Pride of New Mexico Marching Band’s membership has swelled to over 260 members this year. (Or was it 360? I heard the number this week.) Regardless, Ron didn’t want to pass by them on the way to the stadium and we went on the other side of the building. (On the west side of the Pan Am there’s a bunch of large discarded junk, including an old scoreboard and a washing machine?)
We got in thanks to tickets from my workplace. (Thanks.)
They were handing out programs up front.
This image is not that program; this is from the “digital” program. The physical program was just one page folded
with the rosters. The digital program
was not much more informative, which was disappointing, given that you don’t
have worry about the page count. Trevor Brohard on the cover is one of
the defensive leaders on the team.
During the game, they called his name a lot on tackles, along with Chris Ojoh. I saw an older couple wearing matching
jerseys with Brohard on the back at the front gate. They might have been his parents.
I’d been wanting some kettle corn, so I took care of that
up front, along with some cinnamon-roasted nuts. The nuts were great, but, though they were
popping the corn there, I didn’t seem to get a bag of the fresh stuff. Our seats were on the south end, west side,
in the lower bowl, row four. We were
close to the action, when it was on our end.
I said, “Hello,” to a few nearby co-workers. One was Melika, our former Aggie Softball player. She’d told me that her team used to be paid
$2000 by the Football team to handout programs and then clean the stadium after
the game. Good times.
On the sidelines, I was a bit worried as I saw the camera
operator on a crane car in front of us buttoning up his camera with a rain
cover. It didn’t seem like there was any
nearby rain, but it was near sundown. A
squad of Cheerleaders was performing
in front of us for the game. The student
section on the other side of the stadium was full (and they were standing as
always), as were the center season ticketholder section and the northwest
section. I don’t know who was in that
section, but when the Aggie players came off the field from warming up, they
went up to the stands and saluted them.
On the other side, the student section booed the Wolfpack
coming off, though there were a good number of fans in the visitors
section. The band was introduced on to
the field. Wave the Wonder Dog got his own introduction. Pistol
Pete on horseback led the team back out.
On the other side, a titanic boo went up to greet the Wolfpack. Unfortunately, Pete tried to ride the horse
(I’ve heard the horse’s name, but can’t remember it) back up the ramp as the
team was coming out. The horse got
spooked and Pete had to get off and lead him by the reins out of the
stadium. This seemed like a bad
sign.
(I’ve already gotten popcorn stuck in my teeth by this
point and spit out several unpopped kernels.
This may have been a more ominous sign.)
First
Quarter
Nevada won the toss and deferred to the second half. (All football writers are required to report
on the coin toss.) Me and Ron were
listening to the radio call, which was occasionally drown out by the
crowd. I noticed flashes of lightning to
the north as the game began.
Diego
Pavia was the Aggie quarterback. He’s listed at 6’, but seemed short on the
field compared to the other players. He
rushed for a first down and had a 20 yard pass for another first down. Unfortunately, the series came up dry after a
missed 43-yard field goal by Ethan
Albertson. Shane Illingworth (6’ 6”) started at quarterback for the
Wolfpack. The Aggie defense was stout on
their first series and caused a 3-and-out.
Hey, the Aggie
Baseball team was on field right below us.
Melika had told me that the Baseball and Football teams hate each other
from fighting over girlfriends. (What a
great source of gossip I now have access to.)
They were honored on field for winning the WAC Championship between quarters, but they were going to have
to wait awhile for that.
I was still seeing flashes to the north. The Aggies got the ball back. Pavia got first downs on passes to Jamoni Jones and Dominic Gicinto.
Unfortunately on fourth and 3 on the Nevada 24, Pavia threw a pick into
the endzone for an interception. I
thought he could have run for it, but Ron said there was a defender right on
him that forced the throw.
Then the referees suddenly stopped play. An announcement was made that the game was in
a lightning delay for at least 30 minutes.
The fans were instructed to vacate the stands. Like I said, the stands were pretty much
full, so this wasn’t going to be quick under emergency circumstances. Under the circumstances here though, you
couldn’t even hear the thunder. (There
was distant thunder once later.) In
other words, there was no perceived threat to merit mass response.
So half the crowd didn’t move in spite of repeated
announcements. They even showed a
picture of the lightning strike on the Jumbotron. Actually, some fans appeared to be leaving
just so they could hit the Concessions and then return to their seats. Wave’s handler had him practice retrieving a
tee on the field. Just as attendants
were starting to shoo people out their seats, the trainers came back on field
and then the teams. Someone shouted,
“Thanks, ESPN!” I wonder if they did
have something to do with the game restarting more quickly.
45-minutes later, we were back to the action and any
thought of getting home before midnight evaporated. Most of the crowd did come back or never
moved. We had the first penalty as a
holding call moved Nevada back on their way to another 3-and-out. The Aggies got the ball back on their 49-yard
line. There was an illegal formation
call before the quarter expired.
Second
Quarter
The Baseball team finally got their moment on field. Hey, that ball boy kid that took infield with
the team was with them. They tossed
souvenir balls (not baseballs) into the crowd.
The Aggie drive resumed, but turned into a 3-and-out after
a dropped third down pass. Josh Carlson punted and sent the
Wolfpack back to their 13-yard line. I
wonder if he’s still dating Lindsay
Blakey, who’s MIA from the Volleyball
team. Illingworth took a bad snap on
third down and had to fall on it in the endzone. Safety!
We have a score 2-0 Aggies. There’s a kickoff after to the Aggies. I thought it was a free kick (punt) after a
safety?
During their series, the Aggies had to burn their second
timeout. Both times, it was because of personnel
running on and off the field. Coach Kill
was chewing out the team during the break.
Pavia rushed on two straight plays and took a hard lick on both as he
ran to the sideline. On the second one,
he got 27 yards and a 15-yard chop block penalty was added to it. Unfortunately, the next pass deflected off
the receiver and popped up for another pick.
Starting from their 20, Wolfpack picked up 5 yards on an illegal substitution. More personnel coming on and off problems for the Aggies. The Wolfpack went up tempo. They broke off a long run to midfield. A 30+ yard run took Nevada to the endzone and a 7-2 lead. It was just that easy.
Worse, when the Aggies got the ball back, they had another
interception on a pass downfield. The
Wolfpack got the ball back near midfield.
Coach Kill was giving it to one of the refs after the first play, so
he’ll go after anybody. Nevada went down
and got it to first and goal. The Aggie
defense came up big and held, including a sack by Lazarus Williams (pictured in the poster above). The Aggies had to burn their last timeout to
avoid flag right after. They still held
Nevada to a field goal. 10-2 Wolfpack.
The Aggies were temporarily in possession of the
ball. On third down, there was a sack
and fumble on the Aggie 18-yard line by Pavia.
The Wolfpack got a first down from there. Brohard completely upended Illingworth on a
rush, but he would throw a touchdown on the next play. The Aggies were also offsides on the
play. 17-2 Nevada. The Aggies got
in one play before halftime.
Halftime
The Cheerleaders on sidelines danced during the break to a
Michael Jackson song. They had the
moves. They then immediately dispersed
into the stands. Kids were rolling on
the grassy hill in front of the Fulton
Center at the south end of the stadium.
I went to the bathroom.
The Band performed, but either it was a short set or I was in line
longer than I thought I was and missed all of it. Some athletic, classy-looking young women
gathered on the sidelines. Ron and I
decided they were the Aggie Women’s Golf
team. (I wonder if the football and baseball players are fighting over them. They're attractive and could help with their golf game.) They were waiting to be
honored on field later for winning the WAC,
but in the meantime, their coach gave them their Championship rings, which delighted them. (Melika showed me her Softball Championship
ring. It’s huge and magnificent.)
Most of the original crowd was still here after the half,
though a bunch of students had left. It
was past their bedtime. Before the start
of the second half, Pistol Pete took to an elevated crane, which raised him
over the goalpost to unveil a banner and he waved an Aggie flag.
Continued in Part 2.
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