You have to go back to 2004 to find the last time the Nevada football team had only four days to prepare for an opponent.
That year, the Wolf Pack opened the season on a Monday — a Monday? — at Louisiana Tech (a 38-21 loss) before hosting Sac State five days later on Saturday, a 59-7 win.
Coming off a 37-19 win over rival UNLV on Saturday, Nevada faces the same challenge this week with only four days between games before the Wolf Pack hosts Utah State at 4 p.m. Thursday at Mackay Stadium. Before the Mountain West's schedule was set, Nevada coach Jay Norvell said he'd be OK playing Friday games for the extra exposure but wasn't so sure about Thursday games. The conference, trying to maximize television opportunities, set a number of weekday games, with Nevada drawing two this season, including this week's matchup.
"They're not used to playing on Thursday," Norvell said. "My biggest thing is I want them to be fresh. We want them to be eager to play. We're not going to beat them up in practice. We took the pads off them (Monday) and will probably be smart the next couple of days so they're crisp and confident and ready to go. It will be fun to play a Thursday night game in Mackay, an early start. That will be a lot of fun for our team and fans."
Norvell said the biggest key to being prepared for a quick turnaround is his players' focus and attention to detail, a thought echoed by his players.
"This week, our attention to detail has to be way better than last week because we play on Thursday," sixth-year senior cornerback EJ Muhammad said. "Less days of preparation than we'd usually have. Just attention to detail and actually locking in our opponent Thursday."
After an emotional win over UNLV, the Wolf Pack's big rival, the short turnaround will test Nevada's mental resolve as much as its physical readiness, the players said.
"We have to mentally lock in, get in our playbooks, watch film," senior captain Jermaine Ledbetter said. "There's going to be a lot of film watching. Practice, we have be locked in with different types of looks. The scout team has been helping us. I know we don't give a lot to them, but our scout has definitely been helping give us the proper looks."
For Nevada (2-0), this is the prototypical "trap game" with the Wolf Pack coming off a big win on a short week facing a Utah State (0-2) team that has been blown out twice this season. The Aggies have been out-scored by 60 points in its two games (losses to Boise State and San Diego State). Despite Nevada being a 15.5-point favorite, Norvell has been complimentary of Utah State's roster, pointing out the team's skill-position players and its defense, which he said is the best Nevada has faced this season.
Norvell said the Wolf Pack can't overlook a team that beat it 36-10 last season in Logan, Utah.
"I think our football team is getting to the point maturity-wise where they have to understand if they want to be different, there's a certain amount of sacrifice and attention it takes to put yourself in those types of positions," Norvell said. "This is a big challenge. These are the kind of weeks you have to respond where it's a short week and you're tired and your body is sore and you kind of would like to relax a little bit, this is an important week to respond the right away. That's what good teams do."
You can watch Nevada's full press conference, featuring Jay Norvell, EJ Muhammad and Jermaine Ledbetter below.
"Short" - Google News
November 04, 2020 at 02:13AM
https://ift.tt/2JDkz65
'Can't relax:' Nevada preps for the challenges of a short week - Nevada Sports Net
"Short" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2QJPxcA
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "'Can't relax:' Nevada preps for the challenges of a short week - Nevada Sports Net"
Post a Comment