Nevada to Use Three Quarterbacks Against Buffalo

We have a #Quinterback alert in the Mountain West this week. On Monday, Nevada head coach Brian Polian announced the team will continue to use the three-quarterback system that was deployed against Notre Dame. On Tuesday, Buffalo head coach Lance Leipold hinted that he may play two quarterbacks on Saturday.

The three players for the Pack will be incumbent starter Tyler Stewart, who Polian stated will remain the starter due to his knowledge of the playbook. Behind him, JUCO transfer Ty Gangi will run a watered-down version of the offense in the “Three Amigos” scheme, due to the three-running back formation that was used. The third “quarterback” is actually safety Asauni Rufus. When he was in, Nevada ran a triple-option offense, which Rufus excelled at in high school as a QB, winning a state championship in California.

“That package will stay alive,” Polian said of Rufus, according to RGJ.com. “You’ll see him at quarterback every week. And we’ll continue to grow it. If we can take 15-20 minutes of practice from the opponent’s regular schedule that’s 15-20 minutes they’re not practicing on our other stuff.”

Polian stated that if one of the quarterbacks begins to separate themselves, they will go exclusively with them. Until that point, they plan to keep moving pieces around based on the trajectory of the game.

While using multiple quarterbacks and a gimmick offense to try and throw off a clearly superior opponent like Notre Dame is understandable. But the fact that the coaching staff feels that they need to do so in order to win games in just week 3 does not bode well for the outlook of the team. Expectations were up for Nevada this year, and the offense was supposed to carry the rebuilding defense. Multiple quarterback systems don’t usually last, and if they do, it’s rarely successful. If the Wolf Pack are going to be as successful as they hoped this season, they need somebody to step up and take the job.