Nevada vs. Buffalo final score: Wolf Pack are dominant in win

The Nevada Wolf Pack came back home to Mackay Stadium hungry for a win after getting blown out by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish last week.

The Wolf Pack played the Buffalo Bulls last season in Buffalo and won 24-21. This game was all Wolf Pack from both sides of the football and untimely won by a score of 38-14 over Buffalo.

In the first quarter of the game, the Wolf Pack made a statement on their opening drive of the game as Tyler Stewart ran for 15 yards into the end zone for the first touchdown. Stewart completed all of his first four pass attempts and threw to four different wide receivers on that initial drive.

The Bulls made a push trying to tie the game by Johnat Hawkins, rushing for 25 yards and a 22-yard pass from Tyree Jackson to Tyler Mayberry. Although the Bulls made two huge plays in their second offensive drive, Adam Mitcheson missed a 43-yard field goal attempt that went wide right. The Wolf Pack lead 7-0 by the end of the first quarter.

The Wolf Pack going into the 2nd quarter were driving down the football field with backup quarterback Ty Gangi out on the field. The big play for the Wolf Pack on that drive was a 48-yard run by Jaxson Kincaide to get Nevada into the red zone. The result of the drive was a 23-yard field goal by Brent Zuzo to increase their lead to 10-0.

The defense for the Wolf Pack was looking strong against the Bulls offense and forcing Jackson to go deep most of the game. Tyler Stewart was put back in the game for the next drive and James Butler exploded with a 27-yard run to get back into the red zone again. Coach Brian Polian used the triple option a good amount of times during the game and tricking the Bulls defense.

The facemask penalty against the Bulls gave the Wolf Pack a huge opportunity to score and allow James Butler to force his way in for a 2-yard run touchdown to make the score 17-0. Butler would go on to have a great night and score three touchdowns for the first time in his career.

The offense was moving the ball constantly in the first half and were converting crucial third downs to keep the drives alive. Butler would score again in the 2nd quarter on a 4-yard touchdown run to increase the lead to 24-0. The offense for the Wolf Pack had 214 rushing yards and 113 passing yards in the first half. The defense was shutting out Jackson frequently, who had totaled less than 75 yards passing.

In the 3rd quarter, the Wolf Pack continued where they left off and scored a touchdown on their first drive of the second half. Butler had two 15-yard rushes to keep a consistent string of big first downs and moving the ball down the field. He scored for his third touchdown of the game on a 1-yard run to make the score an impressive 31-0 for the Wolf Pack. Butler had 28 carries for 174 yards and three touchdowns to end his night.

The Bulls finally scored towards the final minutes of the quarter with a HB screen pass from Jackson to Jordan Johnson for their first touchdown of the game.

In the 4th quarter of the game, a questionable call in the game was injection that was called on Boise Ross for targeting one of the Wolf Pack’s wide receivers. The Wolf Pack would score once again on a 2-yard pass from Stewart to Wyatt Demps for his 2nd touchdown of the season to seal the win for the Wolf Pack.

Stewart improved a lot from last week’s lost by completing 16 passes of 21 attempts for 160 yards with one rushing and passing touchdown. The Bulls would score the final points by Jordan Johnson scoring a 12-yard rushing touchdown to make the score final 38-14.

The Wolf Pack improved on both sides of the ball and got a huge commanding win over Buffalo. Stewart and Butler looked like an unstoppable force against the Bulls defense. The defense looked on point tonight with Alex Bertrando getting ten tackles and Tarvis Wilson with six tackles.

Also, Dameon Baber and Asuni Rufus played terrific coverage against Jackson and made him struggle throughout the entire game. The next matchup for the Wolf Pack will be against Purdue on Sept. 24th at 9:00 a.m. PT at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana.