Thanks to the experience on special teams, with sophomore Mike Ball returning and explosive junior Rishard Matthews ready to burst on the scene, there were plenty of pregame predictions about how the Pack was likely to snap a nearly decade long drought of scoreless special team returns.

The streak almost ended when Ball took the opening kickoff from the Nevada ten yard line all the way to the Eastern Washington 33-yard line, where he was finally pushed out of bands. The return was the longest return by a Wolf Pack returner since Dewayne Sanders in 2006.

From there, senior quarterback Colin Kaepernick took the first play of the 2010 offensive series for a 23-yard run. It was a patented Kaepernick run, slicing through defenders.  He was tackled by the shoestrings of those shiny white Nike’s, which were custom to Kaepernick from the shoe company, something he revealed at practice earlier this week.

The Silver and Blue got on the board a few plays later when Vai Taua ran it in from the one.  The senior admitted his goals for the year were 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns and Taua took one step closer to those goals when he scored the first Nevada touchdown of the season as the Pack led 7-0. The questions about Nevada’s revamped defense were answered with a first series stop of a dangerous Eastern Washington offense, however, the questions about the pass defense would be answered later.

With a fourth and goal situation the Pack offense stayed on the field.  From the pistol Kaepernick held onto the option keeper when the defensive line bit on the handoff to Taua as the senior captain from Turlock (Calif.) put the Pack up 13-0 with freshman kicker Anthony Martinez converting the extra point for a 14-0 lead with 8:41 remaining in the first quarter.

Eastern Washington wasted no time to respond following the Nevada score.  Junior Taiwan Jones, a preseason FCS All-American, took a screen pass from Eagle quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell 82-yards for a score after a holding penalty put the Eagles five yards back to start the drive. The first impression for Nevada’s new pass defense were a failure, as this play was a simple swing pass and it went for eighty-two big ones.

On the third series Nevada pulled the old switcheroo at quarterback when Tyler Lantrip came in for a second down play, most likely to deceive the defense, but to no avail as the Wolf Pack offense couldn’t convert with Kaepernick coming back out on third down but his pass was deflected at the line. That forced the Pack to punt for the first time in the 2010 season.

The Nevada defense suffered a setback when Zack Madonick came off the field with the help of the training staff at the end of the first quarter.  Eastern Washington would go on to score on a 40-yard field goal by kicker Mike Jarrett when the Eagles drive stalled at the Nevada 23-yard line.

Green's big night is just a sample of what's to come in 2010

Eastern Washington continued to throw the ball as they came out with a 20-yard completion to start the drive but Mitchell continued to look like a quarterback still trying to find a rhythm.  Every pass deeper than ten yards looked off target early on.

The first big turnover of the game happened when Virgil Green appeared to just lose his grip on the football after catching a pass at the Eastern Washington 19-yard line.  Green caught the pass from Kaepernick, made a football move, and the ball just fell to the ground with the Eagles taking over with 6:20 remaining in the first half and trailing 21-10.

The Eagles drove for a pair of first downs, but ended up punting to Nevada when safety Bubba Boudreaux sacked Mitchell on a safety blitz on a huge 3rd down play.  Matthews, the Pack’s exciting new punt returner, made the wrong decision to return a kick this time and was gobbled up at the three yard line.  Nevada then lost starting free safety Corbin Louks, a transfer from Utah, for the game when he came in to help cornerback Isaiah Frey with a tackle and was helped off the field with an apparent ankle injury.

But the powerful Nevada offense flexed their muscle once again. The Pack took the ball and drove 97 yards in a matter of seconds, capping off the drive with a 48-yard touchdown strike from Kaepernick to senior tight end Virgil Green.  The Pack benefitted from an inexperienced Eagles secondary as defensive back Jeff Minnerly couldn’t take down Green with his attempted tackle. The Nevada captain bolted twenty yards after the catch for the score.  Ironically, the missed hit happened at almost the exact same spot where Green fumbled on the previous drive.

The second half began just like the first half ended, with Kaepernick hitting Green for 40-yard touchdown.

“When you’re with somebody for five years you don’t have a choice but to have chemistry with them,” Kaepernick said of his relationship with Green, also his freshman roommate.

It was an outstanding night for Green, who ended the night with 7 catches for 144 yards and two scores.  Green was also instrumental in the running game, helping the Pack roll off 214 rushing yards on 44 carries.

“I hate getting tackled by one guy,” Green said, when asked how he was able to shake off the would-be EWU tacklers.

Eastern Washington bounced back to run off 14 straight points, chopping Nevada’s lead down to 35-24.   Mitchell threw his second and final touchdown pass of the game to Brandon Kaufmann for 5-yards, and then the Eagles added a one-yard score to close out the third quarter.

Taiwan Jones continued to make big plays for the Eagles on nearly every drive.

“He was tricky, he made us miss a few times,” Nevada senior defensive end Ryan Coulson said.

Jones was electric at times, racking up 322 all-purpose yards.

But after that, it was all Nevada. Taua capped a short three-play, 20-yard drive after an Eagle fumble set-up the Pack in great position.

With Nevada leading 42-24 Kaepernick, the rest of the offensive starters got the night off.  Kaepernick finished the game going 26 of 37 for 306 yards and two touchdowns with another two rushing touchdowns.  It was the first time Kaepernick passed for 300 plus yards since the 2008 Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl and the fifth time he’s done it in his career.

“I would say I played pretty average tonight. There was things that I should have been able to do and more passes that I should have completed,” Kaepernick modestly said at the post game interview.

Tyler Lantrip came in and had the second unit playing as well as the starters, minus a few penalties and option keeper reads.

Malcolm Sheppard and Moe Patterson both caught the first passes of their Wolf Pack careers and Sheppard’s 40-yard reception gave the Pack a first and goal from the one which junior Lampford Mark ran in to put the pack up 49-24 with 3:38 left in the game.

Although the Pack held on to win 49-24, giving up that many points to an FCS team will clearly force the defense to step up.  With Colorado State on the horizon it will be interesting to see which Nevada team shows up ten days from now, the team that gave up 24 points to Eastern Washington or a team driven on revenge from their loss a year ago fueled by another lackluster defensive showing.