Connect with us

Nevada

Position Grades: Nevada

Published

on

Position Grades: Nevada


Well folks, we’re back with yet another season of your favorite Sunday post here on BSD! It just dawned upon me that this will be my tenth year doing position grades, which is mind-boggling to believe. I’ve had a blast doing these and reading your feedback in the comments telling me how right or wrong I am with my grades, and I look forward to more as this season chugs along, hopefully culminating in the Nittany Lions hoisting the College Football Playoff championship trophy in Miami come January.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s how yesterday’s dominating win over Nevada grades out:

Penn State scored on each of its first nine possessions, and a good part of that had to with Drew Allar having an solid game, going 22-of-26 passing with 217 yards and a touchdown strike to one of his new favorite tagets, Kyron Hudson. Drew sure looked like a guy who was a lot more trust in his wide receivers compared to last year. Ethan Grunkmeyer also impressed in garbage time, leading a 94-yard TD drive and throwing a couple lovely strikes, en route to him finishing the drive in the end zone, himself.

Even though neither back lit up the stat sheet or ripped off a truly explosive play on the ground, Nicholas Singleton had a pair of TD runs and Kaytron Allen added another TD for the running back corps. Cam Wallace and Corey Smith also showcased their stuff, with Wallace doing his best Saquon Barkley impression by hurdling a guy, showing that he was fully healed from his horrible knee injury suffered last season.

Advertisement

Yes, it’s Nevada. Yes, it’s only the first game of the year. But, you know what? Penn State did not have a single wide receiver catch more than five passes in a game last season, and yesterday we saw not one, but two Nittany Lion receivers eclipse that mark, with Hudson catching six balls for 89 yards and a TD, while Trebor Peña racked seven catches for 74 yards, plus a 13-yard carry. Devonte Ross is working his way back to 100 percent from an injury, but his lone catch of the day helped move the chains on 4th down.

We knew the tight ends wouldn’t be targeted quite as much as they were a year ago. Luke Reynolds seemed to get the most reps, though and was targeted a handful of times. Khalil Dinkins and Andrew Rappleyea both had some nice catches from Grunkmeyer, in what was a a solid effort overall from this unit.

Overall, the O-line played fine, but considering the massive amount of hype they were getting, yesterday felt a tad underwhelming. Much like with the D-line, there was plenty of rotating going on to get a bunch of players valuable experience before the conference slate. The botched snap at the goal line that sailed over Drew Allar’s head cost PSU what should’ve been a TD to cash in on an interception. Better to get those mistakes out of their system now, than in a more critical game.

Dani Dennis-Sutton was a one-man wrecking crew, constantly living in Nevada’s backfield, racking up a sack and 2.5 tackles for a loss. He also was responsible for two of PSU’s three turnovers forced, forcing a pair of fumbles that the Nittany Lions ultimately cashed into points. Zane Durant also had an interception that he nearly picked-sixed. With Zuriah Fisher out with an injury, younger guys such as Jaylen Harvey and Chaz Coleman saw their share of action off the edge.

Amare Campbell was the leading tackler, garnering six of them. Considering that he only arrived in Happy Valley in April, Campbell has done a tremendous job quickly acclimating to a new defense. Dom DeLuca also recorded a sack, in what was a solid day for a group that was instrumental in holding Nevada to 78 total rushing yards.

Advertisement

AJ Harris and Zakee Wheatley both had fumble recoveries, which were the most notable plays for a unit that just really wasn’t challenged at all by a team that showed no desire to throw the ball more than ten yards downfield. Nevada put up most of their 125 passing yards in garbage time against the 2’s and 3’s, scoring a TD in the final minute.

Although he was called upon a little more frequently than we hoped, Ryan Barker remains money as a field goal kicker, nailing all four of his attempts. King Mack also had a nice “Welcome Back to Penn State” moment with a 73-yard kickoff return that set up a scoring drive. Gabe Nwosu would have made his punting debut in addition to his usual kickoff duties, but the Lions never punted.

Jim Knowles had a solid debut as defensive coordinator, as his unit made life difficult all afternoon for an overmatched opponent. Even on the most promising of drives for the Wolfpack, the defense bent but didn’t break, with the starters giving up just a field goal. Offensively, we saw a lot more no huddle from Andy Kotelnicki and a desire to try and establish chemistry between Drew and his new set of receivers, while also trying to give Singleton and Allen their share of carries.

Really, the only coaching decision I had an issue with was with deciding to kick a field goal on 4th and 2 from Nevada’s 10-yard line late in the first half instead of just going for it. Granted, PSU’s defense did get a stop and then got the ball back with enough time for PSU to score a TD right before halftime to take a comfortable 27-3 lead to the locker room, so what do I know…

(BONUS CATEGORY) Scorigami: A+++

Advertisement

Congratulations to both teams on giving us college football’s first-ever 46-11 result, giving us a scorigami moment.

7 Comments



Source link

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Nevada

Court OK’s counting late-arriving mail ballots in Nevada, 29 other states

Published

on

Court OK’s counting late-arriving mail ballots in Nevada, 29 other states


LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevada’s laws allowing the counting of mail-in ballots that arrive up to four days after Election Day — so long as they are postmarked by that date — is constitutional under a Monday ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a 5-4 ruling, justices upheld a challenge to a Mississippi law that’s similar to Nevada’s statute. Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the court’s three liberal members, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Katanji Brown Jackson, to uphold the law.

Conservatives Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

The ruling affects 30 states, all of which allow some ballots received after Election Day to be counted. That includes Nevada, which allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be received and counted up to four days later, and ballots without a postmark to be received and counted up to three days later.

Advertisement

Plaintiffs in the case — including the Republican National Committee and the Mississippi Republican Party — had contended that federal laws referring to “elections” mean both the casting and counting of ballots, which they said must occur on Election Day.

“The federal election-day statutes do not preempt Mississippi’s law because the defining element of an ‘election’ has always been the electorate’s choice of candidate,” the case summary reads. “And a related federal statute — the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act — confirms that while federal law dictates when ballots must be cast, state law governs when they must be received.”

In Nevada, critics have contended that late-arriving ballots erode confidence in elections, because they delay learning final election results for days and, in some close races, can change the outcome.

Gov. Joe Lombardo has called the weeklong wait for final, unofficial results “a national embarrassment.”

Plaintiffs in the case made similar arguments, but were turned away by the court: “Finally, plaintiffs policy arguments about election integrity and voter confidence are properly addressed to legislatures, not courts,” the case summary reads.

Advertisement

Several attempts to require ballots to be received by Election Day have been introduced in Nevada’s Legislature, but none have been successful in the Democratically controlled body.

Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar has argued that the overwhelming majority of ballots are in and counted by Election Day, and only the closest races may be changed by late-arriving ballots. He’s advocated for more resources for county clerks and voter registrars to be able to count mail ballots more quickly.

Under the ruling, nothing will change for Nevada voters going to the polls in four months to vote in the November election. But officials still encourage voters to send in their mail ballots early, or to put them in drop boxes at voting centers during early voting or on Election Day.

Supreme Court upholds late-arriving mail ballots in Mississippi

Advertisement





Source link

Continue Reading

Nevada

One dead, four hospitalized after head-on crash on I-15 in Clark County

Published

on

One dead, four hospitalized after head-on crash on I-15 in Clark County


LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada Highway Patrol responded to a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 15 near mile marker 94 Sunday evening.

The crash was reported at 6:43 p.m. on June 28.

MORE ON FOX5: Driver sustains life-threatening injuries in Las Vegas multi-vehicle crash

A passenger sedan and a pickup truck were involved in the crash. One vehicle was traveling southbound, lost control, crossed through the median, and struck the other vehicle head-on in the northbound travel lane.

Advertisement

One adult male died at the scene. Two people were transported by ground ambulance, and two others were transported by life flight to a local hospital.

Road closures

All northbound I-15 travel lanes were closed at mile marker 94, but have since opened as of Sunday night.

Nevada Highway Patrol said further information will be provided following the preliminary investigation.

Copyright 2026 KVVU. All rights reserved.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Nevada

Officials elevate response efforts to combat eastern Nevada wildfires

Published

on

Officials elevate response efforts to combat eastern Nevada wildfires












Advertisement





Officials elevate response efforts to combat eastern Nevada wildfires | Local Nevada | Local























Advertisement





Advertisement