{"id":503377,"date":"2026-10-21T21:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T21:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/503377\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T21:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T21:38:11","slug":"spartans-return-to-mackay-stadium-for-packs-homecoming-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/503377\/","title":{"rendered":"Spartans return to Mackay Stadium for Pack\u2019s Homecoming game"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Led<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Led by quarterback Carter Jones, right, the Nevada offense controlled the ball for more than 37 minutes and trounced San Jose State, 55-10, at Mackay Stadium last season.
Nevada Appeal File<\/p>\n

A look ahead to the Nevada Wolf Pack football game on Saturday at Mackay Stadium against the San Jose State Spartans:<\/p>\n

KICKOFF: 2 p.m. (Homecoming at Mackay Stadium).<\/p>\n

THE RECORDS: Nevada (2-4, 1-2); San Jose State (4-3, 2-1).<\/p>\n

THE SPREAD: Nevada favored by 5.5 points (total is 46.5).<\/p>\n

TV: MW-Plus<\/p>\n

RADIO: 105.7 FM<\/p>\n

AT STAKE FOR NEVADA: This is one of the last opportunities to impress the home crowd. This is the Wolf Pack’s first home game (it is also Nevada’s Homecoming) since losing to Air Force, 36-33, in two overtimes on Sept. 26. It is also Nevada’s only game at Mackay Stadium in the month of October. The Wolf Pack has just two home games remaining this season after Saturday (Nov. 6 against New Mexico, Nov. 21 against Hawaii).<\/p>\n

AT STAKE FOR SAN JOSE STATE: The Spartans hope to keep their Mountain West championship hopes alive. San Jose State is one of six Mountain West teams (with New Mexico, North Dakota State, Air Force, Wyoming and UNLV) with no more than one league loss this season. Nevada, on the other hand, is one of just four Mountain West teams (with Northern Illinois, UTEP and Hawaii) with one or fewer league victories this year.<\/p>\n

THE HEAD COACHES: Jeff Choate (56 years old), in his third season as Nevada’s head coach, is 8-23 overall and 3-15 in the Mountain West. Choate is 1-1 against San Jose State, losing on the road, 35-31, in 2024 and winning, 55-10, at Mackay Stadium last year. Ken Niumatalolo (61 years old), in his third season as San Jose State’s coach, is 14-18 overall and 6-11 in the Mountain West. Niumatalolo, a former UNLV assistant (1999-2001), was Navy’s head coach from 2008-22 (109-83 record).<\/p>\n

THE RIVALRY: Nevada leads, 24-12-2. The Wolf Pack won 15-of-17 from 2002-19 under four different head coaches (Chris Tormey, Chris Ault, Brian Polian, Jay Norvell).<\/p>\n

LAST YEAR: The Wolf Pack trounced the Spartans, 55-10, just last season at Mackay Stadium (Nov. 15, 2025). Nevada opened the scoring with a touchdown on a 66-yard interception return by Nakian Jackson and closed it with a 99-yard kickoff return for a score by Ky Woods. The Wolf Pack defense had four interceptions. Chubba Purdy scored on a 13-yard run and on a 7-yard catch from quarterback Carter Jones. Jones was an efficient 16-of-19 for 195 yards and two touchdowns as the Wolf Pack controlled the ball for 37:25.<\/p>\n

SPARTANS SPUTTER AT MACKAY: San Jose State is just 2-14-1 against the Wolf Pack in Reno. Nevada has beaten San Jose State 11 times in a row at home since 2002. The last Spartan win at Mackay Stadium was 49-30 in 2000 (their only other win in Reno was 10-0 in 1934). Future UNLV head coach Marcus Arroyo was 17-of-25 for 178 yards at quarterback for the Spartans the last time San Jose State won in Reno. Dameon Baber returned a punt for a touchdown and also scored on two interception returns in a 59-14 Nevada win at Mackay in 2017 game while the Wolf Pack had four runners (Vai Taua, Colin Kaepernick, Luke Lippincott and Lampford Mark) gain 100 or more yards on the ground in a 62-7 win in 2009.<\/p>\n

WHEN NEVADA HAS THE BALL: Quarterbacks Carter Jones (53-of-89, 654 yards, 3 touchdowns, 2 interceptions) and A.J. Bianco (31-58, 326 yards, 2 TDs, 3 interceptions) could both see playing time on Saturday. Nevada is last in the Mountain West in pass efficiency at 108.5. Dominic Kelley (500 yards, 4 TDs) and Herschel Turner (439, 4) lead the ground game. Nevada is third in the Mountain West with 192.8 rushing yards per game. Damien Morgan (27-155-0), Gary Givens (15-260-1), Marshaun Brown (8-96-1) and Donnie Cheers (6-121-1) lead the wide receivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WHEN SAN JOSE STATE HAS THE BALL: Quarterbacks Luke Weaver (132-of-209, 1,529 yards, 11 touchdowns, 6 interceptions) and Daniel Rolovich (12-23, 193 yards, one TD, no interceptions) also both could see the field on Saturday. The Spartan running game is led by Jabari Bates (556 yards, one TD) and Viliami Teu (242, 2). The top targets have been Carson Clark (42-509-5), Jerry McClure (26-261-1), Cooper Hoch (23-338-3), Jordan Anderson (13-130-1) and Anthony Ivey (12-235-0).<\/p>\n

TURNOVERS MIGHT BE KEY: The Wolf Pack is a minus-8 on the season in turnovers (last in the Mountain West). And that doesn’t even count a lost fumble on a 2-point conversion attempt last week at North Dakota State (conversion fumbles do not count for stats). It also doesn’t count a 100-yard return for a touchdown by North Dakota State off a missed Wolf Pack field goal, a game-changing play that also felt like a turnover. The Wolf Pack has yet to score a point off a turnover this year while allowing 27. San Jose State has broken even in turnovers this year (eight for the Spartans, eight for their opponents).<\/p>\n

SPARTAN SACK ATTACK: San Jose State had 11 sacks last week in its 24-11 win at UTEP and is now second in the nation in sacks, tied with LSU and behind just Tennessee (30). The Wolf Pack had four sacks in its 30-13 win at UTEP two weeks ago and has allowed just seven sacks all season (second best in the Mountain West with 1.17 sacks per game allowed). Defensive lineman Jayland McGlothen leads San Jose State with six sacks while linebacker Dylan Lee has four. Defensive lineman Jeremiah Tuiileila and linebacker Azik Mahuka each have 3.5 sacks.<\/p>\n

A ROLOVICH RETURNS TO MACKAY: San Jose State freshman quarterback Daniel Rolovich, who made his college debut last week at UTEP, is the son of former (2012-15) Wolf Pack offensive coordinator Nick Rolovich (now an assistant at Cal). Daniel Rolovich is likely now at San Jose State because of Spartan offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann’s connection to Nick Rolovich. Stutzmann was a teammate of Nick Rolovich at Hawaii in 2000-01 and was an assistant under Rolovich (who was the head coach) at both Hawaii (2016-19) and Washington State (2020-21). Both Rolovich and Stutzmann were fired by Washington State in 2021 for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccination. Stutzmann is also a graduate of Saint Louis High School in Honolulu, as is Nevada quarterback A.J. Bianco.<\/p>\n

SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE: Nevada (ninth) and San Jose State (10th) have the two lowest average time of possessions in the Mountain West this season. The Pack has controlled the ball for just 26:55 per game while San Jose State has had it just 26:41 per game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Led by quarterback Carter Jones, right, the Nevada offense controlled the ball for more than 37 minutes and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-503377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}