Why Nevada football's faltering offense has been its biggest failing point post-2010

Editor's note: This column is part of a six-part series on Nevada football's post-2010 struggles. You can read the first part of this series here, the second part here and the third part here.

Nevada football has been synonymous with great offensive football for more than a century.

James "Rabbit" Bradshaw, a 5-foot-8, 135-pound waterbug of a running back, was one of college football's biggest stars from 1919-21 and succeeded by an equally electric running back, Jim Bailey, in the late 1920s.

The 1940s ushered in a Wolf Pack era that included the punishing ground game of Marion Motley, who would eventually break pro football's color barrier en route to Pro Football Hall of Fame induction. A couple of years after his departure, Nevada became the standard for football's forward pass with Stan Heath becoming the first college quarterback to throw for 2,000 yards in a season while finishing fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting. No quarterback would hit 2,000 yards again until 1963.

Nevada's hiring of Chris Ault in 1976 ushered in a new offensive genius whose teams were known for their crushing ground game in the late 1970s and early 1980s with Frank Hawkins setting the Division I-AA career rushing record. That gave way to the Air Wolf pass attack of the late 1980s and early 1990s with Chris Vargas leading Division I in passing in 1993 and Mike Maxwell repeating that feat in 1995.

It was all a prelude to the Pistol offense, the greatest brainchild of Ault and his staff that debuted in 2005 and took the football world by storm, even being popularized in the NFL. Engineered by Colin Kaepernick, the Wolf Pack became the first (and still only) team to have three 1,000-yard rushers in a single season. Kaepernick became the only player in FBS history with 10,000 passing yards and 4,000 rushing yards in a career. His successor, Cody Fajardo, joined him as the only other player in the 9,000/3,000 club.

But that electric offense that helped drive Nevada football to 14 conference championships from 1932-2010 has largely lost its identity since Ault's resignation in 2012 and become a major contributor as the Wolf Pack has struggled to hit the standard set in 2010 when Nevada went 13-1 and finished 11th in the nation.

From Ault's return to the sideline in 2004 to his resignation in 2012, a span of nine seasons, the Wolf Pack ranked top 35 in the nation in scoring all nine years. In the 11 years since he resigned, Nevada has finished top 35 in scoring just once, in 2021.

Ault's run from 2004-12 included Nevada averaging 34.9 points per game while ranking, on average, 20th in the country in scoring offense. From 2013-23, Nevada has averaged 26.4 points per game while ranking, on average, 78th in the country in scoring offense. When you compare the average 2004-12 defense (28.8 ppg allowed) to the average 2013-23 defense (29.5 ppg allowed), there's a minimal difference, making it clear the Wolf Pack's offense regression has been the biggest issue behind the program's post-2012 backslide.

During the Brian Polian era, Nevada scored 26.9 points per game.

During the Jay Norvell era, Nevada scored 29.3 points per game.

During the Ken Wilson era, Nevada scored 18.1 points per game.

While Norvell's late-era teams were known for their offense, the 2021 squad ranking 17th in the country at 35.7 ppg, the 2020 and 2021 teams went 0-6 in regular-season games against teams that played in bowls with the Wolf Pack averaging just 25 points per game in those losses. Even Nevada's top-tier post-2012 offenses weren't strong enough against quality competition to lift the Wolf Pack to the championship level, largely because of a lack of physicality on the offensive line, the Union failing to become a strength since the elite 2012 group that included four future NFL players.

And Nevada's offensive lows have been six feet under. The last two seasons, both under coach Ken Wilson, the Wolf Pack finished in the bottom 15 in the nation in scoring offense, posting 18.8 ppg in 2022 and 17.3 ppg in 2023. Those are two of the Wolf Pack's bottom three single-season points totals since joining the FBS in 1992. While replacing Ault's offensive genius — he's the only coach to lead the FBS in passing offense and rushing offense in separate seasons — was never going to be easy, the loss of an offensive identity and ingenuity has been one of the program's biggest problems in getting back to the high-water mark set in 2010 when Nevada finished eighth in the country in scoring offense with a school-record 41 ppg.

Over the last two seasons, Nevada's offense has generated nearly as many turnovers (37) as touchdowns (46). It has had more interceptions thrown (20) than passing touchdowns (13) while producing arguably the most feeble offensive attack of the country's 133 FBS teams. That's not the Nevada football program that revolutionized how college offenses played from Rabbit Bradshaw scampers in the 1910s to Stan Heath's aerial attack of the 1940s to the Air Wolf of the 1990s to the Pisol offense of the 2000s.

What's happened to Nevada football?

Feb. 12: What’s happened to Nevada football since 2010?

Feb. 13: Post-2010 momentum stunted

Feb. 14: Coaching mistakes

Feb. 15: Loss of offensive identity

Feb. 16: A lack of investment

Feb. 17: Nevada football’s future

Sports columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.