1987 Nevada Wolf Pack football team

The 1987 Nevada Wolf Pack football team was an American football team that represented the University of Nevada, Reno during the 1987 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Nevada competed as a member of the Big Sky Conference (BSC). The Wolf Pack were led by 12th-year head coach Chris Ault and played its home games at Mackay Stadium.[1][2] The team was ranked No. 1 early in the season, but finished with a 5–6 record – the program's first losing season under Ault.

1987 Nevada Wolf Pack football
ConferenceBig Sky Conference
1987 record5–6 (4–4 BSC)
Head coachChris Ault (12th season)
Home stadiumMackay Stadium
(Capacity: 14,000)
1987 Big Sky Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 5 Idaho $^ 7 –1 –0  9 –3 –0
No. 10 Weber State ^ 7 –1 –0  10 –3 –0
Montana 5 –3 –0  6 –5 –0
Boise State 4 –4 –0  6 –5 –0
Nevada 4 –4 –0  5 –6 –0
Northern Arizona 4 –4 –0  7 –4 –0
Idaho State 3 –5 –0  3 –7 –1
Eastern Washington 2 –6 –0  4 –7 –0
Montana State 0 –8 –0  1 –10 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant
Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Poll

Pre-season

The Wolf Pack finished the 1986 season with a 13–1 record and 7–0 in BSC play to finish in first place, losing the Division I-AA semifinals against the eventual national champion Georgia Southern. The Wolf Pack returned 12 starters from the 1986 team and was ranked No. 1 in pre-season selections by Division I-AA sports information directors and by Don Heinrich's College Football '87 magazine.[3] The team was also a near-unanimous, pre-season pick to repeat as the Big Sky champion.[4]

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 12at Eastern WashingtonNo. 6
W 40–26[5]
September 19No. 7 UC Davis*No. 1
W 34–1715,630[6]
September 26at MontanaNo. 1
L 29–418,200[7]
October 3at UNLV*No. 6
L 19–24[8][9]
October 10Montana StateNo. 19
  • Mackay Stadium
  • Reno, NV
W 31–1313,903[10]
October 171:00 p.m.at IdahoNo. 11
L 28–3815,100[11]
October 24Stephen F. Austin*
  • Mackay Stadium
  • Reno, NV
L 7–914,577
October 31Idaho State
  • Mackay Stadium
  • Reno, NV
W 40–1911,236
November 7Boise State
L 31–3618,150[12][13]
November 14Weber State
  • Mackay Stadium
  • Reno, NV
L 15–3811,143[14][15]
November 21at Northern Arizona
W 40–3910,123[16]

Key players

Placekicker Marty Zendejas broke the Division I-AA career kick-scoring record previously held by brother Tony Zendejas.[17] Zendejas finished his college career with 385 points scored and was the only Division I-AA player selected by the Football Writers Association of America as a first-team honoree on the 1987 All-America college football team.[18]

Junior running back Charvez Foger led the team 1,132 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns.[19] His career total of 3,200 rushing yards ranked third in Big Sky history at the end of the 1987 season. Foger was named to the All-Big Sky football team for the third consecutive season in 1987.[18] Foger concluded his college career in 1988 with 4,486 rushing yards, the third best mark in Division I-AA history.

Jim Zaccheo, a junior college transfer from California, won the starting quarterback job after pre-season competition with Andy Genasci.[20] He led the team with 2,158 passing yards.[19]

Split end Tony Logan set school records with 64 catches, 1,099 receiving yards, and 12 receiving touchdowns. He was selected as a second-team player on the All-Big Sky team.[18]

On defense, Scott Lommori led the team with 125 total tackles.[19] Senior linebacker Jeff Davis led the team with 12 sacks and 20 tackles for loss and was a unanimous selection for the All-Big Sky team. Sophomore defensive back Bernard Ellison had six interceptions and seven defllections and was also a first-team All-Big Sky selection.[21]

References
  1. "Nevada Football 2018 Media Guide" (PDF). University of Nevada, Reno. 2018. p. 136. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  2. "Nevada Yearly Results". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  3. "Pack is the pick of the Sky". Reno Gazette-Journal. September 4, 1987. pp. 1E, 3E.
  4. "UNR tries to buck Big Sky tradition". Reno Gazette-Journal. September 4, 1987. pp. 2E.
  5. "No. 6 Pack grounds Eagles: UNR rushes for 393 yards in 40-26 victory". Reno Gazette-Journal. September 13, 1987. pp. 1B, 3B – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "No. 1 Pack racks up No 2: Record crowd watches UNR, 2-0, top Davis". Reno Gazette-Journal. September 20, 1987. pp. 1B, 3B – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Grizzlies devour the best of I-AA". The Missoulian. September 27, 1987. pp. 19, 23 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Rebels win battle of Nevada". Reno Gazette-Journal. October 4, 1987. pp. 1B, 2B – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Wolf Pack may have learned a lot in loss to UNLV". Reno Gazette-Journal. October 4, 1987. p. 2B.
  10. "Ault lights fire under Pack". Reno Gazette-Journal. October 11, 1987. pp. 1B, 3B – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Friesz chills Reno". The Spokesman-Review. October 18, 1987. pp. D1, D5 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Wolf Pack rally falls short". Reno Gazette-Journal. November 8, 1987. pp. 1B, 3B – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "No ifs, this was another exciting UNR-Boise game". Reno Gazette-Journal. November 8, 1987. p. 3B – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Pack's at a loss in '87". The Reno Gazette-Journal. November 15, 1987. pp. 1B, 3B – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Pack turns '87 season into a stinker for Ault". Reno Gazette-Journal. November 15, 1987. p. 3B – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Jacks go sour in second half". Arizona Daily Sun. November 22, 1987. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Zendejas: Pack's ace in hole". Reno Gazette-Journal. September 4, 1987. p. 3E – via Newspapers.com.
  18. "Pack Player make All-Big Sky". Reno Gazette-Journal. December 2, 1987. p. 1B – via Newspapers.com.
  19. "Nevada Football 2018 Media Guide" (PDF). University of Nevada, Reno. 2018. p. 108. Retrieved April 26, 2020.
  20. "The big question at UNR: Who's the quarterback?". Reno Gazette-Journal. September 6, 1987. p. 3B – via Newspapers.com.
  21. "Pack puts 2 on All-Big Sky defense". Reno Gazette-Journal. December 3, 1987. p. 1B – via Newspapers.com.
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