1987 Nevada Wolf Pack football
ConferenceBig Sky Conference
Record5–6 (4–4 Big Sky)
Head coach
Home stadiumMackay Stadium
1987 Big Sky Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 5 Idaho $^ 7 –1 –09 –3 –0
No. 10 Weber State ^ 7 –1 –010 –3 –0
Montana 5 –3 –06 –5 –0
Boise State 4 –4 –06 –5 –0
Nevada 4 –4 –05 –6 –0
Northern Arizona 4 –4 –07 –4 –0
Idaho State 3 –5 –03 –7 –1
Eastern Washington 2 –6 –04 –7 –0
Montana State 0 –8 –01 –10 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant
Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Poll

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.

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*dagger
  • 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 with 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 deflections 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. 1 2 3 "Pack Player make All-Big Sky". Reno Gazette-Journal. December 2, 1987. p. 1B – via Newspapers.com.
  19. 1 2 3 "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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