Strong, Lee, Taua pace Nevada in Potato Bowl

BOISE, IDAHO » Nevada coach Jay Norvell had plenty of reasons to be emotional as he challenged his team before it took the field in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. And his players responded.

Carson Strong threw for 271 yards and five touchdowns, Devonte Lee and Toa Taua each rushed for over 100 yards, and Nevada’s defense recorded eight sacks for the first time in 17 years as the Wolf Pack beat Tulane 38-27 on Tuesday.

Nevada (7-2) finished 2020 the same way it started the year — by playing in the same bowl game, which the Wolf Pack lost 30-21 to Ohio on Jan. 3.

That game was also the last time Norvell saw his father, Merritt Norvell, in person before the coronavirus pandemic reached the U. S. and prevented them from seeing each other. Merritt died in October.

“As I was getting ready for this game, I realized that this was the last time I saw my father alive,” Norvell said. “It was at this bowl game. It was emotional today. But I was proud of how we stepped up to the challenge of the game and executed phenomenally in a lot of the situations that we had to.”

Nevada got stuffed at the goal line on its first possession and turned the ball over on downs. Then the Wolf Pack defense got things rolling with an interception by Christian Swint. Two plays later, Strong hit Turner for an 11-yard touchdown, the first of three quick scores for Nevada.

“We needed to score early to put pressure on them,” Norvell said. “And I’m really happy and satisfied with what our guys did. We talked about playing our best football game and a lot of ways we did that.”