The last time the Nevada football team went winless through the non-conference schedule, the majority of the players on the Wolf Pack’s current roster were still in diapers. That year was 2001 when, under the guidance of Chris Tormey, the Wolf Pack went 0-3 in non-league – it went 0-4 in non-conference this season. As Nevada heads into Mountain West play Saturday at Fresno State, we look at what went wrong in non-conference play (and what has to go right in MW play to turn the season around).

What went wrong in non-conference play?

Quarterback carousel

Four Wolf Pack quarterbacks took snaps in the first four games, although one – David Cornwell – quit the team this week and another – Griffin Dahn – played just one snap. That leaves junior Ty Gangi and true freshman Kaymen Cureton, who both started two games. Cureton clearly wasn’t ready to play – you can’t blame him – and Gangi is the starter again after not playing in the last two games. Gangi’s 113.76 QB rating is actually below Cureton’s 120.51 rating, but neither took clear command of the offense during their starts.

The passing game

Nevada’s Air Raid has struggled (we’re being nice). The Wolf Pack ranks in the bottom 15 in the nation in yards per passing attempt, passing efficiency and interceptions thrown. That’s a bad combo for an offense built on throwing the ball. The rotating quarterbacks haven’t help the cause and the losses of Kaleb Fossum (season-ending knee injury) and Brendan O’Leary-Orange (hamstring) have whittled Nevada’s receiving corps down to only two productive pass-catchers: Wyatt Demps and McLane Mannix.

The passing defense

The Wolf Pack’s secondary was ballyhooed entering the season – I did some of that ballyhooing – but it was shredded in non-conference play. Nevada ranks in the bottom 10 in the nation in passing yards allowed, passing touchdowns allowed, pass defense efficiency and yards allowed per attempt. It is second-to-worst in the nation in completions allowed and passing yards allowed. The Wolf Pack has faced two of the nation’s better passing teams – Washington State and Toledo – which boosts these numbers to a degree.

Bad, bad turnover margin

Love him or hate him, Brian Polian’s teams were always in the positive in turnover margin. During his four seasons as the Wolf Pack’s coach, Nevada created 31 more turnovers than it gave up and was never in negative territory. That trait has not carried over this season. The Wolf Pack’s minus-six turnover rate ranks 119th in the country. Nevada’s 10 turnover in four games are the 11th most in the nation and it has taken the ball away only four times, not enough to compensate for the offensive miscues.

The offense

This is a general category, but Nevada’s offense hasn’t lived up to expectations, and I had pretty modest expectations for the group entering the season anyway. The Wolf Pack’s 19.8 points per game are a drop from last season’s 25.4 ppg. It’s hard to find any offensive statistical category where Nevada is above the halfway mark nationally. The Pack has reached the red zone just 13 times in its 52 possessions (that’s only 25 percent of its drives). The offense has yet to produce more than 28 points in a game.

The ‘D’ has lived on the field

The Wolf Pack defense has faced the second-most plays per game in the nation. You can blame part of this on the offense (Nevada has posted the sixth-worst time of possession in the nation), but the defense hasn’t been able to get off the field on third down. Nevada’s opponents have converted 47 percent of its third downs, ranking 110th in the nation. The Wolf Pack's run defense has been good, which has put teams in third-and-long situations, but Nevada has allowed teams to extend drives in those situations.

Add it all up …

… and the Wolf Pack has been outscored, 143-79, and is one of only eight FBS teams (out of 129) without a victory this season. The Wolf Pack’s minus-16 points per game scoring margin is the second worst in the MW behind only San Jose State. Some solace: Nevada has faced the 25th-most difficult schedule in the nation, per the Sagarin ratings, although that doesn’t explain the Idaho State loss.

What needs to change in conference play?

Stick with one quarterback

Gangi will start against Fresno State and it’d be best for Nevada to stick with him every possession for at least the next few games (if the team gets to 0-8 or something it can return to Cureton to get him ready for 2018). Gangi’s accuracy was been off in the first two games – he completed just 47.3 percent of his passes – but it is a new offense and he did the best job of limiting mistakes while hitting big plays (he averages 6.4 yards per attempt; the other quarterbacks are at 4.9 yards an attempt). This needs to be Gangi’s team.

Play to personnel’s strengths

Nevada made big scheme changes on both sides of the ball, with the transition on offense being especially difficult. Nevada needs to tweak its scheme to some degree to play to the strengths of the players, which is something first-year coach Jay Norvell said will happen. “We’ve had a chance to see our team play against four teams with different kinds of opponents and I think we know our strengths and weaknesses a lot better and will make some adjustments to help the kids perform better,” Norvell said.

Blitz more often

The Wolf Pack had some well-timed blitzes in the season opener at Northwestern, one of which led to an interception, but the defensive aggressiveness has lessen in recent games. Nevada ranks fourth in the nation in tackles for loss – that run defense has been good – but is 74th in sacks and 89th in turnovers gained and interceptions. Nevada has already given up a lot of big plays through the air and hasn’t been able to generate a consistent pass rush, so dialing up a few more five-man rushes would be worthwhile.

Lead with the Union

Nevada’s offensive line has already had a tale of two seasons. The group was really good in the first two games and pretty bad in the second two. If Nevada is going to be competitive in the MW, it needs the line to play like it did early in the season. (Stat to note: The Wolf Pack averaged 5.0 yards per carry in its first two games and 3.3 in its two most recent). If Nevada’s Air Raid is going to get to the point where it’s hitting 30-plus points with regularity during conference play, it will start with the five men up front.

Improve on third down

We already addressed the third-down issues on defense, but it has been an even bigger problem on offense, where Nevada has converted 20-of-55 third downs, a conversion rate of 36.4 percent (90th nationally). The Wolf Pack has been especially poor on third-and-6 or longer, completing just 12-of-40 third downs in that situation (30 percent). Nevada needs to do better on first and second down to put itself in better positions, but it also needs to execute on the down that most determines who wins and who loses.

Secondary plays to its potential

Nevada’s defensive backline is better than it’s played. Safeties Asauni Rufus and Dameon Baber have both earned All-MW honorable mention honors in the past and true freshman Nephi Sewell is a quality player. Those three can form an excellent safety trio. There is more uncertainty at cornerback, where Vosean Crumbie, E.J. Muhammad, Elijah Moody and Daniel Brown share the duties. The group isn’t quite as seasoned, but there’s enough talent here Nevada shouldn’t rank 128th in the NCAA in pass defense.

Add it all up …

… and the Wolf Pack needs to play drastically better in conference play than it did in non-conference play if it’s going to start stacking some wins. The MW is vulnerable this season, with only San Diego State having a winning record among the league’s 12 teams. “You look at our conference and San Diego State has been very impressive, but everybody else is struggling,” Norvell said. “Really everybody else in the whole Mountain West is struggling. Everybody is about .500 with their record. Everybody has problems.” Victories in MW play are there to be had if Nevada plays well. It’s second season is about to begin.

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at cmurray@rgj.com or follow him on Twitter @MurrayRGJ.

WOLF PACK FOOTBALL

Who: Nevada (0-4) at Fresno State (1-2)

When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

Where: Bulldog Stadium (capacity 43,560)

Weather: High of 86; low of 57

TV/Radio: AT&T Sports Network/94.5 FM

Online: None

Betting line: Fresno State by 10.5 points

All-time series: Fresno State leads, 27-20-1