Nevada Kicks Off Bowl Season With 18-15 Win Over Ball State

Nevada’s defense took the spotlight from its high-powered offense Thursday night as the Wolf Pack opened the college bowl season by beating punchless Ball State 18-15 in the Las Vegas Bowl.

The nation’s top-ranked offense sputtered, but Nevada more than made up for it with a defensive effort that almost shut down the Cardinals to win the bowl for the first time in three attempts.

Ball State managed to make it interesting at the end, though, scoring a touchdown on a 27-yard pass to Adrian Reese with 2:26 left in the game and adding a two-point conversion to cut the lead to three points.

The Cardinals then recovered the onside kick at their own 45 before Mike Crawford intercepted Brent Baldwin’s pass to seal the Nevada victory. The Wolf Pack had only to run out the clock to win their first bowl game since the 1947 Salad Bowl.