RENO – For the third consecutive season, the Sacramento State football team was obliterated in its opener, losing the battle at both lines of scrimmage.

Last year it was Oregon State, led by their running back Stephen Jackson now with the St. Louis Rams, this year, it was Drew Robinson and Chance Kretschmer.

Jackson went for 129 yards rushing and two touchdowns in last year’s 40-7 loss for the Hornets in Corvallis, Ore., this year they gave up a hundred to both Robinson (106) who had a touchdown and Kretschmer (102).

After losing their season opener to Louisiana Tech 38-21 on Monday, Nevada came hungry in their home opener. The Wolf Pack took a bite out of Sac State, beating the Hornets up and down the field all afternoon long.

Arguably the biggest factor contributing to the Wolf Pack’s first win of the season was the line of scrimmage. Football is a game fought in the trenches and Nevada took over, producing 313 total rushing yards and 286 total passing yards. This led to Nevada taking over time of possession (36:22) and control of the game.

It wasn’t only on the offensive side of the ball that the Wolf Pack dominated; their defense also outclassed the Hornets.

Hornets’ senior quarterback Ryan Leadingham was only able to pass for 78 yards and junior running back Tyronne Gross ran for just 42 yards.

The Hornets, as a team, ended the day with 177 total yards of offense.

“We have to play four quarters of football and get back to fundamentals,” head coach Steve Mooshagian said.

The offensive line suffered for sixty minutes on Saturday. With their only returning player, junior center Dustin Nicolodi, sidelined the offensive line allowed six sacks.

In 2003, Nicolodi earned honorable mention all-Big Sky and is the kind of experienced player the Hornets needed more of on Saturday.

“This upcoming week we will have to work hard, watch film and see what we need to do in order to improve,” Sac State offensive line coach Ken Foersch said.

In a rare bright light Saturday, the Hornets showed shimmering potential in the secondary. Although struggling with coverage of speedy Wolf Pack receivers, freshman cornerback Brent Webber and senior cornerback Zeph Payne recorded a total of 17 tackles.

Another young player to step up was sophomore wide receiver Mel Cuckovich. Cuckovich saw little playing time Saturday, but came up big in the 4th quarter by hooking up with backup quarterback, junior Brad Tredway for 39 yards recording the only points for the Hornets.