Oregon (0-1) hosts Nevada (1-0) on Saturday as the Ducks open their home season following a hard-fought battle against Auburn in Dallas last week. The Wolfpack flies to Eugene coming off a big come-from-behind win over Purdue at home which ended on a 56-yard field goal as time expired.

In this edition of Behind Enemy Lines, we evaluate the offensive personnel and tendencies of the Nevada offense to come up with some keys for Andy Avalos and his defense for stopping the Wolfpack.

QB

Lightly recruited out of high school, 6-foot-4 Carson Strong won the starting job this fall and then played very well at home against Purdue last week.

WR X

Elijah Cooks Long athlete started becoming a playmaker for Nevada in 2018, a red zone favorite.

WR H

Kaleb Fossum Significant weapon for Nevada last season from their H (slot) position.

WR Z

Romeo Doubs The sophomore is Nevada’s best deep threat and most dynamic player. He is backed up by Cole Turner who checks in at 6-foot-6.

TE

Reagan Roberson Roberson is used more as a blocker than anything else for Nevada.

Nevada was a very pass heavy team against Purdue and that is what they will do again against the Ducks on Saturday. They throw the ball on about 75% of their offensive plays.

They were very middle of the field oriented with their passing. Against Purdue Week 1 (Completions- Attempts)

Outside left hash: 3-8

Between the hashes: 21-26

Outside right hash: 6-13

Of their 47 passing attempts against Purdue, 26 were under 10 yard routes, 21 were over.

RB

Sophomore Toa Taua got the vast majority of the snaps against Purdue, while Kelton Moore and Jaxson Kincaide were used in reserve. Moore is the fireplug and Kincaide they worked in relief.

LT

Jake Nelson Most experienced OL Nevada has on the roster, the senior is the leader of the line.

LG

Aaron Frost The sophomore converted from defense to offense halfway through his freshman season.

C

Nathan Edwards Former walk-on who has worked his way into a starting role.

RT

Nate Brown Played both guard and tackle for Nevada in 2018.

RG

Miles Beach Converted tight end who started contributing as an offensive lineman last season.

The Wolfpack is not going to try to run that much against Oregon. When they do, it will mostly be the very athletic Toa Taua, who had 11 offers out of Lompoc (Calif.) in the class of 2018. He is a strong runner and good blocker.

When they did run against Purdue, it was almost always over the left tackle and guard. They did not execute this very well with only 54 yards to show for their 24 attempts over that side.

They ran to the right six times to slightly better success: 21 yards and a touchdown.

Nevada will try to attack the Oregon defense through the air. They will run more four-receiver sets than they do three, and when they have a tight end in the game he will mostly block. I would expect them to throw the ball about 75% of the time against the Ducks, and about half of those will be in the middle of the field.

When they run they will be heavy to the left side, but I would expect them to abandon the run pretty quickly if the game unfolds as expected.

For Andy Avalos and the Duck defense, the keys will be taking away the middle of the field from the Wolfpack passing game and clogging up the left side of the Nevada offensive line.