The Battalion sports editor Carter Karels spoke with Nevada Sagebrush sports editor Neil Patrick Healy about his predictions for the Texas A&M vs. University of Nevada game.
 
THE BATTALION: Who are the playmakers on both sides of the ball for Nevada?
HEALY: Offense is a little shaky. They lost a few offensive lineman last year and are really thin on the offensive line. We have a new starting quarterback. Our last starter Cody Fajardo graduated, but Tyler Stewart is an okay replacement. The offense runs through our running back Don Jackson, a senior out of Sacramento. He almost had 1,000 yards last year and he’s doing really well. He has about 240 yards so far throughout the season. Wide receiver Hasaan Henderson, he just eclipsed 1,000 career yards, and he came back from a spinal cord injury last year. There was no damage to his spinal cord, but there was trauma to his spinal cord. He was paralyzed for about a day. He’s really good, and he has some of the best hands I’ve seen. Our tight end Jarred Gipson — who’s a Houston kid — He’s on the Mackey watch list for tight ends around the nation. For defense, our front seven is solid. There are a lot of good players, especially on the defensive line. We have Ian Seau, who’s Junior Seau’s nephew, and he’s really good … Our secondary is pretty weak so you guys are probably going to expose that a lot. 
THE BATTALION: Nevada runs the pistol offense mostly. What can be expected out of that?
HEALY: Yeah, but the pistol has evolved so much. We run the pistol, and it was actually invented at Nevada by a former head coach [Chris Ault]. It hit its peak with Colin Kaepernick and a few other guys that went here. They still run the pistol but still run other stuff too. They go in and out of shotgun from what I can tell, but the pistol is still used a lot. 
THE BATTALION: What direction is head coach Brian Polian taking the Nevada football program?
HEALY: Polian is doing a good job in terms of modernizing the program. Ault was such an old school guy and it was his way with things staying the same. Polian is doing a good job appealing to the fans, like going out to the community. He’s jazzing up the uniforms too … In terms of actual coaching, he has potential and is really young. He’s a first-time head coach, so he’s learning on the job. In terms of play calling, I think he’s good. I worry about his recruiting, not because he doesn’t get guys, but a lot of guys have either left, transferred or retired. I think three of our offensive linemen started their career as walk-ons. He’s going out there and recruiting Texas and California really well, but he’s having bad luck in terms of keeping guys on campus. You know how every year there’s a scholarship thing where one or two walk-ons get a scholarship because there’s extra room? We have 10 of those … It’s a combination of bad luck and bad timing. I try to not judge him too much on that, but recruiting is the one thing I worry about. We’ll see. This is his third year, and I’m not judging him based off these two games. We got killed by an Arizona team that’s ranked and you guys are ranked. I’m going to judge it based on Mountain West play, because that’s where you know if he’s taking it the right way or not.
THE BATTALION: What weaknesses of the Wolf Pack can the Aggies take advantage of?
HEALY: A&M is known for airing the ball out and having an efficient, well spread out offense. Our secondary has four new starters. If you look up statistically, we have struggled in the secondary for years … Since you guys have such good, big wide receivers and air the ball out a lot, I think you guys will definitely take advantage of our weak secondary. Your defense is really good and has SEC speed. Our running back is good, but I don’t think our offensive line can stand up to your guys’ defensive line and front seven. You guys just have better athletes than we do. If you guys just do your due diligence, I think you guys will do more than fine. 
THE BATTALION: What are your final expectations?
HEALY: Texas A&M- 58, Nevada- 20.
I don’t think it’s going to be close, unfortunately. Nothing is impossible because anyone can beat anybody. Jacksonville State almost beat Auburn. Looking at the matchups, it’s difficult seeing Nevada hanging around. I think Nevada might put up some points, but you guys will put up way more. You guys struggle against the pass, and I don’t know how much of an improvement you guys have had in terms of pass defense. I think Tyler Stewart airs it out a little bit and gets a couple touchdown passes, but I don’t see it being close … If you guys did shut us out, that wouldn’t be super shocking. We lost so many guys from last year and our offensive line has some questions.