RENO, Nev. — Washington State’s football season, which already seemed to teeter with the opening loss last week to Rutgers, went further south here Friday night.

The Cougars turned in another slow start, once again showed a pulse in the second quarter, then fell short in every facet of the game in the second half, scoring a mere three points on the way to a 24-13 defeat against underdog Nevada.

Nevada took a 21-10 lead with 12:15 left after the Cougars misfired on drives deep into Wolf Pack territory in the third quarter. After the second one, the hosts marched 79 yards in 14 plays, getting a key, 22-yard third-down pass from Cody Fajardo to Hassan Henderson against cornerback Daquawn Brown.

Running back Don Jackson muscled it over from the 2, and the Wolf Pack had control of the game.

WSU came back and made it a one-score game on a 38-yard field goal by Quentin Breshears with 9:32 remaining, still plenty of time to steal the decision from the inspired Wolf Pack, which led 21-13 at that point. Breshears was inserted in place of starting kicker Erik Powell, who missed two field goals in the third quarter.

The Cougars’ defense wasn’t up to the task, and with 6½ minutes left, Fajardo tossed a post pass to the rangy Henderson, keeping a drive alive that kicker Brent Zuzo climaxed moments later with a 40-yard field goal at the 4:25 mark for the 24-13 lead.

WSU thus had to score twice, and never mustered anything resembling a threat.

Down 14-10 after a strong finish before the half, the Cougars found multiple frustration in the third quarter. They drove inside the Nevada 20 twice, but holding penalties by guards Eduardo Middleton and Gunnar Eklund pushed them back each time, and Powell missed on field-goal attempts, both inside the 40.

The first half had a Rutgers sort of feel to it, as WSU couldn’t get into an offensive rhythm early, blew three good scoring chances and Nevada took control and had a 14-10 halftime lead.

At that, the Cougars should have felt good. With Nevada ahead 14-0 and in possession in WSU territory, the Wolf Pack was in position to put the Cougars in a deep hole. But WSU turned back Nevada at the 43, took possession and turned the momentum.

Connor Halliday zinged first-down passes to Robert Lewis, Isiah Myers and Dom Williams, and Jamal Morrow contributed a 19-yard run. Finally, Halliday floated a fade pass covering 13 yards to Vince Mayle, and he made a fingertip catch in the end zone to cut the Nevada lead in half.

About a minute later, the WSU defense got the ball back for Halliday, who by now was getting hot. Four times on this drive, he found Myers on the right flank, the last to the Nevada 6, and WSU got to the 2 on a first-down run by Gerard Wicks.

But after a false-start penalty on center Riley Sorensen, Halliday threw incomplete, and then, looking for Williams in the end zone, overthrew him. Officials flagged cornerback Charles Garrett for mugging Williams but then picked up the flag and ruled the ball uncatchable. That forced WSU to settle for Powell’s 25-yard field goal to make it 14-10.

The Cougars had all sorts of early chances, but did nothing with them. On the Cougs’ first series, the Wolf Pack brought pressure and linebacker Jordan Dobrich sacked Halliday for a 15-yard loss, and Nevada safety Duran Workman tacked on another sack with WSU at the Nevada 35, forcing a punt.

WSU got to the Nevada 34 on its next series, but a deep fourth-down throw by Halliday went incomplete and the game stayed scoreless.

But on the next Cougar series, with the ball at the 50, Halliday threw weakly to his left sideline and freshman corner Kendall Johnson picked it off and took it 45 yards to the WSU 12, and four runs by Jackson later, Nevada had a 7-0 lead.

The Cougars then contributed heavily to their own problems on Nevada’s next series. First, they didn’t seem to get lined up defensively on time, and Fajardo recognized a gap up the middle and blew 55 yards to the WSU 8.

Before the touchdown drive was complete, WSU had chipped in with an offsides penalty and an end-zone pass-interference flag on Brown.

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com

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