JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Nevada players and coaches celebrated their victory over UCF in the Hawaii Bowl on Saturday at Aloha Stadium.

Extra suspense, but no extra point

O‘Leary was on target about the Hawaii Bowl’s exciting ending

George O'Leary was right.

And that was unfortunate for his Golden Knights.

O'Leary, UCF's second-year coach, predicted the outcome of Saturday's Sheraton Hawaii Bowl against Nevada would come down to the kicking game. And when Matt Prater's extra-point try to tie in overtime went wide right, it was a kick to the stomach of the Golden Knights, and the Wolf Pack won 49-48.

It was a stunning if anticlimactic end after 1,178 yards of offense in 4 hours and 5 minutes of some of the most exciting college football played at Aloha Stadium since the 2003 edition of this game, which Hawaii won in triple overtime.

That one ended with the infamous Fight Before Christmas -- or Melee Kalikimaka, take your pick -- as the Warriors and Houston Cougars tangled for several minutes before order was restored.

This time, a few of Prater's UCF teammates wanted to boot him into a trash can, the way Aaron Horne had deposited a football during the game (it was the best punt at Aloha Stadium since Craig Stutzmann kicked one into the crowd after his 2001 touchdown against BYU). But O'Leary -- who had Prater and other special-teams players running ragged in practice earlier in the week "for missing too many kicks" -- put a quick end to the lynch mob mentality. And Prater's teammates remembered that if not for his 46-yard field goal with 1:32 left in regulation, there would've been no OT.

"I just told them to stay together. It's not any one person's fault," O'Leary said. "It's a team game, the ultimate team game."

And that's why the Wolf Pack won.

It became evident early that the contest matched Nevada's unity and experience against UCF's talent and youthfulness.

The Golden Knights defensive backs were bigger and faster than Nevada running back B.J. Mitchell. That was very noticeable, because they continually had to chase down him and Robert Hubbard from behind after the freshman-dominated defense was out of position, or the UCF front simply collapsed under the pressure of Nevada's superior offensive line.

The Wolf Pack also dominated the line on defense -- when it had to, anyway.

UCF's Kevin Smith rushed for a Hawaii Bowl record 202 yards, but he turned into Silent Bob in the fourth quarter, with just three totes for 13 yards.

Undersized linebacker Roosevelt Cooks led Nevada with 16 tackles, several of them jarring, and the Wolf Pack got to UCF quarterback Steven Moffett for three sacks.

And Nevada freshman cornerback De'Angelo Wilson made a key interception in the fourth quarter to stop a Golden Knights drive. Wilson was a target all game because he replaced senior Kevin Stanley, who was sent home due to academic ineligibility.

Coach Chris Ault, in his 21st season as Nevada coach and a former Wolf Pack quarterback and athletic director, called it the best Nevada team, ever -- including the one he took to the NCAA Division I-AA national championship game.

With Dan Hawkins leaving for Colorado, is Nevada the Western Athletic Conference's new Boise State?

It's too early to tell. But with five practices and a win at Aloha Stadium in its collective memory, Nevada -- and not just local boy Caleb Spencer -- will have some good reasons to feel right at home when it visits Hawaii next season.