Courtesy of Nevada

RENO, Nev. – Nevada offensive coordinator Matt Lubick was named this week’s nominee for the 2024 Capital One Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award, the FWAA announced.

Lubick, in his first season at Nevada and 30th year overall as a collegiate coach, has battled leukemia while helping to turn the Wolf Pack program around in its first year under head coach Jeff Choate.

Diagnosed with leukemia on Oct. 7, 2023, while a senior analyst with Kansas, Lubick underwent treatment at the Anschutz Center for Advanced Medicine in Aurora, Colo., going into remission two weeks into his treatment and undergoing a stem cell transplant in December 2023.

That same month, Lubick was named Nevada’s offensive coordinator by the newly-hired Choate. He worked remotely up until the start of Fall Camp, joining team meetings, running meetings with the Wolf Pack offense position groups and installing the offense via Zoom. In late July, Lubick joined the team in-person for the start of the team’s 2024 Fall Camp.

Since then, the transformation of the Wolf Pack offense has been obvious. Heading into Saturday’s game at Hawai’i, Nevada ranks in the national Top 10 in both red-zone offense (96.3 percent success rate) and third-down conversion rate (53.7). A season after scoring on just 80 percent of its red-zone trips overall with just 16 touchdowns, Nevada now ranks seventh in the country in red-zone efficiency, converting 26-of-27 trips including 23 touchdowns. After ranking last in the Mountain West in third-down efficiency, the Wolf Pack now ranks sixth in the country with a 53.7 conversion rate, a figure leading directly to its conference-best 32:34 time of possession. That TOP figure also ranks 16th in the country.

After also ranking last in the Mountain West in scoring and total offense, Lubick has the Wolf Pack offense improved to seventh and sixth in the conference, respectively, in 2024.

Quarterback Brendon Lewis is in the midst of a career season. On the year, Lewis has had a hand in just over half of the Wolf Pack’s 29 touchdowns (10 passing, five rushing), while completing a Mountain West-best 67.2 percent of his passes for 1,290 yards with 551 rushing yards. Among Mountain West quarterbacks, Lewis leads in rushing yards and completion percentage, ranks third in overall total offense (1,645 yards) and fourth in total offense per game (230.13 ypg).

Nevada visits Hawai’i this Saturday, with kickoff set for 9 p.m. PT.