RENO, Nev. — Nevada coach Chris Ault said Monday the Wolf Pack offense led by a powerful, improving front line is finally hitting on all cylinders just in time to host ninth-ranked and undefeated Boise State.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick was named the Western Athletic Conference's offensive player of the week after he ran for 147 yards and two touchdowns and completed 15-of-31 passes for 192 yards and another score in Saturday's 41-17 win over San Jose State.

It pushed him to 1,017 yards rushing to go with 1,841 yards passing on the season, joining Nevada running back Via Taua as Nevada's first 1,000-yard rushing tandem in school history.

Taua ran for 125 yards on Saturday to bring his total to 1,284 for the season as Nevada (6-4, 4-2 in the WAC) prepares for Saturday's 1:05 p.m. game against Boise State (10-0, 6-0 WAC) before closing the regular season at Louisiana Tech (6-4, 4-2 WAC).

"To have two players back there (with 1,000 yards), that's special," Ault said.

"Now, if we can just get (Kaepernick) to hit the guys who are wide open, we'll have a helluva deal going," he said, poking fun at the three times the sophomore signal-caller overthrew wide open receivers on Saturday. "That's three easy touchdowns we should have had."

While Kaepernick picked up the WAC's weekly honor for the second time this year, Nevada's own coaches selected center Dominic Green, a 6-foot-3, 295-pound senior, and guard Mike Gallett, a 6-foot-6, 295-pound sophomore, as the team's own co-players of the game — a tribute to the offensive line that is probably the best Ault has had since he returned to the sidelines in 2004 to begin his third stint as coach.

"When an offensive lineman gets player of the week, that's pretty special," Ault said at his weekly booster luncheon. He said Green, Gallett and the rest of the front line that goes by the nickname "The Union" are all "very, very mentally tough."

"These linemen, when you are talking to them on the sideline, it's eyeball to eyeball — they're sitting down of course — but it's eyeball to eyeball and their jaws are set. They've done a super job," he said.

Nevada enters Saturday's game the top rushing team in the nation averaging 325 yards per game. It is fifth in total offense (524 yards per game) and 13th in scoring (38.5 points per game).

Boise State counters with a defense that is giving up only 10.3 points per game, second only to No. 1 USC's 8.3 points per game. The Broncos rank 12th nationally in both the number of yards they give up on the ground (103 yards) and total defense (285 yards).

Besides averaging 101.7 yards rushing, Kaepernick has completed 141 of 244 pass attempts on the season (58 percent) with 14 touchdowns and only four interceptions. He's run for an additional 16 touchdowns — second on Nevada's all-time single season list. His favorite target has been wide receiver Marko Mitchell, a 6-foot-3 senior who has 46 catches for 785 yards and six TDs.

Ault has been pleased with Kaepernick's leadership on the field and said he's starting to become more of a passer than thrower.

"He really does have a gun" for an arm, Ault said. "The difference between a passer and a thrower is that passers have the ability to see and feel where the ball and the receiver are going to end up."

"Right now, Kap is throwing a little bit too much to the man or he is anticipating in front of him."

"Marko is a pretty good receiver. He can run by some people. We need those deep balls because it takes the pressure off the ground game," he said.

"But we are a sound running team, no question about it. We're a good play-action pass team. Had we connected on a few of those (long balls) it would have been real special."