This game makes me very nervous.  Nevada has a talented team that has played horrific football in its first two games and now comes home with its back against the wall.  The Tigers have a young team playing in its first true road game in fron of a national audience on ESPN.  Hopefully, the Bowling Green wake-up call is not yet a distant memory and the Tigers have not started looking forward to the clash with Nebraska just yet.   As the season starts to get a little more interesting, so do the weekly stats to ponder . . .

Stats to Ponder

2 – Nevada was picked 2nd in the WAC preseason poll by both the coaches and the media behind Boise State.

6 - Nevada Head Coach Chris Ault is 6th in victories amongst active coaches with a 198-93-1 record.  He is one of only 4 active coaches who are already in the College Football Hall of Fame.  Ault created the Pistol Offense, which is a hybrid of the traditional shotgun and single back offenses. In the Pistol Formation, the QB lines up three yards behind the center, and the running back lines up one yard directly behind the quarterback (four yards behind the center).  Alabama and Baylor are two of the teams using the Pistol for the first time this season.

8 – Nevada has already committed 8 turnovers in just two games while forcing zero turnovers.  A recipe for success this is not.

9 - Nevada has played in 9 bowl games.  The first took place in 1948 when the Wolf Pack defeated the North Texas Teachers College in the Salad Bowl.  You make fun, but the Salad Bowl was a precursor to the current Fiesta Bowl.

19 - Nevada currently holds a 19-15 series lead against arch rival UNLV. These two schools are bitter rivals.  In addition, they are two of the few schools that play in stadiums where alcohol is sold during games.  The result is that they have a long history of student fights in the stands.  Sometimes the fights spill over onto the field.  In 1995, UNLV players allegedly started a pre-game brawl, which prompted the Wolf Pack to run up the score in their 55-32 victory. After the game, UNLV player Quincy Sanders threw his helmet in the direction of Nevada athletic director and head coach Chris Ault. The two schools battle annually on the gridiron for the Fremont Cannon, the largest and most expensive trophy in college athletics.  The Fremont Cannon was first awarded in 1970.  As the cannon was undergoing $1,500 in restoration in 2000, UNLV officials found inscriptions inside the cannon, including “University of Notta Lotta Victories.”

Photo by Ryan Jerz

35 - Coach Ault engineered the greatest comeback in NCAA Division 1 history in 1991, when his team erased a 35 point deficit of 49-14 in the 3rd quarter to defeat Weber State 55-49.   In contrast, the historic comeback we saw the Tigers make against Bowling Green earlier this year was only the 3rd time in Mizzou’s history that the Tigers overcame a measly 14 point second half deficit to get a win. 

99 - Nevada’s Pat Brady holds the record for the longest punt in college football history with his 99-yard punt against Loyola Marymount on October 28, 1950. It is obviously a record that can only be matched, not broken.

173 – Combined, the Nevada coaching staff has amassed 173 years of collegiate coaching experience, 98 years of which has occurred at Nevada.

221.26 – Blaine Gabbert’s passing rating is #1 in the Big 12.  His passing rating of 221.26 in the second half of games played thus far is #1 in the nation.  Chase who?

651 – In last year’s game, the Tigers gained 651 total yards and averaged a healthy 10 yards per play.  Wolf Pack fans recall how Mizzou scored on a fake field goal in the second half long after the game was already out of reach.  Nevada fans have been circulating the following image all week as a reminder of the indignities suffered at the Zou last season.

1000 - QB Colin Kaepernick became the 5th player in college football history to throw for over 2,000 yards and run for over 1,000 yards in a single season.   He joined Woody Dantzler (2001), Vince Young (2005), Dan LeFevour (2007) and the greatest of them all – Brad Smith (2002 and 2005).

1923 – The greatest game ever played by Nevada took place in 1923, when the Division 1-AA Wolf Pack tied the mighty California Bears 0-0.  At the time, Cal was in the midst of a 50 game non-losing streak from 1920 to 1925 and had won national titles in 1920, 1921 and 1922.  This game kept Cal from winning a national title in 1923 and is considered to be one of the biggest upsets in the history of college football.

1966 – The first game played in Nevada’s Mackay Stadium was in 1966.  In that game, QB Chris Ault led the Pack to a 17-13 victory.  In his 25 years as head coach, Ault has led the team to a 133-33-1 record in their home stadium.  Mackay stadium only held 7,500 fans when it opened, but it now holds 30,000 people after several expansions.  Did I mention that they also serve beer there?

1994 – Mizzou is 7-0-1 against the WAC all-time with its only non-win taking place against Hawaii in 1994.  In that game, Mizzou had a 25-24 lead late in the game when DE Steve Pedrotti intercepted a pass.  Instead of falling on the ball to let the offense run out the last 1:29 on the clock, he promptly ran it back for a touchdown to take the Tiger lead to 32-24.  Unfortunately, Hawaii got the ball back and scored a quick touchdown followed by the two point conversion to tie the game.  The 1990s were so painful for Tiger fans.

1995 – Coach Pinkel’s 40-37 overtime victory over Nevada in 1995 while coaching Toledo was the first overtime game played in Division 1.

20,000 – The first 20,000 fans at Mackay Stadium will receive white rally towels to go along with their favorite white Wolf Pack shirt for what is being dubbed a “White-Out.”  Here are some of my favorite “White-Outs.”

Nothing says class more than Rick Pitino dressed up as a pimp.

Kate Beckinsale should be in movies that require her to run around in bikinis, not snow suits.  The movie “White Out” was stupid.

I suspect that the Wolf Pack is striving to match the White-Outs seen in Happy Valley.  They are truly a wonder to behold.