At Least The Pack's Been to a Bowl Game Three Years in a Row

Thanks to our friend Jon for that one (yes, it was sarcasm).

Forever we'll be true to thee,
Our pride of all the West,
They fame we'll carry far and wide,
Our Alma Mater we love best;
Thy sons and daughters live for thee,
We're loyal and we're true,
We pledge eternaly our faith
To our Nevada U.

Fidelity enduring all
Shall never wane nor fall,
But stand the test of time and strife,
By weath'ring ev'ry storm and gale;
Our pride and joy in thee we trust,
Our hopes with thee will rest,
For our Nevada U to be
The greatest and the best.

--Fidelity by J. A. Aikin

I would think that the New Mexico Bowl would be an opportunity to prove the "weatherability" through the storms and gales which have been the 2007 Wolf Pack football season. Obviously, I was wrong. I did put my hopes with my pride and joy, I really did. It got me about as far as the walk-on program has gotten the Pack special teams.

I would like to take time to make a bit of a historical comparison, mainly because I'm a history nerd.

Let's take another trip in the Wayback Machine to December 11-15, 1862, and the town of Fredricksburg, Virginia. Appropriately enough, this is the site of the immortal Battle of Fredricksburg pitting Generals Robert E. Lee of the Army of Northern Virginia against Ambrose E. Burnside of the Army of the Potomac.

I'll spare the details about this bloody battle and get to the grit of the matter: Burnside was too old-fashioned and myopic, and the result was a Confederate victory so decisive that Lee had the chance to pursue the retreating Federals and crush them once and for all. Lee failed to do this effectively, but the Union loss at this battle was not only embarassing to the United States, but it put a lasting pall over Burnside's carreer.

Well, that's not the end for Burnside; after all, he was a Union general and he got there somehow. He performed reasonably well in East Tennessee, but when it came to the Overland Campaign he couldn't coordinate the attacks and refused to commit the bulk of his troops to direct frontal assaults. This seems, outwardly, that he's learning; at the battle of Antietam constant frontal assaults cost both sides dearly in a battle which was realistically a draw, but slightly more in favor of the Confederates than the Union. But one has to be able to adapt to the surroundings and the proverbial game of battle and this is where Burnside failed again.

Then came Petersburg. Burnside had this great idea to tunnel beneath Confederate entrenchments and detonate a large quantity of ordinance to break through the line. Great! Run it up the middle, break through the line and totally screw them. Of course the detonation created a gigantic crater in the Confederate lines, what would you expect? Now the dynamic was changed and the plan would have to be adapted; after all, one goes into the crater and then has to fight uphill to get out of it any way you look at it. So Burnside decided to go up the middle through the crater. In his defense he did have a division of African American troops trained for this mission which General Meade ordered to keep clear of the battle, but in the end would it have made a difference? Up the middle Burnside went and his troops became fish in a bucket with infantry fire raining down upon them like brimstone.

Postbellum he would go on to become the first president of the National Rifle Association.

So I guess this answers my question asked about six weeks ago: has the Little General turned from a "Fightin'" Joe Hooker into a George McClellan or an Ambrose Burnside?

There are so many comparisons to be made here, from his crushing failure at Fredricksburg (game 1 from the past four seasons) to East Tennessee (offensive predictability and special teams consideration) to the Battle of the Crater (pick something, I promise it will fit), and all of which relate to the New Mexico Bowl.

Okay, nerd moment over. I'll hand over the reigns to my comrade, I know he has a whole lot of statistical goodies and perhaps a colorful metaphor or two to add to this.

I know we've both been busy of late, but I think we have enough fodder now to last MONTHS!!!