Buh in, House out, Wilson still at large

This just in (four hours ago): the Wolf Pack defense (allegedly) loses another coach, although this time under more triste circumstances.

Dan Hinxman blogged this afternoon regarding the termination of Jim House, defensive tackles coach.  An unusual move, to be sure, for about the only bright spot on an otherwise dismal squad.  While no information is yet offered, we should know at or around 11:AM Thursday (01/07) morning.

House has/had served under four different Wolf Pack head coaches, including all three Ault regimes, between 1990-2001, then 2007-2009 (Ault [1990-1992], Horton [1993], Ault-squared [1994-1995], Tisdel [1996-1999], Tormey [2000-2001], and Ault-cubed [2007-]).

A bright spot on the dark side of the ball, though, is the hiring of new DC Andy Buh, returning to his alma mater after polishing up his resume at, well, Nevada, then Fresno State, San Diego State, California and, most recently, Stanford.

I was excited to see Burton come along, and I think he would have made great strides had he stayed on an extra three years or so.  That said, the Nevada defense wasn't exactly showing much more than baby steps, even after year two.  Buh is a solid hire with strong ties to our program and, so long as he doesn't get ruined by the regime, should be able to do good things.  He has spent three years at Stanford as linebackers coach and assistant DC, and while the results of the defensive platoon weren't exactly flashy (it is the PAC 10, after all), I expect good things to come.

Stanford Schedule/Results for the 2009 Season:
(PA reinforced in parenthesis)

8-5, 6-3 PAC 10, T-2nd
at Washington State (1-11, 0-9 PAC 10, 10th)
W 39 - 13 Sep 5, 2009 (13)

at Wake Forest (5-7, 3-5 ACC)
L 17 - 24 Sep 12, 2009 (24)

vs San Jose State (2-10, 1-7 WAC, T-7th [last place])
W 42 - 17 Sep 19, 2009 (17)

vs Washington (5-7, 4-5 PAC 10, 7th)
W 34 - 14 Sep 26, 2009 (14)

vs UCLA (7-6, 3-6 PAC 10, 8th)
W 24 - 16 Oct 3, 2009 (16)

at Oregon State (8-5, 6-3 PAC 10, T-2nd)
L 28 - 38 Oct 10, 2009 (38)

at Arizona (8-5, 6-3 PAC 10, T-2nd)
L 38 - 43 Oct 17, 2009 (43)

vs Arizona State (4-8, 2-7 PAC 10, 9th)
W 33 - 14 Oct 24, 2009 (14)

vs Oregon (10-3, 8-1 PAC 10, 1st)
W 51 - 42 Nov 7, 2009 (42)

at USC (9-4, 5-4 PAC 10, T-5th)
W 55 - 21 Nov 14, 2009 (21)

vs California (8-5, 5-4 PAC 10 T-5th)
L 28 - 34 Nov 21, 2009 (34)

vs Notre Dame (6-6, Ind.)
W 45 - 38 Nov 28, 2009 (38)

vs Oklahoma (8-5, 5-3 Big XII)
L 27 - 31 Dec 31, 2009 (31)

While all this is going on, Ken Wilson is running around somewhere.  Maybe the anonymous tipster got the coaches names mixed up?  My fingers are crossed.

Introducing: All-New Fire Chris Ault WEBMAIL!

That's right, we've finally added e-mail capability.  Yay!

Our collective e-mail is...

webkaiser@firechrisault.com

This may be a blessing or a curse, but at the very least it will help us to become even more interactive and that's a good thing, I think.  We will try to respond, except to death threats, as long as we can remember to check yet another e-mail account.

As seen here.

No, Virginia, there is no Santa Clause

Ault...refused to blame the loss on anything but poor football...

"They out-played us. They out-coached us. They did an excellent job."

The Pack also flat out gave up.

Neither the team, the staff, nor Ault himself (least of all), showed any tenacity in this game.  As is now famous in all of Wolf Packdom, on November 2, 1991 the Ault and the Wolf Pack lead the fans on the wild ride what would become the greatest comeback in NCAA history...midway through the third quarter.  In Hawai'i on Thursday it was clear that nobody believed, nobody cared, nobody was willing to try...after just the first drive of the second half.

Eventually Nevada found itself poised to score, and facing 4th down on the SMU 4 yard line the Pack elected to kick for 3 rather than attempt one last push.  This does not show the grit and/or tenacity of a champion or champions: this was desperation; desperation to save any kind of face, however small it may be.

And the buck stops with Ault.

This proves that Ault-cubed is not in the right place at the right time; he does not have the proper instrument at exactly the right point in history; and the Wolf Pack does not have the leader for the 21st century.  They gave up the game early, never finding the heart or the swagger to do anything about it, and when they finally had an opportunity to show some mettle they responded by 'backing out as gentlemen,' taking the easy road.

Throughout the season a number of us in fandom almost started to believe again through the 8-0 run that was the middle of the season.  There were some hiccups, but by and large it began to appear that the Pack was getting its proverbial 'stuff' together; that Nevada had yet a chance to make some real noise.  Now we know that, like a school-yard bully, the Pack was able to pick on and pound the smaller and weaker of the playground mercilessly (it was also nice of the Pat Hill Choke Train to arrive right on schedule this season...that helped, too), but can't keep up with the 6th graders at all.  This time they ran into the bathroom and hid until the bell rang.

Ault is a much older man now: this may not have been where he was ten, fifteen, twenty years ago, but it is where he is now.

Ault sees himself as...

but really he's more of a...

except in big games where he turns into...

The Almost End-Game...whatever, does anyone have any scotch?

I'm just taking a moment to say that I am so blind with agony that I have very little to say that wouldn't be littered with language that would shame the devil.

This game is a joke.

SMU is NOT GOOD!  C-USA is mediocre at best, and the Western Division was about as good at football as Grandma's beef gravy.  They're not Nevada Southern bad, but even if they played in the WAC it's doubtful that they'd be .500 this season.  They lost to Washington State, for the love of God!

AND NEVADA MADE THEM LOOK LIKE THE SECOND COMING!!!

The sad part is that SMU didn't beat the Wolf Pack with a superior game plan: they beat Nevada by just showing up and playing football.

Homer: Fffffffff.....
(loud organ blast)
Ned Flanders (next door): Well, that was the loudest profanity I've ever heard.

IT'S IN REVELATION, PEOPLE!!!

I'll try to put up post-game thoughts to-morrow, but I can't guarantee my sanity even by then.

Wow...

If Ault led the Army of the Potomac at Fredricksburg

The Almost Halftime Report

I'll get right to the point...this is a travesty.

I will point out that the officiating has definately had an effect in this game.  Jonathan Amaya was flagged for a facemask when he grabbed jersey; Brandon Wimberly was blocked about 20 yards past the line of scrimmage - no call.  And holding? you bet!  It's bad...really bad.

But it is obvious that this team is completely unprepared or just flat out not ready for this game.  They appear as if they're trying to run drills and expect that to stop a team who was obviously prepared for the game and ravenous for the attack.

They look like lemmings.

Now there is no denying where the buck stops (AULT), but there is actually someone else whos thurough incompetence would dumbfound even Alexander Samsonov: Ken Willson.

If SMU is Germany and Nevada is Czarist Russia.

I forgot to mention this in the last post; I completely forgot that, of all the losses the Pack has felt in the past few weeks, losing Nigel Burton and re-inserting Wilson as DC was, possibly, THE difference maker in this game.

There was a reason why Wilson was promoted out of the DC role before: he is a complete failure.

What is it with you and failure?

But the good-ol'-boy system is alive and well, and rather than eliminating an egregiously weak link Wilson was made the assistant head coach, drawing a salary while having little if any real influence.

Now there's no excuse: Wilson needs to be run out of town blindfolded and tied backwards to a horse while we season ticket holders get to throw blunt objects and rotten fruit, mostly blunt objects...and spit.  Lots and lots of spit.

But the buck does stop with Ault, and he should have known better; for that matter, he should have done the right thing and cast off Wilson two years ago.

Ault is no Harry Truman, though.

Thanks, guys, you've ruined Christmas.

And you've made SMU look like frickin' Texas.

Eat 'em up, eat 'em up...

Here we go; with kickoff just twenty two hours away, or thereabouts, it's last pre-game posting time.  I thought my comrade would add just one, but...c'est la vie.

So far everything I've heard from everywhere and anywhere about this game is that it should be one high-scoring sockfest, and there really is no evidence to the contrary.  But there seems to be nearly unanimous concord amongst would-be prognosticators: Mustangs goin' down.  Reading the ESPN Bottom Line a few moments ago Nevada was shown to be the favorite of 91% of the replying pollsters.

Although the story of the game, for some reason, is June Jones returning to Hawai'i; not Ault, not Kaep, a little of the prolific, Flanders-style rushing attack, but mostly Jones returning to face his former fans.  Not that it's not a nice footnote, but it really is something of an aside in the issue: an SMU team, once glorious, long hapless, tastes some success for the first time since 1986 (6-5-0), 1985 (6-5-0), and 1984 (10-2-0) not including the 6-6 season in 2006 or the no-team years 1987-1988; Nevada's historic year of sorts; Ault being Ault, good or bad; &c. &c.

But the Pack is the universal favorite in spite of recent setbacks faced by the Wolf Pack, many of which most people haven't seemed to notice or care about.  The announcement regarding Taua and his incredulous accademic record came out this past weekend, but those happy few discussing this game continue to include him in their synopses.  Now the suspension/expulsion of Messrs. Willson and Davis...the lumps seem to keep coming; almost like a Higher Power exerting influence in order to beleaguer the beloved Wolf Pack; I'm pretty sure that this sort of smiting is what happened to men's basketball vs. Nevada Southern last month.

Yet, regardless of the influence of a few bad eggs, mistakes, injuries, or Vinz Clortho, I believe that it will take Ault harnessing every ounce of his storied bowl-choking powers to blow this game.  Not because Nevada can be that dominating, which I believe it can, but, really, what can SMU do about it?

The "bend but don't break" pass defence worked well enough against Fresno State (who is a better team then SMU, might I add), allbeit with a little fairy dust from the officials.  I think that SMUs passing game should be similar: fairly gaudy numbers, but with a disproportionately small showing of points.

I mentioned this in an earlier post, but it deserves a refresher:
SMU-
PF: 335 PA: 349 Dif: -14
Nevada-
PF: 487 PA: 326 Dif: +161
Dif-
PF: Nevada +152 PA: Nevada -23

And at running back, the Pack has Mark getting the start, backed up by fan favorite Mike Ball and Courtney Randall:

Lampford Mark-
Carries: 44 Yards: 286 YPC: 6.5 Long: 23 (TD) TD: 3
Mike Ball-
Carries: 19 Yards: 201 YPC: 10.6 Long: 89 (TD) TD: 5
Courtney Randall-
Carries: 20 Yards: 149 YPC: 7.5 Long: 57 TD: 3

Ball definately has the capability of rushing for 100+; the other two probably would if presented with the opportunity.  These three on their own will account for the offense being able to dust off and open up the old Air Wolf.  Not saying that Kaep will pass for gaudy numbers, but he can, and we actually have receivers who can, you know, CATCH THE BALL!

Long story short, Nevada can't 'stop' SMU anymore than France can 'stop' the German Empire, but they sure can slow them down.  On the open field Nevada should be able to win; if this game goes down into the trenches then the Wolf Pack has the decided advantage.

Let's go, Pack!  Despite the indicators, though, Pack fans everywhere should knock on every piece of wood they can find to help dispel lingering bowl tradition.

Upcoming articles for the off-season:
Season Statistical Review
Introducing Ourselves to the New Public Enemy #1 (can HE translate 1-AA success into FBS winnage?)
A Look at California-Nevada All-time Series

Just for Google:  Bobby Hauck is Public Enemy #1, may he suffer horrific indignity.

Nevada vs. SMU: All-Time Football Data

Nevada (8-4, 7-1 WAC) vs. Southern Methodist (7-5, 6-2 C-USA), Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, December 24, 2009.

These two teams had no history with one another prior to Nevada joining forces with the Western Athletic Conference for the 2000 season, and have not played one another since the Mustangs jumped ship for Conference USA (how's that workin' out?!).  The Wolf Pack leads this series with three wins sandwiched between two losses; Chris Ault is 0-1 vs. SMU.

For the record, Nevada is 3-6 and Chris Ault is 1-4 all-time vs. June Jones, all while Jones served as the head coach at Hawai'i.

Scoring vs. SMU:
Nevada: 98 SMU: 88 (Nevada +10)
Nevada PPG: 19.6
SMU PPG: 17.6

Scoring vs. Jones:
Nevada: 258 Jones: 313 (Jones +55)
Nevada PPG: 28.666666666666666666666666666667
Jones PPG: 37.777777777777777777777777777778

Scoring Ault-led Nevada vs. Jones-led Hawai'i:
Ault-Nevada: 155 Jones-Hawai'i: 183 (Jones-Hawai'i +28)
Ault-Nevada PPG: 31
Jones-Hawai'i PPG: 36.6

The Series:

October 28, 2000
Southern Methodist: 21 vs. Nevada: 7

November 3, 2001
Nevada: 35 vs. Southern Methodist: 14

November 2, 2002
Nevada: 24 at Southern Methodist: 6

September 27, 2003
Nevada: 12 vs. Southern Methodist: 9

November 13, 2004
Southern Methodist: 38 vs. Nevada: 20

The series vs. Jones (Ault-coached games denoted with an asterisk):

November 11, 2000
at Jones-Hawai'i: 37 Nevada: 17

September 22, 2001
at Nevada: 28 Hawai'i: 20

October 12, 2002
at Jones-Hawai'i: 59 Nevada: 34

November 15, 2003
at Nevada: 24: Hawai'i 14

October 9, 2004*
at Jones-Hawai'i: 48 Nevada: 26

November 5, 2005*
at Nevada: 38 Hawai'i: 28

October 7, 2006*
at Jones-Hawai'i: 41 Nevada: 34

November 16, 2007*
Jones-Hawai'i: 28 at Nevada: 26

October 25, 2008*
at Jones-Hawai'i: 38 Nevada: 31

By the way, this is Stalin; non sequitur? Fire Chris Ault? NEVER!

Opponent Comparisons

Nevada and SMU have no common opponents...wah!  There are, however, FIVE SMU opponents with the Nevada connection in 2009, so we do have that going for us around here.

Washington State:
Defeated SMU 30-27 in overtime at home on September 19, 2009 for their only win of the season.
Lost to Hawai'i 20-38 at home on September 12, 2009.

Texas Christian:
Defeated SMU 39-14 at home on October 3, 2009.
Defeated Colorado State 44-6 at home on October 17, 2009.
Defeated UNLV 41-0 at home on October 31, 2009; happy Nevada Day, Nevada Southern!?
Will play Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on January 4th, 2010.

Navy:
Defeated SMU 38-35 in overtime at SMU on October 17, 2009.
Defeated Louisiana Tech 32-14 at home on September 12, 2009.
Defeated Notre Dame 23-21 at Notre Dame on November 7, 2009.
Lost to Hawai'i 24-17 at Hawai'i on November 28, 2009.
Will play Missouri in the Texas Bowl on December 31, 2009.

Tulsa:
Lost to SMU 13-27 at SMU on October 31, 2009.
Lost to Boise State 21-28 at home on October 14, 2009.

UTEP:
Lost to SMU 31-35 at SMU on November 14, 2009.
Defeated New Mexico State at NMSU 38-12 on September 19, 2009.

Southern Methodist went 2-3 versus these teams, and these teams collectively went 5-3 against 2009 Nevada opponents.

SMU vs. these teams:
PF: 138 PA: 151 Dif: -13

More to come...hoo-ray; 12 days 'til game day!

We meet again, Dr. Jones.

Boy, having this much time away from Wolf Pack football makes things somewhat more difficult when you have to get back into the swing of things, but here goes nuthin'.  Prepare for the Mustangs!

I hope everyone is having a very safe Pearl Harbor Day; while I was traveling down Virginia Street this morning I was almost hit head on by an elderly gentleman, who possibly served at Cantigny although I can't be certain, driving a behemoth of a truck who, when he tired of traveling behind a car driving a sane speed, swung out into the oncoming traffic in order to pass, nearly hit me, and in the process was nearly plowed out of life by a bus.  It's not often we get a snow like this one, so please drive safe for my sake and yours.

I guess we have plenty of time to delve into most of this SMU business, so we won't hit it all at once.  Besides, we want people to keep checking in, right...am I right!?

*cough*

Anyway, let's look at SMU.  The Mustangs finished second in their division (West) of Conference USA with a 6-2 conference record; overall Jones and crew went 7-5.  Their season record is as follows:

September 9, 2009 (W)
SMU: 31 vs. Stephen F. Austin: 23
(SFA is out of the FCS Southland Conference, where they finished 6-1, 10-3 overall.)

September 12, 2009 (W)
SMU: 35 at UAB: 33
(UAB finished 5-7, 4-4 in CUSA, for 5th place in the East Division.)

September 19, 2009 (L)
Washington State: 30 vs. SMU: 27 (OT)
(Washington State finished 1-11 and only scored more than 20 points twice [once vs. Hawai'i]; here's that single win.)

October 3, 2009 (L)
TCU: 39 vs. SMU: 14
(TCU, from the MWC, finished undefeated and is facing Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.  Need I say more?)

October 10, 2009 (W)
SMU: 28 vs. East Carolina: 21
(East Carolina finished 9-4, 7-1 in CUSA, and defeated Houston for the conference crown; here is that once conference loss.)

October 17, 2009 (L)
Navy: 38 at SMU: 35 (OT)
(Navy is 8-4 with their game vs. Army still pending, including wins over Notre Dame, Delaware, and, well, SMU, and a losses to Ohio State [27-31], Pitt, Temple, and Hawai'i.)

October 24, 2009 (L)
Houston: 38 vs. SMU: 15
(Houston finished 7-5, 6-2 in CUSA, first place in the West Division, and losing to East Carolina 32-38 in the conference championship game.)

October 31, 2009 (W)
SMU: 27 at Tulsa: 13
(Tulsa finished 5-7, 3-5 CUSA, 4th place in the West Division; the Golden Hurricane blew [and I really mean that] through most of October and November accumulating 6 consecutive losses before defeating a really bad Memphis team 33-30 in OT to close out the season.)

November 7, 2009 (W)
SMU: 31 vs. Rice: 28
(Rice finished 2-10, 2-6 in CUSA, 5th place in the West Division.)

November 14, 2009 (W)
SMU: 35 vs. UTEP: 31
(UTEP finished 4-8 overall, 3-5 in CUSA for third place in the hapless West Division.)

November 21, 2009 (W)
Marshall: 34 vs. SMU: 31
(Marshall finished 6-6 overall, 4-4 in CUSA for fourth place in the East Division and a bowl bid.)

November 28, 2009 (W)
SMU: 26 vs. Tulane: 21
(Tulane is really, really bad.  They finished 3-9 overall, 1-7 in CUSA for dead last in the West Division.)

SMU-
PF: 335 PA: 349 Dif: -14
Nevada-
PF: 487 PA: 326 Dif: +161
Dif-
PF: Nevada +152 PA: Nevada -23

What Sagarin has to say:

56 Nevada     A = 73.61 W- 8 L-4 Schedule=66.95(82) vs. Top 10: 0-1 vs. Top 30: 0-1
ELO CHESS=71.98  61
PREDICTOR=74.82  53

88 SMU         A = 66.24 W-7 L-5 Schedule=65.91(90) vs. Top 10: 0-1 vs. Top 30: 0-1
ELO CHESS=70.19 69
PREDICTOR=62.19 103

By Conference
9 WESTERN ATHLETIC (FBS) Mean = 66.35 Simple = 66.74 Average = ( 9)  Teams = 9
10 CONFERENCE USA (FBS) Mean = 64.83 Simple = 64.69 Average = ( 10) Teams = 12

More on this later.

Nevada Wolf Pack Opponent Scores/Records through November 29th, 2009

This week's results, sans the smart-aleckery:

Notre Dame (6-6) lost to Stanford (8-4, 6-3 PAC 10) 38-45 on the road.

Colorado State (3-9, 0-8 MWC) lost to Wyoming (6-6, 4-4 MWC) 16-17 at home.

Missouri (8-4, 4-4 Big XII) defeated Kansas (5-7, 1-7 Big XII) 41-39 at home.

UNLV (5-7, 3-5 MWC) defeated San Diego State (4-8, 2-6 MWC) 28-24 at home.

Utah State (4-8, 3-5 WAC) defeated Idaho (7-5, 4-4 WAC) 52-49 on the road.

Idaho (7-5, 4-4 WAC) lost to Utah State (4-8, 3-5 WAC) 49-52 at home.

Hawai'i (6-6, 3-5 WAC) defeated Navy (8-4) 24-17 at home.

San Jose State (2-9, 1-6 WAC) defeated New Mexico State (3-9, 1-6 WAC) 13-10 at home.

New Mexico State (3-9, 1-6 WAC) lost to San Jose State (2-9, 1-6 WAC) 10-13 on the road.

Not including the Nevada-Boise State game, Nevada opponents are 5-4 for the week ending November 28th, 2009 while two teams, LaTech and Fresno State, remained idle.  I can't remember the last time that the teams had a winning record for the week, and I really don't feel like doing the research right now to see if and/or when it happened.  Four teams played each other, Utah State at Idaho, and New Mexico State at San Jose State.

Overall, Nevada opponents are 35-48; out of conference opponents are 22-26.

One more week!

December

The twelfth month is nigh upon us; with it comes the end of the belovéd Wolf Pack's regular football season, and it with no small degree of melancholy, although there is the bowl game forthcoming.

I think we'll wait until Sunday to write in any depth about the Boise State game; it goes without saying that the first quarter was a dissapointment.

An even bigger dissapointment, by my reckoning, was watching the Broncos go for two on their second touchdown; statement made, Peterson.

Come-uppance next year?  I sure hope so, someone has to step up and take Boise State down a peg.

Good luck to the Pack in the post season!

For the record, the new banner is meant to commemorate the 1914 Christmas Truce.

He went for two...against Belgium!

Nevada vs. Boise State Common Opponents 2009

Louisiana Tech:
     Nevada vs. Louisiana Tech, October 9, 2009
                  1   2   3   4   T
     NEV:     14   3  13  7  37
     LaTech: 7    0   7   0  14

     Boise State at Louisiana Tech, November 6, 2009
                  1   2   3   4   T
     BSU:     13  14  3  15  45
     LaTech: 7   0  14  14  35

Utah State:
     Nevada at Utah State, October 17, 2009
                  1    2   3   4   T
     NEV        0  14  7  14  35
     USU        7  14  3   8   32

     Boise State at Utah State, November 21, 2009
                   1   2   3   4   T
     BSU        7  28  10  7  52
     USU        7   7   7   0  21

Idaho:
     Nevada vs. Idaho, October 24, 2009
                   1   2   3   4   T
     NEV        14 14  21 21 70
     IDHO       0  24  14 7  45

     Boise State vs. Idaho, November 14, 2009
                   1   2   3   4   T
     BSU       21  21 14  7  63
     IDHO      7  10   0  8  25

Hawai'i:
     Nevada vs. Hawai'i, October 31, 2009
                  1   2   3   4   T
     NEV:      7  14  7   3   31
     HAW:    14  0  0   7   21

     Boise State at Hawai'i, October 24, 2009I
                  1   2   3   4   T
     BSU:     10  24 10 10  54
     HAW:    0    0   2   7   9

San Jose State:
     Nevada at San Jose State, November 8, 2009
                  1   2   3   4   T
     NEV:      6  28  14 14  62
     SJSU:     0   0   0   7   7

     Boise State vs. San Jose State, October 31, 2009
                  1   2   3   4   T
     BSU:      7  17  14  7  45
     SJSU:     0   7   0   0   7

Fresno State:
     Nevada vs. Fresno State, November 14, 2009
                  1   2   3   4   T
     NEV:     10  14 14 14  52
     FSU:     14   0   0   0  14

     Boise State at Fresno State, September 18, 2009
                  1   2   3   4   T
     BSU:      10 14 10 17  51
     FSU:       0  17 10  7  34

In those six games:
     Nevada:
          PF-287 PA-133 (dif. +154 )
     Boise State:
          PF-310 PA-131 (dif. +179)
     Dif. between the two:
          PF-BSU +23
          PA-BSU -2
          Dif.-BSU +25

Data courtesy of espn.com.

Nevada Wolf Pack Opponent Scores/Records through November 21th, 2009

Almost forgot this week...sorry.

Notre Dame (6-5) lost to Connecticut (5-5) 30-33 in OT at home.
Wow.  Just...wow.

Colorado State (3-8) lost to New Mexico! (1-10) 27-29 on the road.
CSU's last win...yep, still Nevada at home; this was also UNMs ONLY win so far this season!!!

Missouri (7-4) defeated Iowa State (6-6) 34-24 at home.
The Tigers achieve bowl eligibility by getting their proverbial stuff together against some mediocre Big XII competition.

Louisiana Tech (3-8) lost to Fresno State (7-4) 28-30 on the road.
LaTech is just bad enough to help Pat Hill avoid his patented late-season choke maneuver...this time.

Utah State (3-8) lost to Boise State (11-0) 21-52 at home.
At least the Broncos did what they were supposed to in Logan.

Hawai'i (5-6) defeated San Jose State (1-9) 17-10 in OT on the road.
Can you believe that Hawai'i can still screw one WAC bowl contender?  Although with home games against Navy and Wisconsin that chance is spotty at best.

San Jose State (1-9) lost to Hawai'i (5-6) 10-17 at home.
I still say Dick Tomey deserves better.

Fresno State (7-4) defeated Louisiana Tech (3-8) 30-28 at home.
Meh.

So, not including the Nevada-NMSU sleepover down at the Aggie Playpen, Nevada opponents are 3-5 for the week ending November 21, 2009; two former opponents played each other, and two were bye (UNLV and Idaho).

Overall, Nevada opponents are 30-44; OOC opponents are 20-24.

Earning His Comp Car?

So says Pat Forde at ESPN:

Coach Who Earned His Comp Car This Week
Nevada's Chris Ault (36), whose team was 0-3 heading into October -- and a pretty bad 0-3 at that, outscored by 60 points. Since then the Wolfpack is 8-0, having scored 50 or more points five times. Nevada will pose a worthy test for unbeaten Boise State on Friday night on the blue turf.

That said... we're not North Carolina State, Mr. Forde. It's "Wolf Pack" here. Just don't ask why that's the case, seeing as there are, far as I know, no wolves in Nevada. There was, however, a former NC State coach by the name of Buck Shaw who briefly served as a line coach at Nevada; considering how small Nevada was at the time, it wouldn't be terribly surprising if Shaw was able to convince people to change the team's name from the original "Sagebrushers" to something that sounded a little tougher.

Not Quite As Topical As It Was Two Months Ago

Bronco Nation says we're "not quite as topical as [we were] two months ago". Frankly, I have to agree. To Ault's credit, the Wolf Pack has really come alive over the past month and a half. The question on our minds, however, is this:

Is it because our team is that good, or is it because the WAC is that bad?

The answer to that question, of course, is YES. Our team is getting better. The offense is playing to our personnel strengths by focusing on the running game, which is a development I already spoke in favor of not too long ago. On the other hand, outside of us, Fresno State and Boise State, the WAC is bad. How bad? According to Sagarin's latest computer rankings, the WAC is ranked behind the Mountain West and ahead of Conference USA. This doesn't sound too bad until you remember that Boise State tilts the average substantially in the WAC's favor.

To help drive the point home, here are the team-by-team rankings for us, Conference USA, and the MAC:

Western Athletic Conference
8 Boise State
52 Fresno State
56 Nevada
78 Idaho
89 Louisiana Tech
109 Hawaii
110 Utah State
137 San Jose State
157 New Mexico State

Conference USA
41 Houston
54 East Carolina
62 Central Florida
65 Southern Miss
72 Marshall
80 SMU
96 UAB
97 Tulsa
125 UTEP
129 Memphis
140 Rice
141 Tulane

Mid-American Conference
45 Central Michigan
58 Temple
83 Ohio University
85 Bowling Green
87 Northern Illinois
107 Buffalo
112 Kent State
114 Western Michigan
116 Toledo
132 Akron
146 Miami-Ohio
164 Ball State
184 Eastern Michigan

Look at the numbers for a second. If you take Boise State out of the equation, our Sagarin ranking drops from 65.78 down to 63.84, which puts us several points below Conference USA (65.21) and just above the MAC (61.19). In other words, Nevada has been chewing up yardage and securing several NCAA rushing records against one of the weakest conferences in college football.

That said, we have been chewing up yardage. If we were as bad as the rest of the conference, we wouldn't be blowing them out 52-14 or 63-20. If our defense wasn't improving, we wouldn't have kept our opponents under 21 points in each game in November. Folks, yes, this team is putting up impressive scores against some truly awful teams, but they are putting up impressive scores. You don't do that unless you're actually halfway decent.

So, how do I think we'll do against Boise State? Good question, and it's one that's keeping some Bronco fans up at night, too. Boise State is, in many respects, in the same position we're in, only without the ugly non-conference losses that we suffered. Are they any good? Are we? Nobody really knows because neither team has played anyone that couldn't pass for a Sun Belt team in months. I mean, Buffalo would help either of our team's strengths of schedule more than the bottom third of the WAC. Think about that for a minute.

Personally, I think this game will be close. Ault fired Tormey so many years ago because Tormey's Pack didn't perform against Boise State; consequently, Ault has made it his personal mission to prove that, unlike Tormey, his teams won't quit when facing the Broncos. This approach has paid off pretty well - the past two Nevada-Boise State games were rather close, with Kaepernick's coming out party occurring in Boise in quadruple-overtime two years ago. That said, I think this game is going to provide somebody with a reality check. Since this is FireChrisAult.com, and since Boise State is not afraid to throw the ball, guess who I think will receive it?

Boise State 49, Nevada 35