I'm not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. I know this may shock and appall some of you to hear, but it's true. In spite of what I can often convince myself of, I especially don't know what goes into running a successful collegiate athletic department. I suspect it's a lot like dating multiple women at once or running a drug ring in that it looks like heaps of fun from the outside, but is actually much harder than it looks once you go into it at the ground level.
I can imagine the same is true for crafting a football schedule. Today's mid- to lower-level BCS team at the time an agreement is signed could become tomorrow's Top 15 behemoth when the actual game rolls around. There's a certain amount of calculated risks that must be taken to put together the ideal slate of games. It must be logically structured for the sake of helping your team to realize its full potential. It certainly should NOT consist of stepping out for weekly tilts against top-level competition early in the year without a reprieve of any kind. Who would ever put together a schedule like that? Even I know that would be profoundly stupid.
That's why I'm devoting this entry to a few teams I'd like to see the Pack play a series with in the future. They're not arranged in any particular order and no matter how much rationalizing I may do, the ultimate criterion for putting them on here is still "Because I want to, consarn it!".
Tulsa
They're two time zones apart and it probably wouldn't make much sense logistically for either team, but in Pistol Whipping Land I am the Dictator for Life. In spite of their coaches constantly getting poached, Tulsa's been a very solid team the last few years -- particularly on offense -- and I think it'd be a fun series.
Utah
Here's a series I've wanted to see happen since before their Pac-12 invitation came down. Utah has the kind of athletic program that Nevada should seek to emulate, be it the BCS bowl wins in football or the Final Four appearances in basketball. And it'd be a pretty easy trip for fans of both teams as well. For Utah, at least, it would also make a lot more sense than another series with San Jose State would.
TCU
The only meeting between the Horned Frogs and Wolf Pack was back in 2000 and...it didn't go well. And as far as resources, fan support and on-field success go, TCU is still a good deal farther ahead of Nevada eleven years later. But as Nevada's recruiting presence in Texas begins to increase, it would make sense to try to get a series or two with some Texas teams, even if their mascot does resemble a freakish Pokemon/human hybrid like Super Frog here.
Ole Miss
Would Nevada have a shot at beating an SEC team on the road? Couldn't tell you. Would an SEC team even agree to a series with a team from the Mountain West in the first place? I have no idea. The only reason I put the Rebels on this list is for the selfish reason of wanting to see the pre-game experience that is The Grove. It's been talked about and ballyhooed so much across college football that it's gotten to the point where I feel like I HAVE to see it for myself. And I'm just talking about the tailgating that goes on there -- no distracting scenery for this blogger. None whatsoever. No sir. None at all.
Stanford
Why the hell hasn't this series happened yet?! It's not the fact that they've only played each other thirteen times, or the fact that all of them have been in California, or even the fact that the last game between these teams was in 1931 -- it's the principle of the matter, damn it! Especially in this time of high travel expenses, quality teams that are four hours apart have no business avoiding each other like they have the Plague. If Cal can afford to come down out of their trees and grace us Renoites with their smelly presence, then so can the Robber Barons!
No comments:
Post a Comment