Tempers were short this week around Wolf Pack Park. When coaches get on players, it was with a little more gusto than a normal week.
You see, it's Nevada-UNLV week, and there is nothing normal about the week or the game. It's for bragging rights in the state, and it's for the famous Fremont Canon, the largest rivalry trophy in the United States.
"You're always more intense," Nevada co-defensive coordinator Barry Sacks said prior to Wednesday's practice. "The rivalry does that to you. Say rivalry and things intensify. There's a lot of tradition, and we want to uphold that tradition."
It's a rivalry that saw UNLV win five straight games before Nevada knocked off the Rebels 22-14 last season.
Nevada head coach Chris Ault has coached in 15 of the previous 31 games, and he's 8-7 against UNLV.
"There's all kind of tidbits," he said. "There are a bunch of things. The 1978 game when we beat them at home for the first time."
The Pack won 23-14 in 1978, and star running back Frank Hawkins carried the cannon through the airport before letting teammates take their turn with it.
If the Pack can make it two straight over UNLV, the Fremont Cannon will go back on the equipment truck no doubt.
Kenny Wilson, the Pack's assistant head coach, has been in plenty of rivalry games. He had to think for a few moments before offering an answer about his most memorable Nevada-UNLV game.
Wilson finally pointed to the 1996 game. Head coach Jeff Tisdel and the Pack rolled to a 54-17 win en route to a 9-3 record and a Big West Conference co-championship.
"We went down there and they changed the game time on us," Wilson said. "Jeff Horton (who spent one year as Nevada head coach and then defected to UNLV) changed it to an afternoon game. He was trying to wear us down.
"We were way ahead at halftime, and we had a chance to rest our starters in the second half. DeShone Myles and Mike Crawford played really well."
This is Sacks' fifth big game, and his favorite memory was last year's 22-14 win at Mackay Stadium, which snapped the aforementioned five-game losing streak.
"Last year, absolutely," Sacks said. "I never knew what it felt like; what it took. It was great for our seniors because it was their first win over UNLV. Some of them had seen the worst of the worst; a lot of the lows."
• UNLV coach Mike Sanford has taken some flack by referring to Nevada as "The team up North."
"The main purpose is to make everyone realize that this game is different than any other game, and this team we're playing is different than any other opponent. It's special, so we give them a special name. It helps, for us, to draw more attention to the game."
Sanford is no stranger to rivalry games. He was involved in the USC-UCLA rivalry, the Army-Navy game, Utah-BYU, USC-Notre Dame and the Raiders-Chargers.
"I was involved with the Commander In Chief trophy with the military academies, and the shillelagh with USC and Notre Dame," Sanford said. "I think this is the most special and historic because of the history of the state and John C. Fremont. The Fremont Cannon is an awesome trophy."
• Tonight's game will not be shown locally because CSTV has an exclusive contract with the Mountain West Conference. KREN tried to buy rights to the game, but was turned down.
I'm not sure that even Las Vegas residents get the mtn. network, which is part of CSTV. It looks to me like the Mountain West Conference made a mistake breaking away from ESPN.
The game will be heard on ESPN Radio 630 AM with Dan Gustin and Billy Daniel in the booth and Brian Samudio from Channel 4 acting as the sideline reporter.
• UNLV is 8-3 against teams currently in the Western Athletic Conference since leaving the conference after the 1988 season to join the MWC.
• Some big names have played in this rivalry and gone on to nice NFL careers including Nevada's Frank Hawkins, UNLV's Keenan McCardell, UNLV's Randall Cunningham, Nevada's Nate Burleson, Nevada's Henry Rolling and Nevada's Charles Mann.