Joe Santoro
How does No. 45 sound, Nevada Wolf Pack football fans?
That's where Sports Illustrated has the Wolf Pack ranked nationally in its College Football Preview issue this week. The magazine has Florida ranked No. 1 and Boise State in the No. 9 slot, right between Alabama (No. 8) and Ohio State (No. 10).
Sports Illustrated also predicts the Wolf Pack to finish second in the Western Athletic Conference this season and finish with an 8-4 overall record and 6-2 in the WAC. The magazine says Boise will win the WAC and finish 13-0 overall as one of just three teams to go unbeaten along with Florida and Texas.
Wolf Pack quarterback Colin Kaepernick is pictured under the heading "Players to Watch" from unranked teams.
The magazine also predicts that the Wolf Pack will play Air force on Dec. 30 in the Humanitarian Bowl. Boise, SI says, will get a BCS bid and play Oklahoma in the Jan. 4 Fiesta Bowl. Utah State from the WAC will meet UNLV on Dec. 19 in the New Mexico Bowl. The WAC's Fresno State will meet Southern Miss in the Dec. 24 Hawaii Bowl.
• Joe Santoro writes about sports in his Daily Fodder blog. Go to nevadaappeal.com, click on the opinion tab and then blogs. His Friday Fodder column appears each week in Sierra Nevada Media Group newspapers including the Nevada Appeal.