For Nevada football, the time is now

BY JOE SANTORO

Sports fodder for a Friday morning . . .

The next two seasons will define Chris Ault's third and (dare we say it?) final era as Wolf Pack head football coach. Ault has now lost six of his last seven postseason games and the last two-plus growing pain seasons have produced a less-than-inspiring 13-15 record since November 2006. It's time to win. Now. The good news is that the nucleus is now in place for two amazing Pack football seasons. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick, running back Vai Taua and defensive ends Kevin Basped and Dontay Moch will be juniors this fall. It's time to actually make the leap into that elusive and now mythical "next level" that Ault has been promising for nearly 20 years. No more excuses.

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The Wolf Pack football team (dare we say it?) has the potential to win 20 games over the next two seasons. If Luke Lippincott likely gets another year of eligibility, the Pack will be able to line up three former 1,000-yard rushers in the same backfield next year. Who else in college football history (or professional football, for that matter) can say that? Kaepernick alone will get you 16 of those 20 wins. Where will the other four victories come from? Defense and special teams. Surprise, surprise. Any Pop Warner coach worth his weight in sweat socks can design an offense in college football these days. But if you want to actually win a big game (in the Pack universe that means Boise State and the bowl game) you have to play a little defense and special teams. Defense and special teams is why Ault has lost six of his last seven postseason games.

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By the time he leaves Nevada, it is going to be obvious that Kaepernick is the greatest Wolf Pack quarterback in history. His effort against Maryland, on one healthy ankle, has to go down as one of the best performances in Pack football history. The kid played his heart out, put his team on his back and nearly stole a victory the Pack had no right to claim. Even his incomplete passes left you with your eyes and mouth wide open in amazement. On one play late in the second quarter he dropped back to pass, stepped up in the pocket to escape the rush, broke a tackle, moved to his right and stiff-armed another guy, headed to the right sideline and with another defender draped all over him, fired a pass down the sideline that could have been caught. It was an amazing play. Let's hope the Pack finally gives him a defense.

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ESPN commentator Lou Holtz, who could pass as Ault's uncle, by the way, can't seem to stop bashing the Pack. He did it again. The ex-Notre Dame coach, talking about the Irish, said this week, "They will win 10 or 11 games next year. They open up with Nevada, play Washington, Washington State, people like that. I just think they'll have an excellent year." People like that? If by saying "people like that" Holtz meant people who will come into South Bend and whip the Irish, then OK. We agree. But we don't think that's what he meant.

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OK, we're just asking. But how did seven Maryland football players miss curfew this week before the Humanitarian Bowl? In Boise? How do you miss curfew in Boise? Did the Denny's or truck stop have a can't-miss, late-night, all-you-can-eat dinner special?

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It sure is a good time to be a NFL coach in search of a new head coach. How can you go wrong? OK, the Raiders will indeed go wrong. Count on it. But for everybody else in the league, the coaching talent pool is overflowing with incredible resumes. Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan, Mike Holmgren, Steve Mariucci, not to mention Bill Parcells, Marty Schottenheimer, Jimmy Johnson and, yes, even Mike Ditka. What's George Seifert doing these days?

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On the surface, it seems silly for the Denver Broncos to fire Shanahan. But sometimes a change in philosophy is needed. Shanahan is an offensive coach and he tried to play the season without a defense. Sound familiar, Pack fans? Well, we all know how that turns out in the end.

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The most ridiculous NFL coaching change this week took place in New York with the Jets. Why fire Eric Mangini? The guy gets an old and washed up Brett Favre dumped on him at the last minute, he deals with all of the unrealistic expectations and hype created by the presence of Mr. Wrangler Jeans and he somehow gets that mediocre team to 8-3. Remember when people were predicting an all-New York Super Bowl? Well, Favre then completely falls apart, plays like a gimpy Joe Namath in a Los Angeles Rams uniform, and the Jets miss the playoffs. So what do the Jets do? Well, they didn't tell the old and washed up quarterback to quietly go back to hunting whatever he hunts in Mississippi in the off-season. They fire the coach. Do the Jets really want to go through another Favre circus next year? We all know how that will turn out in the end.

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If you had any doubts about whether or not Luke Babbitt will go down as one of the top Wolf Pack basketball players in school history, you got your answer Wednesday night against North Carolina. The freshman with ice water running through his veins stared the top-ranked team in the eye, didn't back down for a second and was the best player on the floor the whole game. You saw vintage Babbitt in that game. The kid didn't become one of the top high school players in the country because he could outrun and outjump everybody on the court. He is special because he constantly works his tail off on the court and he plays with an incredible burning competitive spirit. He scored inside on Wednesday. He scored outside. He rebounded. And he did it all against the best team in the country. After the game North Carolina coach Roy Williams said, "He's going to make a lot of people around here happy for a long time."