RENO - Coaches in the Western Athletic Conference often praise their conference rivals, but most of the time it is to avoid ruffling any feathers. Mike Leach, though, sounds genuine when he tells people that he has much respect for the Nevada football program and its head coach, Chris Ault.
"I think Nevada's got a great program and I've thought that for years," said Leach, the head football coach at Texas Tech. "I thought as a coach coming up, Coach Ault always impressed me. Coach Ault's one of three active coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame."
Leach, who was born in Susanville, Calif., about an hour outside of Reno, was the keynote speaker at the Governor's Dinner on Friday night at the Governor's Mansion, which benefits the Wolf Pack athletic programs. Prior to the dinner he met with media at the Peppermill Resort Casino to discus everything from the Bowl Championship Series to his excitement about not facing Colin Kaepernick a second time.
The Red Raiders defeated Nevada, 35-19, in their second game of the 2008 season and finished the regular season 11-1. They were even ranked as high as second in the country after a memorable last-second win over Texas. But they ultimately fell out of the top BCS standings and found themselves playing in the Cotton Bowl for a lot less money and prestige.
Leach's experience with the BCS was just a taste of what teams like Nevada face yearly. Because Nevada plays in the WAC, they are not guaranteed a spot in one of the top bowls - only teams in the Big East, Big 12, Pac-10, SEC, ACC and Big 10 are ensured a slot - and have to go undefeated to even be mentioned as a candidate for one of the five bowls. The BCS is a system designed to name an undisputed national champion through a number of statistics and polls.
The seemingly unbalanced system has been a hot debate topic and Leach, like many others, said he has an answer to the problem.
"I've always been a playoff guy," Leach said. "I think we ought to have 64 teams and I don't think it would be hard to do. If they made the mistake of leaving it up to me, which there's enough people on guard right now that you can all rest assured that it's not going to happen, but I would cut the regular season back to 10 games. I'd have 64 teams in the playoff with a home-and-home in the first round and then incorporate the bowls after that...
"Then the thing that would be understandable would be that the champion had worked their way through a great deal to get there."
While Leach's system may sound to outlandish for some college football purists, he said he didn't come with the idea, but rather borrowed from a few other sports.
"The thing that intrigues me the most, and cause I've said this before, is as soon as I propose this people say, 'That's the craziest thing I've ever heard of.' 'Why would anybody suggest that?' 'That is so strange, where would anybody get an idea like that?'" Leach said. "I'd love to say that I came up with the idea, but I got that from Texas high school football, California high school football, Florida high school football, Division III, Division II, I-AA, softball, basketball."
In other words, everyone else uses it, so why not college football?
In the Red Raiders' win over Nevada, the Wolf Pack was within a few points of them for much of the game before future first-round draft pick Michael Crabtree scored on an 82-yard reception. But it was another player that caught Leach's eye. Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick torched the Red Raiders in yardage with 264 through the air and another 134 rushing. But Tech held him to just one touchdown in the game, sacked him four times and grabbed one interception.
Leach admitted he was happy to know that Kaepernick, one of only five college quarterbacks to ever throw for 2,000 yards and run for 1,000 in the same season, will graduate in 2010. The Wolf Pack will travel to Lubbock to play Texas Tech in 2011.
"I think they're going to have one of the best quarterbacks in the country next year and I'm kind of excited to not have to face him this year," Leach said.