The Nevada Wolf Pack football team has at least one booster at ESPN.
ESPN college football analyst Trevor Matich predicted the Wolf Pack to stun Notre Dame as one of his top three upsets this Saturday. Matich also likes Louisiana Tech to shock Auburn and Western Michigan to surprise Michigan. Nevada, Louisiana Tech and Western Michigan will all be on the road this Saturday.
"Notre Dame had better watch out," Matich said Tuesday afternoon on the ESPN show "College Football Live."
It is not surprising that Matich picked two Western Athletic Conference teams among his upset specials this weekend. Matich, who was born in Sacramento and is very familiar with the Wolf Pack, played at BYU in the early 1980s when BYU was a member of the WAC.
Matich, an offensive lineman, went on to play 12 seasons in the NFL with five teams.
ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit, though, said on the same College Football Live telecast on Tuesday that the Michigan and Michigan State games would be the key to Notre Dame getting back to a Bowl Championship Series bowl game. Herbstreit predicted 10 victories for Notre Dame this year and that they would get a BCS bid.
Brent Musberger, though, reminded Herbstreit that the Irish must get past the Wolf Pack first before they worry about Michigan and Michigan State.
"They better not stumble against Nevada," Musberger said. "Chris Ault is a good coach."
• 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.