Carson starts football practice on Thursday

Thursday marks the first official day of football practice for Northern Nevada high schools.

Carson High, which won the Sierra League title last season, will work out twice the first day, going from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and then going from 11:30 to 1 p.m. Coach Blair Roman said he will follow that schedule at least Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday.

Make no mistake about it, the Senators will have a target on their back this year in the newly aligned 4A conference.

It will be just one big 4A league minus Wooster, South Tahoe, Elko and Fallon. Wooster will play an independent schedule, going mostly against 2A and 3A schools, while Elko, Fallon and South Tahoe will play in 3A.

For at least two years, the 4A playoffs will consist of eight teams. I'm not a huge fan of that because that means that one or two teams with .500 or below records in league could end up in the playoffs, and that's so wrong.

Six would be a good number, which means that the first and second-place teams would get first-round byes. Coaches say they don't like being off the first round of the playoffs. I think coaches just don't like change. If you've got kids banged up, you could certainly use the week off.

I also like shorter playoffs because with the new basketball format which has league play starting in late November, teams that go deep into the football playoffs could be minus key personnale when basketball gets under way, and that's wrong, too. It's no big deal when an incoming football players misses a non-league game or tourney, it's another when he is forced to miss a league game because the people around Northern Nevada who make the decisions don't have a clue.

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I certainly like the Nevada football schedule this year. Not only does the Pack open at home, but it gets seven home games, including marquee games against Cal and Boise State.

It's always great to see a Pac-10 team come to Mackay Stadium. Hopefully Cal will bring a lot of fans to the game in Week 3. The game will be seen on ESPN.

I grew up a Cal fan, and I think playing Cal every year or every other year would be great. If the game is in the Bay Area, it's an hour flight or a 5-hour drive. Cal tries to recruit in the Bay Area, so it would be important for possible recruits to be able to see Nevada play.

I like the fact that Nevada is opening with a 1-AA school in Eastern Washington, but it won't be an easy game. It wil be nice for the team to get kinks worked out before going against Colorado State and Cal. Both games are at home. I would expect Nevada to be either 2-1 or 3-0. Anything less will be unacceptbale not only to head coach Chris Ault or the fans.