Sports fodder for a Friday morning...What did going 13-1, shocking Boise State, winning the Western Athletic Conference and winning a bowl game last season accomplish for the Nevada Wolf Pack football program? Well, as far as this season is concerned, almost nothing. It's a new year and the Wolf Pack is practically right back where it started a year ago. The Wolf Pack received one measly vote in the USA Today/Coaches preseason poll last week. That's what you get for a 13-1 record? This is the same team, don't forget, that finished 13th in the final coaches poll in 2010 and 11th in the Associated Press rankings. But the Pack has gotten almost no respect from anyone so far in 2011. They've even been picked by the WAC coaches and media to end up third in the conference and Athlon Sports ranks them No. 65.
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It's obvious what all of these snubs mean for the Pack. The nation believes that the success of the 2010 team was due to a combination of a whole lot of luck and a once-a-generation collection of senior talent that included the likes of Colin Kaepernick, Dontay Moch, Vai Taua, Virgil Green, Ryan Coulson and John Bender. We'll find out .
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What did losing to Nevada mean for the Boise State Broncos as far as this year is concerned? Well, not much. The Broncos are ranked No. 7 in the coaches poll and No. 5 in the Athlon Sports rankings. And it's not like the Broncos didn't lose a ton of talent off last year's team. Gone are quarterback Kellen Moore's favorite targets in wide receivers Austin Pettis and Titus Young and the bulk of the secondary (Jeron Johnson, Brandyn Thompson and Winston Venable). Did the night of Nov. 26, 2010 mean absolutely nothing?
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Boise State's remarkable rise into the elite of college football, though, might be coming to an end. The university fired athletic director Gene Bleymaier this week because of NCAA violations in football and other sports. Bleymaier is the reason why Boise State become a football power. He continuously hired the right men to coach his football team and he continuously gave those coaches a schedule they could handle. The Broncos have made a tragic mistake.
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The Arizona Diamondbacks need to do the honorable thing and send Colin Cowgill, Sean Burroughs and Cody Ransom back to the Reno Aces. Cowgill, Burroughs and Ranson rarely play in Arizona and when they do, well, they are hitting a combined .225 in 111 at-bats with no homers and six RBI. The Aces roster has been gutted in recent weeks by Diamondback call-ups, leaving the Pacific Coast League team a mere shell of its former self. Former Aces sluggers Wily Mo Pena and Brandon Allen are now with other organizations. The Aces had a very real chance at winning a PCL championship this year when Pena, Allen, Ransom, Cowgill and Burroughs were pounding the baseball. But now this team looks like a 1996 Toyota running on fumes.
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It's time Joe Paterno hangs up the whistle. OK, he should have done it a decade ago but now it's becoming dangerous for Joe Pa to hang around a football field. A little wide receiver bumped into him at practice recently and Paterno's 84-year-old body almost literally turned to dust. He injured his pelvis, shoulder and hip. Why is Paterno so afraid of retirement? Why is Penn State so afraid of telling him to retire? This is not going to end well for anyone.