Pack football sets eight national 2016 TV appearances so far

RENO — The Nevada football team now has eight of its 12 games selected for national television this fall as the Mountain West released its national broadcast package for the 2016 season.

The Wolf Pack, which returns 15 starters from last year’s NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl championship team, was selected for seven national TV games as part of the conference package announced Friday. Nevada will also play on national TV when it travels to Notre Dame for a non-conference game in September.

“The exposure that we get from playing on national television is important for the continued growth of Nevada football, and I’m excited that we have eight opportunities so far this season to showcase our program,” said fourth-year head coach Brian Polian.

Nevada will play within the ESPN family of networks no fewer than five times in 2016. That includes home games against Fresno State (Oct. 8), Wyoming (Oct. 22) and Utah State (Nov. 19). Two of the Pack’s road games will also be on ESPN networks — Nov. 5 at New Mexico and Nov. 26 when Nevada travels to Las Vegas for the Battle for the Fremont Cannon against UNLV.

All games on the ESPN networks are subject to the Mountain West’s television partner’s policy of a 12-day notice for network selection and kickoff times. As such, game times for those five contests will not be known until 12 days before each game.

The Pack will have a pair of West Division showdowns broadcast on CBS Sports Network — Oct. 15 at San Jose State and Nov. 12 at Mackay against San Diego State. Nevada topped SJSU in an overtime thriller last season but fell to eventual MW champion Aztecs to close out the regular season.

It’s likely that Nevada will play on national TV more than the eight current matchups as the Wolf Pack’s game at Purdue on Sept. 24 will likely be broadcast by the Big Ten Network or the ESPN family of networks as part of the Big Ten’s television package. Nevada’s home game against Buffalo on Sept. 17 at the newly renovated Mackay Stadium could also be selected yet for broadcast.

Additional broadcasts by ROOT SPORTS, the Mountain West Network and Oceanic Time Warner Cable will be announced in the coming weeks. Any home game, or road conference game not selected for television broadcast will likely be available digitally on the Mountain West Network.