California quarterback Chase Garbers throws a pass against Oregon on Dec. 5, 2020 in Berkeley, Calif. The California Golden Bears are excited to show off what they hope will be a much more dynamic offense with respected longtime NFL coordinator Bill Musgrave and veteran quarterback Garbers. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, file)
The two schools that could meet in the Mountain West football championship game (Nevada and Boise State) will play the most important season openers for Mountain West teams.
The Wolf Pack will be at California on Sept. 4 while Boise State is at Central Florida on Sept. 2.
The Pack-Cal game is important for the Mountain West because it features one of its best teams against a mediocre-at-best Pac-12 team. If the Mountain West is ever going to start getting some respect east of Denver, its best teams have to start beating the mediocre and bad Pac-12 teams on a regular basis.
The Boise State-Central Florida game is important for the Mountain West because it features two of the more high-profile Group of Five teams in the nation. Beating Cal and Central Florida would give the Mountain West a much-needed boost in respect from the rest of the nation.
•••
There will be 10 regular season games this season matching Mountain West teams against Pac-12 teams. Only one (Utah at San Diego State) will be on Mountain West soil. Then again, that contest barely qualifies as a Mountain West home game against a Pac-12 school. Utah is Pac-12 school in name only and San Diego State will play its home games this year once again (while their new stadium in San Diego is being built) at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., in Pac-12 country.
How many of the 10 games against Pac-12 teams can the Mountain West win? Put the over-under at three.
•••
The game at Cal on Sept. 4 could set the tone for the entire Wolf Pack season, much like the victory over Cal in Week 3 of the 2010 season. There’s no question the Wolf Pack has enough talent to beat Cal. There’s also no question that the Pack can win at Cal. They, after all, did it nine years ago, also in a season opener. This game for the Pack is about the maturation of a coaching staff.
Beating fragile Mountain West schools in a pandemic season (the Pack was 7-2 last year) is one thing. Head coach Jay Norvell, though, has never beaten a Power Five conference school on the road. He’s 0-4, losing at Northwestern, Washington State, Vanderbilt and Oregon. The only time former Pack coach Chris Ault ever beat a Power Five school on the road, by the way, was at Cal in the 2012 season opener.
•••
Norvell, as Pack head coach, has yet to recruit and sign a player that eventually ended up in the NFL. The first player that will do that for Norvell is likely on this year’s Pack roster. So be patient. There will likely be just three former Pack players in the NFL this season. Offensive linemen Joel Bitonio (Cleveland Browns) and Austin Corbett (Los Angeles Rams) are established NFL starters (Bitonio could end up in the Hall of Fame) while Malik Reed is a highly-regarded backup outside linebacker for the Denver Broncos.
Reed and Corbett did play for Norvell at Nevada but were both brought to Nevada by former Pack coach Brian Polian. Bitonio came to Nevada in 2009 under Ault.
•••
The Reno Aces aren’t breaking any records at the gate this season but Northern Nevada should be proud of the way it has supported its Triple-A team. The Aces are averaging roughly 4,200 fans a game over their first 41 home dates. That is a solid number considering the team was limited to 50 percent capacity over the first 12 home games and has battled a pandemic and smoky skies in recent homestands.
The Aces are in the bottom third in attendance in the new Triple-A West, which is nothing new. The four highest seasons for attendance in Reno have been the first four seasons (2009-12) the franchise came to town. Attendance, as expected, has leveled off drastically since 2012 to a franchise-low 4,809 the last full season (2019) before this year.
•••
There are a lot of factors that have contributed to the flat attendance figures at Aces games in recent seasons.
The pandemic, of course, is the biggest reason this year. Unhealthy skies full of smoke over the last month also haven’t promoted a huge turnout at the ball yard. But this year’s goofy schedule also hasn’t helped.
The Aces are playing silly, mind-numbing six-game series this year (Thursdays through Tuesdays). Playing the same team six days in a row, while it saves on travel costs, is not the best way to drum up community interest. Imagine if all six Pack home football games this year were against New Mexico.
Playing one-third of those games on Mondays and Tuesdays, the two worst days of the week for attendance, also doesn’t help. That’s why the 4,200 average this year is a positive sign. It could have been a lot worse. The Aces also still have 23 home dates left this year and could get their average attendance up over 5,000 a game before the season ends Oct. 3.
•••
Former Nevada Wolf Pack center Cam Oliver played well for the Golden State Warriors in the recently-completed NBA Summer League.
Oliver, who last played for the Pack in the 2016-17 season, averaged 7.2 points, six rebounds and 1.4 blocks a game over five games. Unfortunately for Oliver, though, the Summer League is about as important as a Kansas City Royals-Texas Rangers game in September. Oliver’s chances of making the Warriors roster this season are almost zero. The Warriors are loaded with forwards and also have to make room on the roster for another Eric Musselman-coached player, rookie Moses Moody of Arkansas. They even brought back aging Andre Iguodala for some reason.
Oliver, who is still just 25 years old, has spent his professional career bouncing around basketball’s minor leagues and will likely spend another season playing overseas.
•••
Another former Pack player who will play overseas this year is Jalen Harris. Harris, a second-round pick by the Toronto Raptors in 2020, scored 31 points in his final game for the Raptors this past May 14 at Dallas. It looked like his breakout NBA game, the kind of performance he turned in for the Pack in the 2019-20 season when he averaged 21.7 points a game. Harris appeared ready to take another huge step in his NBA career in this year’s Summer League.
The former Musselman recruit, though, was suspended by the NBA on July 1 for an entire season for violating the league’s anti-drug program. Harris, who recently signed to play in Italy, can apply for reinstatement to the NBA before the 2022-23 season. It would help his NBA chances if he takes about 2,022 shots for his Italian team this season.
•••
Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels is the clear choice for American League Most Valuable Player. Ohtani, in fact, might be the most obvious MVP in the history of Major League Baseball.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder has 40 homers and 87 RBI at the plate and is 8-1 on the mound with an earned run average of 2.79 and 120 strikeouts in 100 innings. He homered and went eight innings to beat the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday.
About all that Ohtani hasn’t done this year for the Angels is figure out a way to get Mike Trout back on the field. He might be the single most valuable player in all of professional sports right now.
