Second-year head coach Ken Wilson is looking to end Nevada’s 11-game losing streak.
Nevada Athletics
A look ahead to Saturday’s (4 p.m.) non-conference football game between the Nevada Wolf Pack (0-1) and Idaho Vandals (1-0) at Mackay Stadium:
HOW TO WATCH, LISTEN: TV: Nevada Sports Net. Radio: 105.7 FM.
AT STAKE FOR NEVADA: The Wolf Pack will take a school-record 11-game losing streak into Mackay Stadium on Saturday. It is the program’s longest losing streak since the 1963 (last two games) and 1964 teams (first nine) also lost 11 in a row.
AT STAKE FOR IDAHO: The Vandals, a Football Championship (Division I-AA) school of the Big Sky Conference, are 0-8 against Football Bowl Subdivision teams (Division I-A) since going back to the FCS for the 2018 season. Idaho was an FBS team from 1996-2017, playing in the Sun Belt Conference (2001-04 and 2014-17), Big West (1996-2000) and Western Athletic Conference (2005-12). They were an independent in 2013.
IDAHO NOT TYPICAL FCS TEAM: In addition to its recent seasons in the FBS from 1996-2017, the Vandals also played at college football’s top level from 1922-58 as members of the Pacific Coast Conference (now the Pac-12). Idaho joined PCC schools California, Washington, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State and Stanford in 1922. USC, the Pack’s opponent last week, also joined the PCC with Idaho in 1922. UCLA would not join until 1928. Idaho’s lone PCC football title came in 1927 when it finished 2-0-2 in league play and was awarded a share of the title with Stanford and USC, who both went 4-0-1. Stanford went to the Rose Bowl and beat Pittsburgh, 7-6. It was the only bowl game in the country that season.
THE SERIES: Nevada is 20-9 against Idaho and has won the last seven meetings. The two were rivals in the Big Sky Conference from 1979-1991, Big West from 1996-1999 and Western Athletic Conference from 2005-2011. Nevada was 10-4 against Idaho in the Big Sky, 2-2 in the Big West and 7-0 in the WAC.
LAST MEETING: Nevada won 56-3 at Mackay Stadium in 2011 in the last meeting between the two schools. The Wolf Pack had 587 yards and 35 first downs. Pack quarterbacks Tyler Lantrip and Mason Magleby were a combined 29-of-37 for 361 yards and six touchdowns. Rishard Matthews caught 12 passes for 114 yards and a score.
EARLY MEETINGS: Idaho won three of its first four games against Nevada from 1924-40. The first two games were played in Boise, with the third in Reno (a 7-6 Pack win) and the fourth in Moscow. The scores of the 1924 game were posted on an electric scoreboard in Reno at the Rialto Theater. They called the board the “Gridgraph Machine.” An extra point by Pat Eaton was the difference in a 7-6 Pack win in 1936 at Mackay Stadium.
SHARING COACHES: Three former Idaho head coaches also coached at Nevada. Charlie Erb was 3-4-1 as Wolf Pack coach in 1924 and later was 10-9-5 as Idaho’s head coach from 1926-28. John L. Smith was Nevada’s defensive coordinator from 1977-81 and was Idaho’s defensive coordinator from 1982-85 and head coach from 1989-94 (53-21 record). Chris Tormey was Idaho’s defensive line coach from 1982-83 and head coach from 1995-99 (32-23 record). Tormey was Wolf Pack head coach from 2000-03 (16-31 record).
LAST IDAHO WIN AGAINST PACK: Nevada has won seven games in a row against Idaho, from 2005-11. The Vandals last beat Nevada 42-33 in 1999 at Mackay Stadium with Jeff Tisdel as head coach. The Wolf Pack fired Tisdel after the 1999 season and replaced him with Tormey. Tormey, though, never faced Idaho as Pack coach from 2000-03.
IDAHO LAST WEEK: The Vandals beat Lamar, 42-17, as Anthony Woods ran for 138 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Gevani McCoy was 14-of-19 for 164 yards and two touchdowns. Idaho outgained Lamar of the FCS Southland Conference, 497-190.
NEVADA LAST WEEK: The Pack lost 66-14 to the USC Trojans. The Nevada highlight was a 77-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback A.J. Bianco to wide receiver Jamaal Bell early in the fourth quarter, breaking a string of 45 unanswered points by USC.
PACK IN HOME OPENERS: The Wolf Pack is 24-7 in home openers since moving to the FBS (Division I-A) in 1992. The Pack is 11-0 since 1992 when opening its home season against a Big Sky Conference team. This is the first time Idaho has helped open the Wolf Pack’s home season.
RIVALRY’S TOP GAMES: The most important and meaningful games in the Nevada-Idaho rivalry took place in 1985 and 1990. Idaho beat the Pack in 1985, 25-21, in Moscow, as both teams finished the regular season at 6-1 in the Big Sky, finishing in a tie for first. Idaho was awarded the league title because of its win over Nevada. The Pack got its revenge in 1990, beating Idaho 31-28 in overtime on a Kevin McKelvie 19-yard field goal. The Pack won the Big Sky that season at 7-1 in league play as Idaho finished second at 6-2.
MIRACLE MAN VARGAS EMERGES IN MOSCOW: The legend of quarterback Chris Vargas was born in Moscow, Idaho against the Vandals in 1990. Vargas, the Pack backup, was inserted into the game early in the third quarter in relief of starter Fred Gatlin with the Pack trailing 20-7. Gatlin was 7-of-17 for 54 yards and three interceptions. Vargas proceeded to complete 14-of-26 for 142 yards and a touchdown to lead the Pack to a 31-28 overtime win. He engineered an 80-yard drive to tie the game on the final play of regulation on a touchdown pass to Scott Benning and won the game in overtime, leading the Pack to Kevin McKelvie’s 19-yard field goal.
THE HEAD COACHES: Nevada’s Ken Wilson (2-11) is in his second season as head coach. Idaho’s Jason Eck is 8-5 and also in his second season. Eck led the Vandals to a 6-2 record in the Big Sky last year, where they lost to Southeastern Louisiana, 45-42.
McCORMICK BROTHERS PLAYING AT MACKAY: Former Fallon High standouts Sean and Tommy McCormick will play for the Vandals on Saturday. The McCormick brothers helped lead Fallon to the 2018 Class 3A state title (Sean scored three touchdowns) with a 28-7 win over Truckee at Carson. Tommy, a 6-foot, 200-pound junior, will start at safety while Sean, a 5-9, 185-pound senior, is his brother’s backup and also excels on special teams. “They are both really smart and tough,” Eck told the Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.) newspaper last year.