Oklahoma lineman Rondell Bothroyd (80) rushes SMU quarterback Preston Stone during the teams’ game last season.
Alonzo Adams | AP
A look ahead to the Nevada Wolf Pack's football season opener against the SMU Mustangs on Saturday at Mackay Stadium:
HOW TO WATCH, LISTEN: The game can be seen on CBS Sports Network with a 5 p.m. kickoff. The game can also be heard in Northern Nevada on 105.7 FM.
POINT SPREAD: SMU is favored by 24 points.
AT STAKE: This will be Jeff Choate's debut as Nevada's head coach. The only first-year Wolf Pack head coaches to lose their home opener at Mackay Stadium since the stadium opened in 1966 have been Chris Tormey (41-10 to TCU in 2000) and Jay Norvell (37-24 to Toledo in 2017). SMU will be playing its first game as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. It will be SMU's first game as a member of a power conference since its final year in the Southwest Conference in 1995.
THE RIVALRY: Nevada has split its six games against SMU (3-3). The first five games came when both teams were members of the Western Athletic Conference from 2000-04. The Wolf Pack is 2-0 against SMU at Mackay Stadium, winning 35-14 in 2001 and 12-9 in 2003. The last time the two teams met was in the 2009 Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu in a matchup of coaches Chris Ault and his Pistol offense (Nevada) and June Jones (SMU) and his run-and-shoot. SMU was a member of conference USA and Nevada was in the WAC at the time. SMU's Shawnbrey McNeal ran for three touchdowns while quarterback Kyle Padron passed for 460 yards. SMU also had future NFL wide receivers Cole Beasley and Emmanuel Sanders, who each caught a touchdown pass.
THE HEAD COACHES: Nevada's Jeff Choate will be coaching his first game as a head coach since he lost in the FCS playoffs to North Dakota State, 42-14, on Dec. 21, 2019, as Montana State's head coach. Choate was 28-22 in four seasons (2016-19) at Montana State. Rhett Lashlee is 18-9 over the past two seasons as SMU's head coach. Lashlee has also been an offensive coordinator at Samford (2011), Arkansas State (2012), Auburn (2013-16), Connecticut (2017), SMU (2018-19) and Miami (2020-21). Lashlee played quarterback in high school for coach Gus Malzahn, who later was a head coach at Arkansas State, Auburn and Central Florida.
LAST YEAR: Nevada finished 2-10 for the second consecutive season under head coach Ken Wilson. SMU was 11-3 as a member of the American Athletic Conference. It was the Mustangs' most victories in a season since 1982 (11-0-1). SMU beat Tulane (26-14) to win the AAC title game and then lost to Boston College, 23-17, in the Fenway Bowl to close out its 2023 season. SMU finished No. 22 in the Associated Press rankings.
WHEN SMU HAS THE BALL: SMU returns nine of 11 starters from an offense that averaged 38.7 points a game last year. Quarterback Preston Stone completed 206-of-344 passes last year for 3,197 yards and 28 touchdowns against just six interceptions. Also back are running backs Jaylon Knighton (745 yards last year), L.J. Johnson (576 yards) and Camar Wheaton (410). SMU averaged 4.5 yards a carry and scored 29 touchdowns on the ground in 2023. Wide receivers Jake Bailey (42 catches, 528 yards) and Moochie Dixon (25-441) and tight end R.J. Maryland (34-518-7) are also back.
WHEN NEVADA HAS THE BALL: A couple of familiar faces, quarterback Brendon Lewis and running back Sean Dollars, are back from a year ago to lead the offense. Dollars rushed for 527 yards and six touchdowns last year when Lewis passed for 1,313 yards and two scores and ran for 495 and four touchdowns. The Wolf Pack, though, will have almost a completely new set of wide receivers this year. Joining the team are wideouts Jaden Smith and Cortez Braham, who should both have significant roles in the offense. Nevada averaged 17.3 points a game last year. SMU scored more points last year (542) than the Wolf Pack scored the last two seasons (434) combined.
TOUGH OPENER FOR CHOATE: Jeff Choate has certainly been thrown into the fire for his first game as the Wolf Pack's head coach. But Choate's fire is not as hot as five of the previous six first-year Nevada head coaches since the program jumped to the FBS in 1992.
Choate's first assignment against SMU at home is clearly more difficult than Ken Wilson's opener at New Mexico State in 2022 (a 23-12 victory). But the five other coaches who made their head coaching debuts at Nevada since 1992 all arguably had tougher tests to open their Pack careers than Choate.
Jeff Horton had to debut at Wisconsin in 1993 (a 35-17 loss), Jeff Tisdel opened at Oregon in 1996 (a 44-30 loss), Chris Tormey had to go to Oregon in 2000 for his first game (a 36-7 loss), Brian Polian started at UCLA in 2013 (a 58-20 loss) and Jay Norvell opened with a 31-20 loss at Northwestern in 2017.
Choate is the first new Pack head coach to debut at home since Chris Ault in 1976, a 30-13 win over Cat State Hayward.
HOT AUGUST NIGHTS FOR PACK: Saturday's game on Aug. 24 will be the earliest opening to a Pack football season in the program's history. It will also be the earliest for SMU. The Pack and SMU will also play two games in the month of August this year for the first time in their histories. Nevada will play at Troy on Aug. 31 while SMU hosts Houston Christian.
The Wolf Pack has played just 10 games in the month of August, winning seven. The Pack is 6-0 at home in August, beating Fullerton (1986), Southern Utah (2003, 2014), Grambling (2008), Portland State (2018) and Purdue (2019).
SMU is 2-5 in August (1-3 on the road).
PACK FOOTBALL
Who: SMU (0-0) at Nevada (0-0)
When: Saturday, 5 p.m.
Where: Mackay Stadium
TV: CBS Sports Network
Series: Tied, 3-3
Radio: 105.7 FM (John Ramey, Mike Edwards)