Inside the Den: Talking conference realignment after Pac-12 poaches four Mountain West schools

[Music] welcome back inside the den crazy things happening in the world of College athletics we were going to do a normal upset this week um but nothing about this week is normal uh Chris Murray was just on vacation and uh you know I felt like the news of the world just broke with the I know conference realignment in the Mountain West uh so we'll get heavily into this this conference realignment talk and and talk briefly about you know the the Minnesota game tomorrow but you know this is uh just you know Earth shaking news for for both the Pack 12 and and the Mountain West it's definitely huge news I mean you have the Pack 12 taking four members of the Mountain West Boise State San Diego State those two make sense those are the top two in the tiers and then after that Colorado State Fresno State a little bit surprising unv is not in the mix I know we'll talk a little bit about that might be tied to Nevada's future as well you've got some members of the boards of regions who want Nevada and unov in the same conference unov a much more attractive candidate to the Pack 12 than Nevada maybe they eventually do get into this new pack 12 but worst case scenario for the Mountain West potentially worst case scenario for Nevada to see how the rest of these dominoes fall um because there was a thought that maybe there might be a reverse merger there might be a way for the entire Mountain West to join Oregon State and Washington State in some manner that's not the case Oregon State and Washington State clearly saying they only want a portion of the Mountain West and they're paying a lot of money to prove it $15 million both in poaching fees and exit fees just to add these four schools if uh the Pack 12 was to go and get two more mountain with schools it'd be more than $60 million on top of that so my guess is they'll look to the American Athletic Conference uh maybe UTSA maybe T Lane maybe Memphis um maybe Rice go down that path see if they can get three or four more and then call it a day if not then maybe they have to come back to the Mountain West but it is devastating news for the Mountain West somehow someway the Mountain West had gotten through this latest uh realignment without getting poached without losing any members while seemingly staying strong together and now you have four schools that have kind of turn their back on the conference that's their right to do so they're going to have to pay a penalty to do so um but clearly they think that life in the new pack six currently is going to be better for them than staying in the Mountain West and um you know there are definitely a lot more dominoes to fall The Pack 12 has to get to at least eight full members right now they're at six but um the Mountain West they said that they were planning for potentially losing schools and you know they have vetted other schools and they'll probably have to move forward and add some schools because they're down to seven full-time members now yeah so you did a my week you your this week in a thousand words and in that I was reading it and you mentioned that this wasn't something new for for the likes of Boise State or or San Diego State that they've been kind of active behind the scenes you know even even last uh last off their last offseason from football they tried to you know uh go ahead and jump ship um so just kind of go into what was going Brewing behind the scenes and two schools that really wanted to get out Boise State and San Diego State at one point back in the day joined the Big East they said goodbye to the Mountain West I mean Boise State since it got in the Mountain West is more or less been trying to leave the Mountain West whether it was uh very briefly joining the Big East and then coming back to the conference when the Big East fell apart whether it was Brian harson the head coach at the time being very vocal about trying to get into the American Athletic Conference um San Diego State as you mentioned they termed an exit letter to the Mountain West last year and then they said oh no we're not actually leaving because nobody wanted them at the time I mean I feel like a good example or a good analogy would be like both of these people were married to the Mountain West but then they put in ad out on e-harmony saying I'm interested in in going out with you too yeah and it just had not come up where they got any bites on that interest and now they eventually got that bite so you know you're as loyal as your best offer is kind of what a lot of people have said over the years and um you can't blame these schools for wanting to do what's best for their schools I think there is a question about how this is much better for them though and I am going to be very curious to see if more Mountain West schools join because if you do add two more Mountain West schools and you're the Pack 12 and now you've added six Mountain West schools for about $175 million you basically could have added nine Mountain West schools for free because you could have took talked those nine into dissolving the conference it just takes a three4 vote and then those schools would have been able to go to whatever conference they want in this case to pack 12 without exit fees and without poaching fees so that's why I think that they're probably going to stay at four they might bump up to five or six I think Air Force and un are probably the most attractive candidates remaining in the Mountain West for a potential Pack 12 um but you know we we need to talk about Nevada and they're tied to unov because um it seems like there are some people on the board of regions who want Nevada and UNLV to be in the same conference and that might limit where UNLV can go or it might drag Nevada along with UNLV to the Pack 12 I think that's a little bit of a weird take from the board of regions because you look at the history of Nevada and unov they were together for a couple years in the big West and certainly since 2012 together uh or in the Mountain West but outside of that like these schools have not been in the same conference before you got Utah and Utah State in different conferences you got Colorado and Colorado State in different con conferences you got New Mexico New Mexico state in different conferences so I don't think the board of region should be holding UNLV back if that option was available we don't TR truly know um exactly you know how that all played out behind the scenes but yeah I mean you're right that a lot of these schools in the Mountain West they've wanted to leave for a while and now this is their first opportunity to do so unfortunately for them they're joining a conference that's not going to be a power conference there's going to be a power four moving forward Pack 12 is not getting back into the power conference they're not getting uh among that autonomous group now they might have an easier Pathway to be the top rated group of six now conference Champion to get into a college football playoff um but they're not getting power conference money they might get $10 million per year in a media rights deal and if you're Boise State you're currently getting you know right around 6 and A5 million so it's not like a huge jump up there um but being in the Pack 12 is huge Prestige that is a a great brand to be a part of and now you have four Mountain W schools that can call themselves a part of that pack 12 in two years that's the other thing you're going to have two lame duck years which I think is going to be kind of awkward and interesting yeah there was a USA Today opinion piece after this uh and sorry I'm need to good credit to the author but uh Dan W probably is the one he was bringing up that uh there's some like delusions of grandeur going on just cuz they work you know even if Washington State and Oregon State somehow join the Mountain West they'd be competing with the American Conference as the fifth best uh you know conference outside the power four and with this move they're going to still be competing with the American Conference uh the Pack 12 be competing with the American Conference as you know the lone group uh you know top group in the the group of six yeah uh so you know it's not like you know like I I I'm sure like in their heads they're like okay they're going to treat us with respect because we got these top schools from the Mountain West we can poach some schools from the American Conference but they're not going to get a GU guaranteed spot um so yeah definitely interesting uh yeah it's kind of like where does this leave Nevada uh you know do they stay in the Mountain West probably um but you know like the bigger question comes up like how does the Mountain West use this money all this money that they get I mean that's a lot of money $15 million what can they do I mean their first objective is to stop the bleeding and make sure none of these other schools are interested in leaving but if you're UNLV in Nevada you got to be doing everything you can behind the scenes to try and get out of the Mountain West and get to the Pack 12 like that's not the most loyal uh path to take but again you have to do what's best for your schools and for your programs and right now that's getting in this you know rebuilt Pack 12 um if you're the Mountain West I do have a story on our website on what I personally would do I would try and turn Hawaii into a full member one kind of side note to this whole story is the Mountain West now only has five baseball schools um they were already at seven which is a low number they probably need to get back back up to seven if not eight or nine um so I would try and see if you can get Hawaii which plays football in the Mountain West to be a full member obviously travel is more difficult but now you got 115 million dollar maybe you can build in some travel subsidies my first two Targets though would be Montana Montana State these are Elite FCS football programs they have a facilities are on par with the holdovers in the Mountain West um they're regionally in a nice location they've got good fan bases that support their Athletics um those would be the two I would Target Sacramento State sounds like they have a group of supporters trying to get them into the Pack 12 that's not going to happen they're not going to go from the FCS to the Pack 12 um but that would be a team that you could program a school you could look at if you're the mest as well you know pretty solid football program been in the playoffs three the last four years um they do play baseball as well I think regionally it makes a lot of sense it's a top 25 media Market to try and recoup some of this media money that they're going to lose in their next TV deal um so those would be my four targets to get back up to 11 full-time members you add Hawaii as a full-time member you add Montana Montana State and they've kind of been resent to to go to the FBS before um just a year ago the application fee to go to FCS to FBS went from $5,000 to 5 million um so that's a big number but obviously the Mountain West has the money to pay that application fee and maybe a bit of a signing bonus or something like that to try and help uh persuade those two schools uh you know North Dakota State South Dakota State they've been mentioned uh UTP Texas state New Mexico State those are some already in the FBS schools that they can look at but nobody of the caliber of a Boise State or of a Fresno State a San Diego State um a Colorado State you know that that's tough to swallow but I don't think there's like a grand plan out here if there was a grand plan out here this is a very interesting stat to me basically Oregon State and Washington State paid $ 56 million to the Mountain West to play 12 football games against the Mountain West this season that is a ridiculous amount of money but when you add the $14 million as part of the scheduling Alliance and then you add in the poaching penalties that were part of that Alliance that now the Pack 12 has to pay to the Mountain West $56 million to get six games for Oregon State six games for Washington State this season with only three of those each at home for each school if there was a plan uh Oregon State and Washington state which basically has a $250 million War chest of Pack 12 Reser reserves would not have paid $56 million for those 12 games this is a flying by the seat of your pants operation on all ends and this was huge the big news obviously was was these four schools leaving but it's it's not like these two schools organ state in washingt state are like okay and then we're going to do this and it's going to work and then we're going to do this and it's going to work they're trying to figure it out as they go and certainly they've you know put a a huge blow into the Mountain West and now they're going to probably try and go to the American and and deliver a blow to them to yes make them the top group of six conference and try and get what won't be an automatic birth in the college football playoff but more or less an automatic birth because they will be clearly superior to the AAC and the Mountain West if they're able to take the top three or four of both those conferences and move forward with that plan yeah I mean it works out for them um I'm sure people are sitting at home and being like looking at the list of schools and they're like yeah San Diego State that makes sense yeah Boise State that makes sense Fresno State yes because of the market Colorado state is an interesting one you wrote a bit about it um just because considering that Fort Collins is kind of a similar size Community to to the Reno Sparks um area what set them apart from from Nevada I think it's budgets and Facilities I mean you look at um what is one thing that conferences look at to add schools coming up from a lower area It's usually the budget that's a big one you want a school that's going to invest you want a school that has great facilities um you want a school that's going to try and help lift financially the entire operation and you look at Colorado State maybe not a ton of winning especially on the football side but they have spent a lot of money so I think the budget lines up with what the Pack 12 is looking for in terms of new members yeah Fresno State San Diego State Boise State they make a ton of sense um since the conference went to a championship game in 2013 nine of the 11 championships have gone to those three schools so they've been good in football obviously San Diego State's great in men's basketball Boise State's been really good in men's basketball Fresno State not so much uh you look at Fan bases season tickets sold um for football in particular Boise's number one Fresno's number two Colorado State's number three so that helps as well um if you're in Nevada you have to be hugely disappointed because you look at the history of your relationship with Fresno State and Boise State you've basically been in the same conference for the last 30 years together um Boise State Nevada Fresno State they all kind of went from The Wack to the Mountain West at the same time one year faster for Boise State but about it came with Fresno State and now you see those two schools that have been peer institutions leave you behind to go to a new pack 12 and you're not even really in consideration because you didn't invest in the facilities you didn't invest in the budget you didn't invest in the football program to make that one of the stronger ones in the conference Nevada basically went 10 years after joining the mount West without Vision uh without money into its athletic department and it's paying the price by now being left behind now the wolf pack has to hope that's temporary that maybe this is the first wave of schools from the Mountain West of the Pack 12 and they're in the next wave but on Merit alone I think even people in the Wolfpack athletic department would tell you Nevada does not belong as one of those schools to go to the Pack 12 because they have not proven it on the court they have not proven it in investing they have not proven it in facilities they have not proven it with growing the fan base I mean outside of men's basketball what can you say at Nevada is at a Pack 12 champ caliber level in terms of media market in terms of budget you still don't have an indoor football facility whereas Montana and Montana state two teams in the FCS were saying could join the Mountain West have those facilities already when you joined the Mountain West in 2012 you were the only cold weather School in the conference without an indoor football facility you're 12 years later you're still trying to figure out how much it cost to build an indoor football facility that's not on the current leadership of Brian sandal and Stephanie ramp they inherited that they're trying to fix that but they've only had two years to try fix that uh you don't build that brand that momentum those facilities in that 2-year period and that's why Nevada at this point is being left behind pure institutions in San San Diego State Boise State Fresno State that they have shared conferences with for a long time yeah so this move certainly hurts both football and basketball um however it kind of clears the way for for Nevada men's basketball to kind of finally win a conference Championship and you know get the auto bid so I guess the silver lining in that is that yeah it makes it far easier for Nevada to to make the big dance um whereas you know these past few years have been pretty competitive um which has obviously Rose the tide for the entire conference um but I guess yeah like football I I I don't think you're ever you know it have to be everything would have to go right under the Jeff Cho era to potentially make a college football playoff um but in basketball just kind of clears the route to making the big dance yeah I mean that's the Silver Lining right is that if this does play out the Mountain West retains who it has adds three or four schools then hopefully if you're Nevada you become one of the better athletic departments in the conference you have more ability to win conference championships something Nevada has not done each of the last two years you have more ability to get the automatic postseason birth but I don't think Nevada really looks at it like that because you do want to be in a great conference where you're sending four or five teams in men's basketball to the Mountain West uh from the Mountain West into the NCA tournament you don't want to be like oh well you know we could have a better shot of getting the automatic bid but then if you don't get it uh if you lose at the conference tournament then s or not and then also it does impact recruiting I mean one of the great things about what had happened over the last 18 months it had put the Mountain West as the top FBS conference on the west coast if you have a kid who wants to stay on the west coast they want to play in the Pacific time zone they didn't have a lot of options outside of Mountain West schools and now you have a re built pack six probably be up to pack n or pack 10 and the recruits who might have considered the Mountain West maybe not so much now because now the Pack 12 is kind of back and now they're kind of that top tier conference on the west coast so it is a double-edge sword it should allow if everything plays out and um you know there aren't any further changes to the Mountain West in addition outside of adding some more schools yes Nevada should be able to take a step up in terms of where it ranks as an overall athletic department in the Mountain West but but that's not how you want it to happen you don't want it to happen because the good athletic departments went to some other conference you want it to happen because you Rose up the ranks you invested you got better on the field you paid higher salaries you had better nil and then you had better results and you know you were one of the best teams in a really strong conference rather than um one of the best teams in a watered down conference so yeah still obviously a lot to happen um we'll we'll see what what does happen I mean if I had to put odds on to that at getting into the Pack 12 it be pretty low but if it does happen it's going to be on the backs of UNLV which be very very interesting I just feel like if the the Pack 12 truly wanted more Mountain West members they probably would have added them but now they got to go back to Market see what they can get from the AAC and then kind of move forward from there so that might take a few weeks you know maybe even a few months to to salt out yeah it's it's certainly going to take some time um but just take us behind what's happening uh over at Nevada Athletics right now like what do you think you know like R and you know is she having conversations with Gloria or is she kind of reaching out to you know Pack 12 pack 12 Representatives like what do you think is going on so as you mentioned I just came back from vacation so I haven't made any calls as we tape this we have reached out to Nevada um both yesterday and then today asking for a statement um to to this point they haven't released one um I think if you're Nevada you are trying to be as tied in as possible to unov you're calling their president I'm sure president sand ofal has called his counterpart at unov you're calling their athletic director you're trying to figure out how do we do this as a partner deal to the Pack 12 like how do we make this happen um because there are at least two more spots in the the Pack 12 probably going to end up around 10 schools I did see um Oregon State's athletic director um said that their goal is to get to nine teams maybe 10 I don't think the Pack 12 wants to go above 10 because then you're cutting the media p even lower that's one of the problems that the Mountain West has had um if you get $200 million let's say from your media rights deal and you're cutting that 10 ways is a little bit different than $200 million and you're cutting it 14 ways so I don't see the Pack 12 going above that figure of 10 and currently they're at six so they've got four spots left if they go to the AAC and they get only two okay well that leaves two for the mount West so yeah I'm trying to do everything I can to talk to the board of regions to beg you know noada and unov deserve to be in the same conference um you know we're the two division one athletic departments in the Silver State um you know it makes it a ton of sense for us for that to happen how do we as a partnership get to this pack 12 together and if you're UNLV I wouldn't want that I wouldn't want that at all I'd be like you guys are on your own we're on our own because I would imagine that the Pack 12 is looking at Nevada UNLV and saying you know like we don't we don't want the Nevada side of that deal like nothing against the wolfback they just they're not the same caliber of ceiling as a unov which comes with a much bigger media Market which comes with much better facilities which comes with a much bigger budget and which comes with a football program that's on the rise whereas Nevada's has not been good the last couple of years so um yeah if if you're the wolf pack you are trying to to tie yourself to the side of unov and ride that wave into the new conference well see if they can ride it that wave um let's transition obviously if you guys want to keep up with all all the latest uh you know news and uh you know just conference poaching um headson Nevada Sports set.com Chris already has three stories out today um so quite busy on that uh but we'll transition to the Nevada Minnesota game we sit here you know 24 hours uh from from kickoff um and you know Nevada's coming off a tough loss of Georgia Southern you know a sloppy game with you know a lot of penalties and just you know misalignment and like just just just slop all around um however you I do think the defense did play Above um you know what they were expected to just with the talent on Georgia Southern's team um just kind of walk us through what they have uh against Minnesota that's that's certainly a talented team out out in the big uh 10 yeah so Minnesota's one and one they lost to North Carolina 19 to 17 and the season opener missed the field goal at the um not the buzzer because there is no buzzer in football that's something that we've talked about in the office as time expired they lose that game and then they whipped up on Rhode Island didn't give up any points I mean Minnesota is your traditional Big 10 kind of team they have nine offensive starters back one that they don't is the back position so that's different but they're big they want to run the ball they have not run the ball very well this year under 100 rushing yards per game under three yards per carry so that's going to be the challenge for Nevada the wolfback has actually been pretty good against the Big 10 over the years only seven games but they have one two of them they beat Northwestern in the uh mid 2000s and then they beat Purdue in 2019 um three other games where they were leading for a good chunk of the game so they've really only been blown out in two of those seven games against the Big 10 one was 1993 against the top 10 Wisconsin team will throw that out the other one was more recently against Iowa in 2022 that was a really weird game it went seven hours cuz there were three lightning delays andada did hold the hawyes to 27 points so I think the wolf pack could potentially stick in this game because you look at Minnesota the bread and butter is running the ball but they haven't run it that well now Kaden Johnson who's a starting Edge for Nevada I doubt he plays he's got a dislocated elbow he's one of their better run Defenders on the defensive line but I feel like if Nevada can hold uh Minnesota under about 175 rushing yards I think it's got a a decent chance but the offense has to produce a lot better than what we saw against Georgia Southern yeah I mean outside of like that four series run four straight touchdowns in the middle of that Troy Game the offense has been a little bit iffy um you know they moved the ball pretty well against Georgia Southern but didn't cash it in for points enough so got to be way clear of penalties way too many penalties obviously can't have any turnovers and then the run defense will be key but um that Line's shot up it's opened at 11 now it's at like 17 and a half mhm so uh obviously the betters in the sports book don't have much faith in the wolf pack I mean Minnesota's like a a little bit below average Big 10 team I think they picked to finish 12th out of 16 teams in the preseason poll so um or maybe 18 teams but it's a winnable game and you're getting $1.2 million they just they got to play a lot cleaner football and um you know they they've got to be able to do more on offense than what we've seen for the majority of the Season yeah two two offenses that want to run the ball uh it's going to be heavy 12 Personnel on both sides uh that's what I noticed last week with Nevada versus Georgia Southern they had success in that formation a lot of uh you know quarterback keeps and um outside Zone runs to to save on red um so they found success there like you said they outgained uh Georgia Southern by by over 200 yards now that's a little inflated because of a late 69 yard pass uh to Jaden Smith uh but you know those yards count I guess you know um but it's yeah it's certainly going to be one and loss on on the on the fronts and uh with with Kaden Johnson down down you're going to look at christop Frost kind of kicking outside or just some Jonathan Maldonado snaps um so yeah that Minnesota front all north of 315 um so some Big Boys um but they have struggled right they haven't got that run game going now North Carolina is a is a good team a competitive team but you know not getting that against Rhode Island you know like lean a little more on the on the passing game you know a few catches by uh Donald driver's son Christian driver so a cool connection there makes us feel old former Packer receiver um but yeah it should be an interesting matchup going out to Minnesota my it's not gonna be as cold as it would be like in you know November or December so um but a bit of a homecoming for for kayen Johnson who we caught up with uh but we did catch up with Drew watts and he was talking about you know just they play Big 10 football they're gonna just come at you up front and honestly I thought that you know the the Nevada linebackers have played pretty well to start the season um so yeah a lot of a lot of uh pressure on the front seven this week um can they keep it below 17 certainly possible if it's two running offenses a lot of moving clock could be low scoring so we'll see yeah I think it's going to be a lower scoring game I mean I thought last week's game was going to be higher scoring and it was lower scoring so I mean Nevada's defense really stepped up I think the Wolfpack defense should have a pretty decent amount of success against Minnesota I think the defensive lines played pretty well um I do think if they're without Kaden Johnson that is a big loss cuz Maldonado smallie um ik nyaki like th those are good players but they're a little bit smaller and you know Kaden even said like at the beginning of his career he couldn't really hold up against a run and now that he's a fifth year senior he could so um you know that will be the big question mark there but you know like you said Minnesota showed that it could throw the ball if it needs to and you look at Minnesota under PJ Fleck historically they've been amazing in non-conference play like only a few losses but once they get into Big 10 they they you know struggle right around 500 so um we did catch up with the players and they had uh you know this to say about playing Minnesota this week and now we're on to Minnesota and when I look at Minnesota you know PJ Fleck coach teams have a very specific DNA they are huge in physical upfront they want to run the ball they get into a lot of heavy Personnel groups more two- tight end sets than we've seen in the first two games combined probably or three games and so uh that'll be the challenge is can we hold up physically with their massive offensive line uh really good Runners 24- one are really good Runners man they they run behind their p they finish runs I really like those kids I think the quarterback is getting more and more comfortable you see him week one against North Carolina see the progress he makes weeks two week two against rhod Island getting more comfortable with the the system as a transfer quarterback he's got some nice targets to throw to uh number 11 number nine on the outside he will use his tight ends in the pass game and they've got not just four of their five starters on the offensive line return nine of their 11 starters overall and so it's a very experienced offensive group and that's kind of been his that's been his kind of recipe for Success over time is build a roster keep your guys together and then be able to make a run when you've got a veteran group on the defensive side of the ball they got a new defensive coordinator um coach heatherman and uh he brings maybe it's it's a similar system but I think he brings more of an aggressive mindset than the than the previous defensive play caller did uh they're long and rangy up front 17 and 97 are a real real life uh defensive lineman they're a problem they're both you know one's 65 265 the other one's 63 295 so big bodies that that have some twitch a very experienced inside linebacker number 45 I think he leads the team in pbus right now and uh just smart tough Big 10 inside linebacker that has a ton of experience and I like number five in particular he's one of their DBS they plays uh plays corner and then he'll play some different things in their Diamond nickel packages uh I think he's a really really good football player and then on special teams they got a a guy with a big leg a lefty kicker with a big leg and I think they've got a dynamic punt returner too so um you know we're going into big 10 territory have our hands full and uh we got to go play really well how would you assess your guys as run defense going into this game uh it's good we're we're we like this game it's it's a fun game for the front seven you know we like that challenge we want to see if someone's just going to come here and try to run Us in the mouth and we're going to show them we're about and Minnesota's going to try to do that you know they're very big up front you know they run a lot of Zone schemes they got big tight ends um and they get physical a lot of 12 Personnel 11 personnel and they go on Center and they're just going to line up and say this is what we're going to do and we're ready for that challenge boyss just got to be hard no you know D lines got to stay in there do their job especially with the edge guys making sure that we're holding the edge and then overall the backers do their job if everyone does their job we'll be good guys are one and two but you've certainly played pretty well I mean pretty good football so far this season I guess you know what do you think has kind of been the difference between you know being able to close out wins I just feel like our mindset is different from the teams last year you know a lot of the guys are changing what we're doing you know we're not putting our heads down when you know we're down by a couple points we're just staying in it you know we're aggressive we're doing what we need to do and you know the outcome isn't where we want it right now but we're still working yeah it's a great opportunity for us uh going in there to a big big 10 program being able to show show them what we got and show the world we we can do against a bigger team bigger bigger conference bigger opponent uh we're really excited for the opportunity that we have to put some good tape on film so yeah Chris uh you just heard heard coach show and um a few of the players they certainly understand the task that's ahead just with the the physicality of of of this team and uh you know it's an opportunity they don't take slightly just going to a big 10 opponent's house yeah and one thing they've talked about a lot this week is that they need to do a better job of finishing executing in the fourth quarter fourth quarter is not been great for Nevada three games they've only scored seven points that was uh early touchdown in the fourth quarter at Troy outside of that they've not been able to put the ball in the end zone in the fourth quarter and obviously these first three games came down to the fourth quarter I think if Nevada can get this game to come down to the fourth quarter as a 17 and a half Point Underdog um that's great you know uh give yourself a chance at the end of the game give yourself a look and I think the more experience you get in those situations the more comfortable you are executing in those situations it's not a team that's played a lot of games close into the fourth quarter over the last couple of years so um you I think the more experience you can get doing that um when Mountain West play CLS the the better you'll be in those situations so uh I do think it'll be a close close-ish game I think Nevada will cover the line but um I just don't think that the wolfback offense has shown quite enough to to say that they'll go into Big 10 territory and win a game so I have Nevada losing this one 27 to7 um it's kind of sad that you know I wouldn't say it's clearly not trivial but with the other news of the week um I think it's kind of a downer for Wolfpack fans and you're like okay what are we what are we even doing anymore like you know we're not in the Pack 12 but uh obviously the players and the coaches they spent a ton of time getting ready for these games and I think you know Nevada football has gotten off to a pretty solid start despite the one and two record I do have them going to one and3 I do think the Gophers win by 10 what's what's your call on the game yeah uh I was originally thinking 30 17 but uh it was a little too close to you so okay we'll go we'll go 3020 uh just beating the the original line that Vegas set so 30 to 20 Minnesota wins um but I don't know you you take that if you're Nevada just to compete um you know just considering you know just how the season started everything's been within one possession right um so certainly they could be 0 and three or they can be three and0 um but I think you know if you're a wolfback fan and seen your team compete in these first four games you you'd have to walk away you know like somewhat optimistic just because you know just of the the sheer amount of blowouts loss that that they had under Ken Wilson so yeah I think the Casual fan looks at one and two and they're like a same old wolf pack like there's a lot of nuance to records and Nevada is clearly a much better team than last year I think that there's a chance they could go into Minnesota and put a scare into the Gophers where that wouldn't have been the case like a couple years ago when they went to Iowa and lost 27-0 and didn't score any points there a much improved Wolfpack um they have to continue to get better obviously the the conference schedule is very very difficult but I look at the Mountain West I look at Nevada I think Nevada can be very competitive in the conference I think if they go on the road in Big 10 territory and they win a game that that'd be huge for their confidence if not then they got to come back and they get their FCS opponent before starting conference play I think if they're two and three through their first five games it's not a terrible result but yeah you look you drill down into how they're playing the defense has played pretty well the Run game shown some flashes back toback game games with 200 plus rushing yards um Brendan Lewis at quarterback's been much better than he was last year so it's all trending up Arrow wise and you know now you got to start getting a few more wins going to be tough this week but I think if they stay on this trajectory I think you know five to seven wins could be in the picture yeah I quick shout out to a few players obviously the defense uh you have you know uh Drew Watts has having an amazing year um you know just just guys on the line henrio um so and the local kid over on the offensive side Bellon is is certainly an added piece um so certainly like you look around the roster and there's there's just players all around that are you know performing well I mean PFF had uh they did they' been tracking the college quarterbacks and Brendan Lewis has a has a QB rating of 82 which is pretty good uh you know it's it's about just above average um but certainly to see where he was at last year with the bad quarterback play and to to have the start he's having uh it's an encouraging sign now would you like to have a back uh you know a few players on on the final drive from last week sure I mean you know it's getting tackled inbounds with under a minute that lost him 20 seconds when they could have you know with those 20 seconds gained 10 15 extra yards maybe they would have put the ball in the end zone on the hill Mary you know well Nevada's not built to come from behind and I think that'll be a key against Minnesota like you know you got the ball at 90 seconds you got to go the length of the field Nevada's had that twice SMU and Georgia Southern yeah I mean Georgia Southern the hell Mary was completed but like the first five or six players on that series were kind of disastrous that is not how this team is supposed to win games it's supposed to win games by controlling the clock by controlling the turnovers by controlling their um tempers I guess with some of the penalties they had by getting a lead and trying to melt the clock and they've been able to do that for a lot of these games now they got down to Troy early but there were still a lot of game left um you know if if they're down double digits early on in this game that's going to be Troublesome because that's just not how Nevada's built right now I mean Jeff Cho did say something that I thought was super interesting he said when he took over at Montana State he kind of knew they were going to lose big to start and then they were going to lose small and they were going to win small and then they were going to win big and that usually takes multiple years to go through Nevada skip that first step they're not doing the lose big they've gone straight to lose small partially because of the transfer portal partially because they're getting the most out of their players now how do they get from lose small to win small in this short period this year and not have to wait till next year to do that that's kind of their big challenge um you know nobody wants to lose small but that's a lot better than 4 and 20 the last two seasons 16 of those losses by double digits they were losing big for two straight years and they've already gotten to lose small against pretty good competition I mean you're talking about SMU you're talking about uh Troy and Georgia Southern those are probably all Bull teams Minnesota's probably a bull Team how do you go from lose small to win small it's all about that execution in the fourth quarter which Nevada has not got down yet um but the fact that they're even in that position is a positive yeah see you just look at the two biggest things from from that Georgia Southern game just you know in terms of the effect the end of the second first half just with the the two penalties in Cate position I'd say situational awareness both from the players and the coaching staff uh so one the players 30 yards obviously eaha got hit with the personal foul and then the hands to the face um it's football that happens but uh you know you got to keep the hands low um but you know when they scored that touchdown they they like hiked the ball with like over 15 seconds left I believe and they scored but just seconds left like and they played a pretty Bas defense situationally you should be let be like all right we can line sticks up and be like they're not getting in the end zone here we can tackle them at the 10 yard line or at the five yard line with a few seconds and we're going to DARE him if they come down call timeout we'll dare him hey go for it go for it you know with two seconds either take the field goal or go for it i' i' take that gamble as a coordinator instead of just playing base when they're they went long you know they they played aggressive and you played non-aggressive yeah I post right over the middle and uh Jeff Jo said that Boise State in the game against Boise State the week prior they scored exactly like that he did take some blame they said they were in the wrong call he has taken some blame for the personal fouls he said he hasn't done a good enough job um getting that point across the guys and if you get a personal foul in this game you're on the bench um so you know Jeff Cho he's a really fun guy to talk to he's really insightful um you know I think he's doing a really good job I'm very excited to ask him on Monday what he thinks about this whole conference realignment stuff uh given that he kind of took out the conference with his schedule uh we'll see if somebody gets in his ear and is like hey you gotta be calm because you're going to get this question but that's not necessarily his personality uh would like some true insight into what he thinks about the whole situation given that he was very close to getting that Boise State job as well but uh definitely a lot uh to get to next week but we got a football game before then and it's early 1 12:30 on the big Big 10 Network so hopefully you get that channel I get it on Hulu I don't know if you get it YouTube uh I got to check you'll be in here means to to watch it I'll figure it out uh yeah but it should be a good one uh we'll see how our predictions go uh lay out um Nevada is I want to say so that they didn't beat the spread last week because it was pretty close right y uh but you know with this prediction they they they Al take a they make Vegas take another loss uh but we'll see yeah it's it should be interesting matchup it should probably be well over 40,000 fans out there so probably like one of the larger atmospheres that they're going to end up playing in this year so um but yeah stick with us uh for the weekend we're going to be covering all angles both on social and our uh website um but any last thoughts Chris did you enjoy glass animals I did so yeah I was watching glass animals over in Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View California on uh Wednesday night and I was getting hit up that the Mountain West is falling apart so that's a message to me don't go on vacation in the middle of the week or bad news might happen to the conference in the school that you cover I think just whenever you leave there something happens but I mean it was a great concert second time I've seen glass animals one of the few I've seen twice seen Pearl Jam five times yubis three times Neil Young a couple times glass animals a couple times Young the Giant a couple times so they they joined my multi concert list and actually uh Nevada baseball coach Jake McKinley going to see glass animals this Friday night tonight in San die so we were kind of texting about that he's uh excited to see that uh we had great seats we had like 10th row seats and there were like 20,000 people there so w second best seats I've ever had I was second row for Milky Chance at the Grand Sierra Resort I would definitely say like sitting closer to the stage does enhance the experience so um I used to go to Shoreline all the time for the bridge School festival and I was in college and uh we were very poor so we got lawn seats and we would sleep in my car overnight and the Jack in the Box because Jack in the Box was 24/7 so they wouldn't tow the car uh We've upgraded in the 20 years since then we're getting good seats now so very happy about the concert um not so happy for Nevada in the Mountain West yeah that's a it's a way to sum it up but I'd say for for concerts UPF front for for football games would you rather be up high2 or would you be next to the field like middle middle yeah I think basketball down on the the courts the best but yeah football you can get a little bit too close sometimes yeah you do yeah you can get a little obstructed like oh they're on the opposite end you're like I wonder what's going on down there so yeah it's a it's a Nuance thing but uh thanks for joining me thank you we'll be back next time obviously to talk more uh we don't know how this conference realignment is going to go you know tomorrow news could drop so and people will text too so all right guys we'll be back next time on inside the down