While the temperature in Southern Nevada may suggest otherwise, football season is upon us. The National Football League starts its pre-season in the middle of August, while the NCAA starts a few weeks later on September 3.

There is plenty of room for prognostication—and for those so inclined to profit (see Dave Bontempo’s sports section on page 28)—when discussing the upcoming football season, and there are far too many teams to discuss considering the fact that people from all over the country now call Las Vegas home.

And while alumni will always have an allegiance to their schools, there is a possibility of some exciting football games being played in the state, as both the Rebels and Wolf Pack look to build on their successes last year, while also improving their almost nonexistent defensive play.

Defending Nevada
Neither of Nevada’s college teams accomplished much in 2008. Yes, the University of Nevada-Reno (7-6) made it to the Humanitarian Bowl, but they lost to Maryland 35-42. And the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (5-7) pulled off two impressive overtime wins, beating the then-ranked 15 Arizona State University Sun Devils 23-20 in Tempe and topping Iowa State 34-31 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, but that is about it for both teams.

In looking at the numbers from last year, it is easy to see that for both teams, the biggest problem lies on the defensive side of the field. Both teams yielded more than 400 yards a game, with UNR ranking as the No. 91 defense in the country, and UNLV coming in at No. 103. The teams ranked in similar positions in terms of scoring allowed, both giving up about 32 points per game.

But things do tend to look a little better for the Wolf Pack than the Rebels. While UNR has a tough non-conference schedule facing pass-happy teams like Notre Dame and Missouri (UNR was the worst team in the nation for pass yards given up), there is some hope that the experience of going up against these teams will pay off when the conference schedule comes around. If the defense can keep the team in games, the offense has a good chance to pull out victories.

That’s largely because quarterback Colin Kaepernick is excellent at running the school’s “pistol” offense. Last year, the team was a leader in rushing, overall yards and points-per-game. With Kaepernick and running back Vai Taua returning to the Wolf Pack backfield, there is already some talk in Reno about the possibility of a Western Athletic Conference championship.

For the team down south, there are a lot more questions and fewer answers. The team has demonstrated slow but steady improvement under head coach Mike Sanford, and was one win short of bowl eligibility last year. A conference championship seems unlikely—though certainly not impossible—and the team would probably consider it a win to take the next step and make it to a bowl game.

Like UNR, UNLV’s success will largely depend on the defense. There are eight returning starters on this year’s team, and that’s about the best news there is. A year of experience can make a huge difference at this level, and if players like Jason Beauchamp can step up at the linebacking position and Quinton Pointer continues his development at cornerback, the team might have a chance. The loss of both starting defensive tackles might hurt the front four, but considering the team averaged less than one sack per game last year, the damage can’t be too severe.

The Rebels have finally found themselves a quarterback in Omar Clayton, who threw for 1,894 yards, 18 touchdowns and just four interceptions before going down with a knee injury last year. Clayton’s favorite target, Ryan Wolfe, who caught 88 passes for 1,040 yards and six touchdowns last year, is returning for his senior year. The big question is whether the team will be able to replace the bruising running back Frank Summers, who racked up 740 yards last year.

Of course, for fans of these two teams, the biggest question is who is going to claim the Fremont Canon this year. The teams meet October 3 in Reno for an afternoon game. It is early enough in the season that the development of the Nevada secondary might still be a work in progress, giving Clayton and the Rebels the opportunity to put up big numbers. But given that they couldn’t do it last year in Las Vegas, it is hard to see how the Rebels will beat the Wolf Pack team that has had their number for the past four years. Nevada leads the series with UNLV 19-15. The teams looks poised to take that number of wins up to 20 this year.

Not surprisingly, neither of the Nevada teams are on the national radar, but several of their conference foes are. While there are a number of different organizations that release pre-season rankings, from CBS and ESPN to the Associated Press and USA Today, for all intents and purposes, it’s all speculation, and if you want proof, just look at the pre-season No. 9 and No. 13 from the AP poll last year: Clemson and Wisconsin, respectively. Five weeks into the season and Clemson was off the list and Wisconsin was down to No. 18 and dropping fast. The next week, the Badgers were also unranked. And for both teams it would stay that way for the rest of the year.

That said, Rivals.com lists Boise State of the WAC as a pre-season No. 9. The early talk is that with some improvement on the defensive line, the Broncos, led by quarterback Kellen Moore, could very well be looking at an undefeated season this year. The Wolf Pack will have its say on that when the team travels to the blue field of Boise November 27.

In the Mountain West, the Utah Utes are a pre-season No. 17 while the in-state rival in Provo, BYU, is a pre-season No. 22. The Utes will continue their ground dominance this year—although the passing game remains a big question—and with a lot of key players returning on defense, the team is definitely dangerous. For the Cougars of BYU, an improved defense could be offset by having to replace four starters on the offensive line. UNLV gets to play both of these teams at home, which is a good thing, but the games are back-to-back with the stormin’ Mormons coming October 10 and Utah coming October 17.

By Greg Jones

Greg Jones is managing editor of Casino Connection Nevada, as well as associate editor of Global Gaming Business magazine.