Sports Fodder: Notre Dame is a landmark opportunity for Wolf Pack

Sports fodder for a Friday morning . . .

Chris Ault has made absolutely no effort this summer to hide the fact that his Nevada Wolf Pack football team's defense was in a state of chaos last year. Hey, we knew it was bad. But we didn't really know how truly dysfunctional it was all year. In an interview with The Sporting News last week, Ault was quoted as saying "Our biggest problem last year was that our players (on defense), when you don't understand what you're doing, you can't execute." He also said, "Fundamentally (this year) we will be sound (on defense), whereas, last year we were not." If the players don't know what they are doing and the team is not sound fundamentally, who do you blame? Well, you don't blame the players.

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Ault has come out this summer with all guns blazing when it comes to talking about his defense. In that same Sporting News interview he put senior safety Jonathon Amaya on the spot. "He had as poor a season as you'd want to have (in 2008)," Ault said. It's obvious from Ault's pointed comments this summer that there is a sense of urgency with the Pack this year on defense. There is no way Ault is going to let the defense ruin the junior and senior years of Colin Kaepernick, the best quarterback to ever slip on a Nevada uniform.

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Ault is trying to downplay the importance of the Notre Dame game as much as he can this summer. That's fine. That's his job. But don't for a second underestimate what this game means to Ault and to the Pack. Despite what has happened the last two years, Notre Dame is still the epitome of college football. Every coach dreams of two things - coaching for Notre Dame and, if that isn't possible, beating Notre Dame. The Pack football program and Ault's career (they are the same thing, by the way) desperately needs a signature victory like beating Notre Dame. Beating Boise will raise a few eyebrows in Idaho Falls, Nampa and Owyhee. Beat Notre Dame and the folks at the Vatican (and ESPN) will take notice.

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Ault has said repeatedly that "I am not interested in opportunities. I am interested in our football team going out there and getting after it." We couldn't agree more. Notre Dame is certainly an opportunity. But you can't just be happy with the opportunity. You have to grab that opportunity by the neck and choke the life out of it. The Pack has had opportunities before. Remember Nebraska in 2007, Missouri and Texas Tech last year, Arizona State in 2006, Oregon in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2003, Wisconsin in 1993? Notre Dame is the biggest one of all.

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The International Olympic Committee is going to recommend that golf and rugby be added to the 2016 Games. Rugby would be a great Olympic sport. But golf? Really? Don't we already have an Olympic-type golf event, with players competing from all over the world, every single week? I'm sorry, but watching Tiger Woods with a gold medal hanging from his neck, covering up his sponsor's logos attached all over his body while singing the national anthem, just won't bring a tear to my eye. We can see it now. The 2016 Olympic golf competition will be the same weekend as the 2016 (Insert New Sponsor Name Here) Reno-Tahoe Open.

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Michael Crabtree needs a dose of reality. The former Texas Tech wide receiver, who was the 10th overall pick by the Niners in last spring's draft, is holding out for more money. Crabtree seems to believe that he should have been picked somewhere in the first five picks and wants to be paid like it. Well, the Niners should treat him like he wasn't drafted at all. First of all, with Alex Smith or Shaun Hill at quarterback, it doesn't matter who catches the ball. And, second, coach Mike Singletary is going to treat every game like it's December in Chicago, 10 degrees below zero outside, and run the ball. The 49ers need their wideouts to block and, well, the last time Texas Tech wide receivers played with blocks, they were wearing diapers.