UNLV players pull the Fremont Cannon after beating Nevada on Nov. 30 in Las Vegas.
David Becker/AP
Sports Fodder:
The Nevada Wolf Pack football team will head into its 2025 season opener at Penn State on Aug. 30 with 33 losses in its last 41 games, a sad, long and winding road of games since the middle of November 2021.
That 8-33 record (.195 winning percentage) includes a 3-23 record in Mountain West games, 4-16 overall at home, 4-16 on the road and 0-1 in a disturbing bowl game where the Pack was left with cheerleaders and band members as backup wide receivers and a coaching staff that was put together with glue, string, tape and thumb tacks.
The 2024 season ended with a demoralizing 38-14 loss at UNLV this past Saturday night that wasn't as close as the score might indicate. How competitive was the Pack? Well, imagine Yoko Ono walking on stage in Las Vegas in the late 1950s or early 1960s to sing with the Rat Pack. It's only a matter of time before UNLV straps some neon on the side of the Fremont Cannon.
This is getting serious, Pack fans. Yes, we figured this wasn't going to be a nice and easy one-year fix. But does it have to be a one-decade fix? The Pack is now the only FBS team in the nation that has lost 10 or more games in each of the past three seasons, going 2-10 in both 2022 and 2023 and 3-10 this year. Akron and Vanderbilt, which both finished 2-10 in 2022 and 2023, woke up and finished 4-8 (Akron) and 6-6 (Vanderbilt) this year. The Pack is still sleeping, as we saw this past Saturday when not even a red cannon, the bright lights of Vegas and the cocky and confident Rebels could get them fired up.
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How did head coach Barry Odom, a guy who was nothing but mediocre at Missouri (25-25) in his only previous head coaching gig, turn the Rebels around so quickly?
Well, it certainly helped that he came to UNLV in the transfer portal era, an everything-goes time in college football which is perfect for the deep and never-empty pockets of Las Vegas. But Odom is more than a guy who can throw money around. He has transformed an entire program, a program that couldn't get out of its own way for the better part of the last six decades or so, in less than two full seasons.
Odom came to UNLV for the 2023 season and was handed the remnants of a 5-7 Rebel team in 2022. He talked big, made big promises and delivered almost immediately. He produced a 9-5 record in 2023 and is, so far, 10-2 this season and on his way to his second consecutive Mountain West title game (this Friday at Boise State) and his second consecutive bowl game. This is the same program that went to one bowl game from 2001 through 2022.
There's no denying that Odom's Rebels now own the state. The Pack has gone 7-30 over the last three years (0-3 against UNLV) without a game beyond the regular season and losing streaks of 10, six (twice) and four games while the Rebels have gone 24-14 with two bowl games and two conference title game appearances with winning streaks of five, four (twice) and three (twice).
Don't be shocked if Barry's Boys stun Boise State on Friday and steal the Broncos' College Football Playoff spot.
You can't even compare the talent on the Pack's roster the last two years under Odom to that of the Pack's under Wilson and Choate. At times on Saturday it looked like the Pack had a late 1970s Big Sky Conference Chris Ault roster while Odom had a big bucks, big conference, transfer portal roster. Choate has clearly improved the talent level of the Pack roster in his one season but, as we saw on Saturday, there's no real depth. The Pack lost journeymen running backs Savion Red and Patrick Garwo and struggled to move the ball. Odom lost his starting quarterback in each of his two seasons and didn't blink an eye.
Yes, Choate will always have the ability to offer playing time and opportunity to recruits. But playing time and opportunity can only go so far against an offer of playing time, opportunity and a big, fat check. Choate, himself, made a point of reminding us of that distasteful fact after a 27-0 loss to Minnesota earlier this year. His players reminded us this past Saturday.
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Everything in Las Vegas, though, has a shelf life. Nothing in Fake City lasts forever. The Wolf Pack, in fact, might never have to face Odom ever again after last Saturday.
Odom, of course, is a hot commodity in the always-changing and impatient world of college football. His name has already been attached to the open West Virginia job. If Ryan Day gets booted out of Ohio State, we might see Odom going up against Michigan next season. The fun is only getting started.
Odom, if he desires, will likely have a half dozen or so unofficial offers from desperate programs around the country over the next month or so. They will all have bigger budgets than UNLV and will all play in a bigger, more prestigious conference. The first reason (a bigger, fatter paycheck to give to his family and his recruits) is all well and good. But it's the second reason (a more prestigious conference) that will be the driving force behind Odom leaving UNLV.
The Mountain West, don't forget, is wilting away before our eyes. It has one more year of being somewhat relevant in college football. But starting in 2026, when Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Utah State leave to join Oregon State and Washington State in the new and not-so-much improved Pac-12, the Mountain West will be a ghost town.
The Mountain West's reaction to losing Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, Utah State and San Diego State, so far, has been to add Grand Canyon and UTEP.
Grand Canyon doesn't even have a football team. It's sort of like a guy who lost his Porsche in a divorce settlement and replaced it with a riding lawn mower.
Why would Odom want to spend his career competing in a conference with Nevada, San Jose State, Wyoming, New Mexico, Hawaii, Air Force and UTEP? He wouldn't. The man cut his college football teeth at Missouri as a player in the Big 12 and as a coach in the SEC. The Mountain West starting in 2026 will just be late night programming for a desperate streaming service.
Choate, who is just Odom without a budget, likely won't want to stay at Nevada if he ever figures out a way to win close games.
Welcome to the new Wolf Pack football world. Just when you think it couldn't get worse, well, it does.
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There are, however, signs that the losing at Nevada will at least slow down starting in 2025. Choate and his staff are quality coaches. That, alone, is a step in the right direction from 2022 and 2023. This staff proved it could at least stay close in games now and then. Six of the 10 losses were by seven or fewer points. Heck, it was seven points or less for the first 16 minutes on Saturday. Two of those close losses this year were even against teams (Boise State and SMU) that finished with a winning record this year.
The Pack, even with the 24-point loss in Las Vegas, was only outscored 374-300 over 13 games. That's just a difference of 5.6 points (a couple of Xavier Dusell, Nick Davidson or Kobe Sanders 3-pointers) a game. Compare that to 401-208 in 2023 and 371-226 in 2022 and, well, you can see the improvement was real.
Choate and his staff also proved they knew how to develop a quarterback. Brendon Lewis, who was bounced around by Ken Wilson and his staff in 2023, transformed into one of the best offensive weapons in the Mountain West. He passed for 2,290 yards and 16 touchdowns on a 67.6 completion percentage and rushed for 775 yards and eight touchdowns. His 3-9 record as a starter this year was only slightly better than his 2-9 record in 2023 but, hey, it wasn't about the wins and losses this year, Choate told us as the losses piled up.
Before you start comparing Lewis to Carson Strong, Cody Fajardo or even Fred Gatlin (the Wolf Pack's 1990 version of the five-inning starting pitcher), keep in mind that Lewis was, more often than not, simply a stat collector this year. He threw just five touchdown passes in the fourth quarter all season, with just one coming in a victory (against Troy). The other four did nothing but keep the final score respectable and came while the opponent was mentally celebrating a victory.
The running game under Choate, the thing he said he hangs his hat on, simply melted down to almost nothing in the second half of the season after injuries to starters Savion Red and Patrick Garwo. Who knew those two journeyman backs were so important to the Choate culture?
Choate now has to go back to the chalkboard and draw up a new plan with new transfer portal bargains and journeymen. That is the stark reality of college football now at schools with fragile budgets in conferences that wouldn't survive without TV money. Every year is a new year with new players, new expectations and new frustrations.
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Why did the Pack start 3-4 and end up losing its last six games? Well, injuries and fatigue are always a problem in football and certainly hurt the Pack.
But a couple other areas also stood out as the season progressed. The Wolf Pack turned the ball over nine times over the last five games after losing the ball six times over the first eight games. Three of those six turnovers in the first eight games came against the big-budget Minnesota Gophers.
Also, what happened to the Wolf Pack run defense as the year progressed? By the end of the year opponents were simply running through the Pack defense to the tune of 274 (Boise State), 318 (Air Force) and 351 (UNLV) rushing yards. Hawaii also ran for 242 in Game 9 and Colorado State had 170 in Game 10.
That's what happens to low-budget teams without a ton of depth. You finish with a six-game losing streak because you simply can't stop even what you know is coming. The Pack lost its last 10 games in 2022 and its last four last year.
In case you are wondering, the Wolf Pack's record after Nevada Day over the last three years is 0-11. Blame it on the parade.
