Coach wants Pack to keep focus
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BY CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star
It doesn’t matter how old you are. Venturing into a new backyard for an afternoon of football is a guarantee to send curiosity and excitement levels skyrocketing.
You know, then, what kind of effect Nebraska’s plush play area will have on the University of Nevada on Saturday.
Fortunately for the Wolf Pack, there should be no wonderment about the Huskers — they’ve seen these kinds of kids before.
In last season’s MPC Computers Bowl, Nevada nearly knocked Miami off its tradition-rich rocker before losing 21-20. Not quite the result the Wolf Pack wanted, but also not a bad thing to carry into the offseason — especially when you know who’s up next.
“Do I see a calmness?” Chris Ault said, repeating a question about whether he believes the experience against the Hurricanes has served his team well in the buildup to Saturday’s game. “I’m hoping I’m getting across to them that we’ve got to worry about us. We’ve got to be worried about keeping our focus on what we’re supposed to do, and how we’re supposed to do it.
“I’m not interested in saying, ‘Hey, here’s what you did against Miami.’ It’s two totally different programs. It’s a new year.”
The Wolf Pack seem to recognize, though, that Saturday’s challenge will be a different monster than playing Miami, mainly because the game isn’t at a neutral site.
Ault has a no-interview policy regarding his players speaking to non-Nevada media, but nose guard Matt Hines told the Reno Gazette-Journal that the trip to Lincoln holds more intrigue.
“When we played Miami, people asked us about the ‘wow’ factor, but we played them in Boise,” said Hines, the anchor of the Wolf Pack’s defensive front. “Here, we’re going into their territory, their stadium, all those people. Hopefully, when we get there Friday, it will take away some of that ‘wow’ factor for us. But I can’t say there isn’t going to be (one).”
More pertinent concern for Nevada is how sophomore quarterback Nick Graziano and junior running back Luke Lippincott respond to starting.
The Wolf Pack will be without injured center Dominic Green, a second-team All-Western Athletic Conference performer in 2006, and outside linebacker Ezra Butler, named preseason WAC defensive player of the year by CollegeFootballNews.com. Butler, who led the WAC with 18 tackles for loss last season, is serving a suspension for an unspecified violation of team rules.
“It throws some intangibles in there when you’re without some of the guys you’d like to have,” Graziano told the Gazette-Journal. “But either way, you’ve got to go out there come game time and perform as well as you can as an individual and hope the team comes together.”
Added inside linebacker Joshua Mauga, another player being touted for postseason honors: “The guys that are freshmen, the guys that are new to the defense, they’ve just got to step it up and cover their one-11th.”
Drowning out the noise of a crowd that’s likely to be the largest Nevada has played in front of will raise the degree of difficulty. But it was only four years ago that the Wolf Pack went to Washington and silenced most of the 70,149 on hand during a 28-17 victory.
“I’m sure I’ll have the butterflies right before the game. They’re a big-time school,” Lippincott said. “But ... I’m looking forward to seeing that sea of red. I can already feel the chills when I walk out of that tunnel. I’m ready for it.”
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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