With No. 12 Texas Tech and No. 6 Missouri on the docket back to back, Nevada believes its 2008 football schedule to be the most challenging in the program’s 101-season history.

The same wouldn’t be said of Tech’s 2008 schedule. But so far as September goes, the team on paper that looks most challenging to the Red Raiders is Nevada. Picked third in the nine-team Western Athletic Conference, Nevada has won 23 games over the last three years and has 13 starters back from its third consecutive bowl team.

College football

  Who: Texas Tech at Nevada

  When: 8:05 p.m. CDT today

  Where: Mackay
Stadium, Reno, Nev.

  Records: Tech 1-0, Nevada 1-0

  Radio/TV: KKAM 1340 AM/None

  Line: Tech by 10

Plus, few have questioned the Wolf Pack’s coaching since Chris Ault is already in the College Football Hall of Fame, his 192 victories ranking fifth among active Division I-A coaches.
There’s also the not-small consideration that Nevada is Tech’s only non-conference road game. The Wolf Pack (1-0) hosts the Raiders (1-0) at 8:05 p.m. CDT today at Mackay Stadium, which seats just less than 30,000.
“Going on the road, to a team that’s on the rise, we understand that we’re going to have to go play well if we want to win,” Tech quarterback Graham Harrell said.
Tech coach Mike Leach called last week’s 49-24 win over Eastern Washington “extremely sloppy,” but Ault gave a similar account of his team’s 49-13 opening win against Grambling State.
“Offensively, we moved the ball well but made an awful lot of fundamental mistakes,” he said.
Nevada beat Central Florida and lost to Miami — both in one-point bowl games — to end 2005 and 2006, respectively. The Wolf Pack lost 23-0 to New Mexico in last year’s New Mexico Bowl, an odd finish for a team that ranked 11th in the nation in total offense and 12th in rushing offense while averaging nearly 34 points per game.
Nevada looked more like its old self last week, rolling up 629 yards.
“They’ve got a great coach who I’m sure will be in several Hall of Fames once he retires,” Leach said. “They’ve got a great tradition there and a team that’s got a diverse offense and a diverse defense. They expect a lot of success, and they’ve gone to bowls the last few years.”
Last year, rugged running back Luke Lippincott had a WAC-best 1,420 rushing yards and quarterback Colin Kaepernick ran for 593. They’re the hub of the team’s one-back, run-dominant “Pistol” offense.
But the Wolf Pack have just as many concerns about Tech.
Harrell led the nation in passing last year, though Nevada has plenty of experience at preparing for passing teams. Last year, the Wolf Pack faced teams that finished the season ranked Nos. 2, 5, 7 and 11 in passing offense — losing to Nebraska (52-19), Northwestern (36-31) and Hawaii (28-26) and winning against New Mexico State (40-38).
Ault says Tech, though, is on another level.
“They’re the best passing team that we’ve played in quite a while here, including Hawaii,” Ault said. “They have so many offensive weapons, it’s tough to slow them down.”
Former Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan barely played against Nevada last year, having been knocked out the week before. He threw for 419 and 409 yards in his two previous games against the Wolf Pack, but Ault said the Raiders are more challenging.
“It’s a much different offense,” Ault said. “They’re just as explosive, but their offense is more complex than Hawaii’s.”
For the second week in a row, Tech has some uncertainty about its opponent’s defensive plan. Eastern Washington’s defensive coordinator, John Graham, was a newcomer from Central Washington, and Nevada’s defensive coordinator, Nigel Burton, is a newcomer from Oregon State, where he spent the last five seasons.
That being the case, Tech has studied some of Burton’s old team as well as his new one.
“They’ve got a new coordinator, so we’re having to draw off of other film,” Leach said. “They’ve got kind of an unusual defense. They play some man (coverage) on the outside and zone the rest of them. They’re an aggressive group, and they do a real good job running to the ball.”