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This is why rivalry games should be played.
Nevada and UNLV collide Saturday at 30,000-seat Mackay Stadium in Reno, where school officials are anticipating only the seventh sellout since 2000.
"I expect a full house," Nevada coach Brian Polian said. "I'll be upset if it's not."
More than 2,000 students lined up before dawn on Monday to purchase tickets to the UNLV game. Polian saw them on his way to work and called it the "coolest thing I've seen since I moved here. … I'm hopeful that place will be rocking and rolling."
The Wolf Pack have won nine of the last 10 games against UNLV, but the Rebels come off an attention-getting 80-8 victory over Idaho State. It was the first win for coach Tony Sanchez, the former Bishop Gorman High School coach who took the UNLV job last winter.
The Rebels built leads of 35-0 at the end of the first quarter, 52-8 at halftime and 73-8 entering the fourth quarter. They broke the Mountain West record of 72 points in a game.
"I think anybody that's going to turn on the film … and watch [this] game is going to be a little scared to come up against us," quarterback Blake Decker said.
Around the Mountain
• Sophomore offensive lineman Zach Golditch is questionable for Colorado State's game at Utah State because of a sprained ankle. He has started all four games this season. Golditch is a survivor of the 2012 Aurora theater shooting. He was wounded in the neck. Shortly after the tragedy, Golditch's father told the Denver Post, "The surgeon told us had [the bullet] been a sixteenth of an inch in another location, he could have become paralyzed because it would have hit his spine."
• After a 56-14 win at Virginia, Boise State's biggest quarterback problem is downplaying expectations for freshman quarterback Brett Rypien. He replaced injured starter Ryan Finley against the Cavaliers and completed 24 of 35 passes for 321 yards and three touchdowns. "He was the Washington state Player of the Year," said offensive coordinator Eliah (cq) Drinkwitz. "He's been surrounded by [hype] his whole life. I don't think it will bother him."
• Air Force is starting to plan a major renovation of Falcon Stadium, which was built in 1962. One of the priorities, according to athletic director Jim Knowlton, will be construction of a huge high-definition scoreboard. How huge? "Our goal is to certainly have the biggest in the Mountain West," he said. "And we'd like to be at last one inch bigger than Army and Navy."
• Wyoming is 0-4 and a 25-point underdog at Appalachian State on Saturday. That didn't stop New Mexico from celebrating last week's 38-28 win over the Cowboys in Laramie. It was the Lobos' first victory in a conference opener since 2005. "We were kind of identity-less," coach Bob Davie said. "... [So] I thought this was a key game for us - a key, key game for us."
• Fresno State has lost two of its four scholarship quarterbacks for the season because of injury. Cashon Virgil suffered a broken collarbone against Utah on Sept. 19. This week, junior college transfer Ford Childress underwent surgery for an unidentified "internal injury" after a 49-23 loss to San Jose State. "Sometimes when it rains it pours," coach Tim DeRuyter said. "But you know what? No one is going to feel sorry for the 'Dogs, so we better not feel sorry for ourselves, either." —
Mountain West TPR
1 • Boise State (3-1)
Owns wins over Washington, Virginia
2 • Air Force (2-1)
Leads the league in scoring (40.3)
3 • Colorado State (2-2)
Opponents 16-for-59 on third down
4 • San Jose State (2-2)
Looked like a contender vs. Fresno
5 • Utah State (1-2)
Kent Myers now No. 1 quarterback
6 • Nevada (2-2)
Four of next six games at home
7 • Hawaii (1-3)
Third mainland trek in four weeks
8 • New Mexico (2-2)
Rival New Mexico State is next
9 • Fresno State (1-3)
Allowed 167 points in three losses
10 • San Diego State (1-3)
Is Rocky Long on the hot seat?
11 • UNLV (1-3)
Dropped 80 points on Idaho State
12 • Wyoming (0-4)
Winless season is possible now