Nevada State University

The Nevada Wolf Pack football program represents the University of Nevada (commonly referred to as "Nevada" in athletics) in college football. The Wolf Pack competes in the Mountain West Conference at the Football Bowl Subdivision level of the NCAA Division I. The Wolf Pack's home field is Mackay Stadium in Reno, which opened in October 1966 with a seating capacity of 7, 500. The stadium currently seats 30, 000 and has played to crowds in excess (see Attendance Records at Mackay Stadium), but the stadium will be decreasing its capacity to 26, 000 by the 2016 season in order to increase the quality of the experience in the stadium. The playing field sits at an elevation of 4, 610 feet (1, 405 m) above sea level.

History[edit]

Nevada's football history began in 1895 or 1896. However, there was no football program from 1906-14 (only rugby), in 1918 (due to World War I), and in 1951.

Nevada has had three individuals inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. They are coach Chris Ault, running back Frank Hawkins (1977-80), and former coach Buck Shaw. Fullback Marion Motley is the only Nevada player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Three-time Super Bowl champion Charles Mann played for Nevada from 1979 to 1982 and was named Most Valuable Defensive Lineman in 1982. Mann was inducted into the Nevada Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995. Another Nevada alumnus with a long career in the NFL was free safety Brock Marion. He was selected in the seventh round of the 1993 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys where he played most of his career, and won two Super Bowls. Marion was selected to three Pro Bowls, and one All-Pro team.

Nevada has not fielded a Heisman Trophy winner; however, Stan Heath was fifth in Heisman voting in 1948 and Colin Kaepernick (QB) was eighth among 2010 candidates. Nevada football's rich tradition has produced 40 All-Americans and 45 All-American selections. Nevada's only consensus All-American was Matt Clafton (LB) in 1991, which was Nevada's last year in the Division I-AA; the Wolf Pack is awaiting their first FBS consensus All-American. The Wolf Pack has also produced two Academic All-Americans: David Heppe (P, 1982) and Erick Streelman (TE, 2002)

I-AA history[edit]

The Wolf Pack competed in Division I-AA since the formation of that division in 1978, moving up from Division II. Before joining the Big Sky Conference in 1979, Nevada competed in the Far West Conference and as a Division II independent in football. Nevada competed in the Division I-AA playoffs in its first two seasons, when just four teams were selected. They returned to the national semi-finals in 1983 and 1985, when the playoffs included 12 teams, and 1986 with a 16 team field. The Wolf Pack reached the national championship game in 1990, and the quarterfinals in 1991.

In its 14 years in Division I-AA, Nevada made the playoffs seven times, and went undefeated during the regular season three times (1978, 1986, 1991), compiling an overall record of 122-47-1 (.720). Nevada would record a record of 9-7 in the Division I-AA playoffs during their time in the Big Sky Conference. In 13 years of Big Sky membership, the Wolf Pack won four conference titles (1983, 1986, 1990, 1991).