Nevada’s money games have led to a lotta money … and a lotta losses

Nevada Sports Net columnist Chris Murray is known to be a bit wordy, so we’re giving him 1,000 words (but no more than that) every Friday to share his thoughts from the week that was in the world of sports.

* I’LL ALWAYS REMEMBER the Nevada football team’s 2007 game at Nebraska. It was the start of a new era for the Wolf Pack. Yes, Nevada had played big-name opponents before, teams like Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington and Cal. But playing Nebraska was different. This was the first time Nevada decided it would trade an automatic loss for a lot of money. The Wolf Pack got $750,000 — far and away a school record at the time — to open the season in Lincoln. The result was predictable, a 52-10 loss against a bad Cornhuskers that missed a bowl with a 5-7 record. Nevada’s only score was a pick-six, and it was outgained 625 yards to 185 with a 35-9 deficit in first downs.

* BUT THAT GAME opened the floodgates for Nevada to play so-called “buy games” where you go on the road as a major underdog against a superior opponent. I was working at the Reno Gazette-Journal back then and our game preview included a graphic of Nebraska’s red Block N chasing Nevada’s blue Block N (they both had anthropometric arms and legs). Nebraska’s Block N was much larger than Nevada’s, a big brother versus little brother motif. It upset some Wolf Pack boosters, but the result on the field later that week reaffirmed graphic. Nevada was taking a bag of money for a 42-point loss because it needed the cash and Nebraska football creates enough thanks to its fan base to give it away for an easy win.

* NEVADA PLAYS ANOTHER one of those games Saturday when it opens the season at No. 2 Penn State, which has national title aspirations and probably two dozen future NFL players. The Wolf Pack is a school-record 43-point underdog. It also is getting $1.6 million to play the game, up from the original $1.45 million when this contract was signed in 2017. Since that Nebraska game in 2007, Nevada football has played 13 “buy games” in which it got at least $600,000 but not a home game against that opponent in return. The Wolf Pack is 0-13 in those games while being outscored 608-141. That’s an average margin of loss of 47-11. Nevada has been shut out in four of those games and allowed at least 50 points five times.

* SO, WHY PLAY these games? The money, of course. Those 13 contests have paid Nevada $13.4 million, or more than $1 million per game. And those payouts are only going up. The Wolf Pack will get $1.85 million to play at Ohio State in 2029, $1.6 million to play at Kansas in 2029, another $1.6 million to play Nebraska in 2029, $1.35 million to play at USC in 2027, $1.3 million million to play at UCLA in 2026 and $800,000 to play at Utah in 2028 (why so cheap, Utes?). Not all Mountain West schools approach football scheduling like this, but Nevada made a decision nearly two decades ago to do so, and I don’t see that changing anytime in the near future. The financial bottom line is the financial bottom line.

* AND I’M NOT against playing these games. Players come to Nevada because they weren’t recruited by these power-conference schools, so giving them a chance to play in a college football cathedral once per season is fine. Over the years, Nevada has played at Notre Dame Stadium, USC’s Coliseum, UCLA’s Rose Bowl, Texas A&M’s Kyle Field, Oregon’s Autzen Stadium, Florida State’s Doak Campbell Stadium and now Penn State’s Beaver Stadium, which at a capacity of almost 107,000 fans is the second largest in college football. It’s worth taking the money once per year and giving your players that experience even though we all know the eventual result.

* THE WOLF PACK has never played a team within single digits in those 13 “buy games” starting in Nebraska, the closest it got coming in 2017 when Jay Norvell’s team nearly upset Northwestern in his Nevada head-coaching debut. The Wolf Pack was up 20-17 with less than 6 minutes to play before a pair of fourth-down plays went the Wildcats’ way as Northwestern scored two late touchdowns for an 11-point win (31-20) in a game Nevada led by 10 at halftime before being outscored 24-3 after intermission. And that was a good Northwestern team went 10-3 and finished 17th in the nation. Nevada got $1.3 million to play that game and nearly got a win. But that game was an anomaly.

* OUTSIDE OF THE near miss at Northwestern, the Wolf Pack has traditionally been blown out in these “buy” games, the second-closet margin being a 17-point loss at Texas A&M in 2015 that wasn’t nearly that close. Oftentimes things have gotten out of hand like a 66-14 loss at USC in 2023; a 62-7 whopping at Florida State in 2013; losses of 69-20 and 77-6 at Oregon in 2011 and 2019; losses of 35-0 and 39-10 at Notre Dame in 2009 and 2016; a 41-10 drubbing at Vanderbilt in 2018; and back-to-back 27-0 shutouts against Big Ten teams Iowa (2022) and Minnesota (2024). But the cash still clears, so the games are still played.

* IF NEVADA KEEPS playing these games — it will — you have to figure the Wolf Pack will strike an upset and get paid at the same time at some point. It won’t be against a top-five team like Penn State. That bar is too high to clear. But could it happen next season at the Rose Bowl when the Wolf Pack plays the Bruins and gets $1.3 million? I’m calling it now. Nevada wins that game and takes the cash, too. As for this Saturday at Penn State? If history is an indicator, things could get ugly.

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.