Andressa Cholodovskis / Nevada A

Football
August 20, 2024

Nevada (0-0) vs. SMU (0-0)

Saturday 24 Aug 2024 – 5:00 PM
Reno, Nevada – Mackay Stadium

TV: CBS Sports Network (PxP: Rich Waltz; Analyst: Robert Turbin; Sideline: Amanda Guerra)

Radio: Wolf Pack Radio Network – KOZZ 105.7 FM/siriusxm Ch. 386
(PxP: John Ramey; Analyst: Mike Edwards)
Westwood One Radio – siriusxm Chapter 84
(PxP: Ryan Radtke; Analyst: Derek Rackley)

RENO, Nevada – The 2024 campaign begins in Week 0 as Nevada hosts new ACC member SMU on Saturday at Mackay Stadium. Saturday’s game against the Mustangs is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. ET and will air on CBS Sports Network with Rich Waltz (play-by-play), Robert Turbin (analyst) and Amanda Guerra (Sideline Reporter) on the call.

The Wolf Pack Radio Network will carry the game on KOZZ 105.7 FM in Northern Nevada, online at www.thevarsitynetwork.com and on the Varsity Network app, and on SiriusXM Ch. 386. John Ramey (play-by-play) and Mike Edwards (analyst) will be in the booth, with the 60-minute pregame show beginning at 4:00 p.m. The game will also be broadcast nationally on Westwood One Radio (SiriusXM Ch. 84) with Ryan Radtke (play-by-play) and Derek Rackley (analyst) calling the games.

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday’s meeting will be the seventh all-time between Nevada and SMU. Each team has won three times in the series, with SMU winning the last two. The teams most recently met in the 2009 Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl, when the Mustangs defeated the Wolf Pack 45-10.

ABOUT SMU
Saturday also marks SMU’s first football game as a full member of the ACC. The Mustangs previously played in the American Athletic Conference, capturing the conference title in 2023 with a perfect 8-0 record and a championship game win over Tulane. The Mustangs, who received the fourth-most votes among teams just outside the first Associated Press Poll of 2024, went 11-3 last season, closing with a 23-14 loss to Boston College in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl.

THE LAUNCH
Nevada Football’s launch began on December 4, 2023, when Jeff Choate was named the 28th head coach in program history.

Choate brings a championship history to Reno, with a long streak of postseason appearances (FCS semifinal with Montana State in 2019, College Football Playoff semifinal with Texas in 2023), top-10 programs and Fiesta Bowl victories in 2006 and 2011.

His first stint as head coach was at Montana State from 2016 to 2020, during which time he led the Bobcats to a 19-9 record in his final two seasons, culminating in an 11-4 record and a berth in the FCS semifinals in 2019.

Choate spent the past three seasons (2021-23) at Texas, where he served as the Longhorns’ co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach. Under Choate’s watch, the Longhorn defense ranked among the Big XII in rushing defense (82.4 ypg, third in the nation), scoring defense (18.9 points per game, 15th in the nation), third-down conversion percentage defense (26.6 percent, second in the nation) and total defense (336.7 yards per game) while ranking in the top 10 nationally in red-zone defense (73.8 percent, seventh) as the Longhorns posted a 12-2 record, the Big XII title and a berth in the College Football Playoff.