Okay, maybe it wasn’t “major” or even an upset, per se -- Nevada’s been a solid non-AQ program and Chris Ault is one of the best coaches in the biz -- but it’s Week 1 and almost everyone else scarfing down cupcakes. As Dr. Evil would say “throw me a frikin’ bone here.”
There were opportunities for some devastating losses. Maryland nearly fell to William & Mary, but pulled out a 7-6 win (yes, 7-6) that saved Randy Edsall from being exiled to a third-world country immediately; a pair of Big Ten teams, Iowa and Wisconsin, played it a little too close against Northern Illinois and Northern Iowa, respectively; and Bowling Green went to toe-to-toe with Florida for three quarters.
But those teams all pulled out wins.
Cal, on the other hand, fell 31-24 to Nevada at home in the first game back at Memorial Stadium. Quarterback Zach Maynard did not start because of a missed tutoring appointment, but ended up with a decent game numbers-wise, throwing for 247 yards and a pair of touchdowns. But the Golden Bears couldn’t stop Nevada’s offense, which ran 57 times for 220 yards. Cody Fajardo looks like he’s going to be the next great QB for the Wolf Pack in the post-Colin Kaepernick era. He had 331 yards of total offense by himself.
Nevada looks like a good team, but Jeff Tedford‘s hot seat talk is only going to increase after today. The Bears still have to play Ohio State and the Pac-12 slate is tough. I don’t see Tedford lasting after this season.