Nevada football schedule announced

RENO - The University of Nevada released its 2005 football schedule on Friday, and it includes six home games, including in-state rival UNLV and Washington State from the Pac-10.

The big change is the starting times. As of now, the Wolf Pack hosts Washington State Sept. 9 at 4:45 and UNLV on Sept. 17 at 6:05 p.m. The other four conference home games against Idaho (Oct. 8), Louisiana Tech (Oct. 15), Hawaii (Nov. 5) and Fresno State (Nov. 26) will all begin at 1:05 p.m.

"It's what the fans want," Nevada athletic director Cary Groth said. "We made the decision that games in August and September will be played at night, and games in October and November will be played during the day."

Groth went on to say the only way that would change is if a television network wants to pick up the game, or if an afternoon start conflicts with a big community event.

"We listened to the people," Groth said. "People didn't like all night games. People told me this was unusual weather (this fall), but it got chilly."

Groth said that the school is sending out questionnaires to fans asking them about the season, game times and their overall experiences. She said different start times could be considered based on theresponses, and that earlier times will make for more of a family atmosphere.

"The game-day experience will be much different this year," Groth said. "Everything surrounding the game will be different. It will take some time, though."

Nevada will play at Colorado State (Sept. 24), San Jose State (Oct. 1), Boise State (Oct. 29), New Mexico State (Nov. 12) and Utah State (Nov. 19). The San Jose

State game will start at 3 p.m., but no start times have been decided for the remainder of the road games.

Another reason for playing earlier is notoriety, according to Groth.

"We want people East of us to know we play football," she said. "When we play at 6 p.m., the game isn't getting over until 9:30 (PDT). It's 10:30, 11:30 or 12:30 a.m. everywhere else. Our score doesn't even get into the agate (scoreboard page)."

Rory Hickok, associate assistant athletic director, said that if the NCAA passes legislation for a 12th game, Nevada would play Northwestern of the Big 10 in September of 2006. Nevada would go to Northwestern in 2007.

Hickok said he has had discussions with teams in the Big 12, Southeastern Conference and with a member school in the ACC regarding games. The Nevada executive also said that talks with Notre Dame regarding a game in 2009 are ongoing.

Darrell Moody can be reached at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or by calling 881-1281