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When Mouse Davis was an assistant football coach at the University of Hawaii he had a ready answer for the Rainbow Warriors’ struggles at Nevada’s Mackay Stadium in Reno.
“It’s haunted,” Davis insisted.
Davis had years of experience there, dating from Portland State’s Division II days in the 1970s, and swore the winds would change to torment visitors.
“I love Mouse,” Nevada’s College Football Hall of Fame coach and legendary player Chris Ault said Monday, “But, like I told him (in 1976), ‘Coach, that wind blows on both sides of the ball.’”
Fortune, however, has rarely been on UH’s side at Mackay, where UH is 1-8 as it heads into Reno for Saturday’s Mountain West Conference opener for both teams.
With Nevada and Boise State, where UH is 0-6, sandwiching next week’s open date, the ’Bows will confront what have historically been two of their three toughest road stops before they get back to the friendly rusting confines of Aloha Stadium on Oct. 19.
Only Provo, Utah, where the ’Bows are 0-10 against Brigham Young, has been tougher on UH football teams over the years than treks to Reno and Boise.
You can write off some of the Boise blues to the enduring overall strength of a Broncos program that has been tough on everybody, going 115-9 at home since 2000. None of the Boise teams that beat UH on the Smurf Turf ended their seasons with records worse than 9-4.
But Nevada is something else. UH has lost at Mackay to four different Wolf Pack head coaches plying a variety of offenses and defenses. Some of those Nevada teams have also gone 3-8, 4-8 and, in the most recent visit (2017), 3-9. That last one marked current head coach Jay Norvell’s first victory as head coach there after an 0-5 start.
A common factor among eight of the Top 10 toughest places for UH (minimum six appearances) to play is elevation. But that, by itself, does not explain the ’Bows travails’ in Reno since UH has slightly better records at Wyoming, Air Force, Colorado State, Utah and Utah State, which are all at higher elevations than Mackay (4,610 feet).
Even for the celebrated 2007 Sugar Bowl-bound team, UH’s lone victory at Mackay did not come easy. Place-kicker Dan “Iceman” Kelly had to kick a 45-yard field goal twice amid two timeouts in the waning moments to provide the winning 28-26 margin with 11.7 seconds remaining.
Nor have the Wolf Pack crowds been particularly large or vociferous. Only twice have they topped 20,000 in the 31,000-seat facility.
“It is a combination of things,” Ault said. “The altitude, all of that, plays into it. And, you know, like any good college program, you play hard to defend the home turf. Just like us going to Hawaii, (UH) is very tough to beat over there.”
Except that Nevada is 6-8 overall in Hawaii, including having won three of its last four trips to play the ‘Bows at Aloha Stadium.
What the ’Bows have going for them is that they have begun making inroads in winning at heretofore difficult venues. Three years ago they won at Air Force for just the second time in eight tries. Last year, they triumphed at San Diego State for the first time in nine tries.
Come the next two outings they have opportunities to make even bigger breakthroughs.
ROCKY ROAD
(Toughest UH road stops)
SITE UH RECORD PCT.
1. Brigham Young 0-10 .000
2. Boise State 0-6 .000
3. Nevada 1-8 .111
4. Air Force 2-6 .250
5. Colorado St. 3-8 .272
6. Utah St. 2-5 286
7. San Diego St. 4-10 .286
8. Utah 3-7 .300
9. Wyoming 3-7 .300
10. Fresno St. 8-15 .347
Note: Minimum 6 games played.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
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