The average college football team will play 12 games this season — 13 if it makes a bowl, and 14 or more if it’s a truly special season with a conference championship and/or College Football Playoff berth.
The Nevada Wolf Pack will almost certainly fall short of postseason play. And yet, Jeff Choate’s squad will still play 13 games in 2024.
The Wolf Pack are using a loophole — one based on geography, fair play, and money — to play an extra game.
Why, and how, does Nevada play 13 games this season?
Why Does Nevada Play 13 Games This Season?
It may not be immediately apparent, given the recent round of realignment, but occasionally, the NCAA makes decisions based on regionality and geography.
While many schools schedule games regionally to reduce travel times and costs, one school in particular doesn’t have the luxury of playing games against teams close in proximity.
The Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors are the only FBS team more than 300 miles from another team, and they are more than 3,000 air miles from over 100 of the other 133 FBS programs in the country.
Because of this, the Rainbow Warriors often have difficulty coaxing other teams into traveling to play in the middle of the Pacific.
It’s why you’ll often see Hawai’i play a home game in Week 0 — because it’s often easier to convince another team to make the trek if that team gets an extra bye week.
But Nevada doesn’t play Hawai’i this weekend. So why are the Wolf Pack playing 13 games?
In order to help teams offset the increased travel costs of playing on the island of O’ahu, any team that plays at Hawai’i at any point in the year is granted a waiver to play an extra game in its regular season, almost always at home.
Nevada plays at Hawai’i on Oct. 26, in the middle of its Mountain West slate. It’s difficult to set up a 13th game, but the Wolf Pack started searching for a potential opponent.
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They did this for several reasons.
First, it’s expensive to fly an entire football team, coaching staff, equipment staff, cheerleading squad, and support staff to Hawai’i, even on a commercial flight. But Nevada can offset some of those costs with extra revenue from a seventh home game.
Additionally, playing an extra game early in the season can prepare the team for later contests or get the team closer to bowl eligibility. That’s probably not the primary motivator here, given that Nevada’s win total is set at 2.5 for the season, but the game can still be a valuable experience.
Lastly, the rule helps Hawai’i. The Rainbow Warriors have trouble enticing non-conference teams to make the trek over the open water, so the rule was created to help appease opponents and make Hawai’i’s scheduling process a bit easier.
How Did Nevada Get a 13th Game This Season?
But teams rarely take advantage of this benefit. Of the five FBS teams playing at Hawai’i this year (the Rainbow Warriors utilized another loophole to schedule two FCS teams, one more than any other FBS team), four are playing a standard 12-game slate.
Nevada, to its credit, put in the leg work to make the extra game happen. It’s not easy. Most teams have their schedules set years in advance, but an unexpected scheduling snafu gave the Wolf Pack a chance to schedule a 13th game.
Nevada will face SMU on Aug. 24, a game that fortuitously fell into its lap. SMU had scheduled a game with Vanderbilt on Sept. 14, but when Vanderbilt released its schedule last December, the Mustangs were nowhere to be found, seemingly replaced by the Commodores’ road game at Georgia State.
With SMU’s schedule consisting of just 11 games, the Wolf Pack set up a Week 0 matchup, successfully convincing the Mustangs to play on the road in Reno.
While the “Hawai’i Rule” has been in existence for decades, teams rarely utilize it.
Kudos to the Wolf Pack and athletic director Stephanie Rempe for going the extra mile to find a dance partner in Week 0.
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