Nevada (0-0) at No. 6/6 USC (1-0)
Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023 - 3:30 p.m.
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum - Los Angeles, Calif.
Watch: Pac-12 Network (PxP: Ted Robinson; Analyst: Yogi Roth)
Listen: 105.7 KOZZ (Northern Nevada) / The Varsity Network App (Online) (PxP: John Ramey; Analyst: Mike Edwards)
All-Time Series: USC leads, 5-0
Last Meeting: Nov. 9, 1929 (USC 66, Nevada 0) - Los Angeles, Calif.

Nevada opens 2023 campaign Saturday at No. 6/6 USC

RENO, Nev. - Nevada (0-0) opens year two under head coach Ken Wilson Saturday, Sept. 2, against No. 6/6 USC (1-0) at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The contest against the Trojans will kick off at 3:30 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network, with Ted Robinson (play-by-play) and Yogi Roth (analyst) on the call.

The Wolf Pack Radio Network will call the game on KOZZ 105.7 FM in Northern Nevada, and online at www.thevarsitynetwork.com and on the Varsity Network app, available for download in both the Apple and Google Play app stores. John Ramey (play-by-play) and Mike Edwards (analyst) will be in the booth, with the 60-minute pregame show to begin at 2:30 p.m.

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's meeting between Nevada and USC will be the sixth all-time, and the first in 94 years. The Wolf Pack and Trojans last met Nov. 9, 1929, at the Coliseum, a 66-0 USC victory.

ABOUT USC
USC (1-0) opened its 2023 season in Week 0, defeating San José State, 56-28. Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams threw for four touchdowns and went 18-for-25 for 278 yards in the victory. Zachariah Branch caught four passes for 58 yards and a touchdown, and added a second score on a third-quarter kickoff return.


A NEW BEGINNING
Nevada gets a fresh start and the opportunity to turn over a new leaf with Saturday's season opener at No. 6/6 USC. A full season of action (2022) and, more importantly, an entire offseason to recruit and analyze, has streamlined head coach Ken Wilson's vision and culture for Wolf Pack Football. With 39 newcomers, 17 returning starters, and a second spring season and Fall Camp in the books, Nevada is primed and ready for Year Two of Wilson's tenure.

VERY PAC-12 FEEL TO THIS ONE
Besides the fact that Saturday's contest involves a Pac-12 team, the heavy Pac-12 influence on Nevada's sideline makes the game one in which opposing sides are more familiar with one another than usual.

Head coach Ken Wilson spent six seasons (2013-18) coaching the linebackers at Washington State, then spent three seasons (2019-21) overseeing linebackers at Oregon, serving as co-defensive coordinator in 2021. Over his nine seasons in the Pac-12, Wilson's teams went 4-2 against USC (2-2 with Washington State, 2-0 with Oregon), including a victory over the Trojans at the Coliseum in the 2020 Pac-12 Championship Game.


MORE PAC-12 ON THE NEVADA ROSTER
Along with the Pac-12 ties on the Nevada coaching staff, the Wolf Pack roster features 17 players who have previously been on Pac-12 rosters. Among that number, eight joined the Pack since the end of the 2022 campaign. In total, the 17 Pac-12 transfers represent seven schools from the conference: Oregon (7), California (4), USC (2), Arizona State (1), Colorado (1), Oregon State (1), Utah (1).

Linebacker Eli'jah Winston and wide receiver John Jackson III are the former Trojans with the Wolf Pack, with Winston entering his second season in Reno after recording 14 tackles, 2.5 TFL, and 2.0 sacks over nine games in 2022.

YOU WERE JUST *THIS* BIG LAST TIME WE SAW YOU!
Saturday's contest will be the sixth all-time meeting between Nevada and USC, and the Wolf Pack's fourth visit to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. However, Saturday's game will mark 94 years(!) between Nevada and USC's last meeting at the Coliseum.

According to research compiled by FBS SIDs (primarily Rice's Chuck Pool), the 94 years between Nevada's visits to the Coliseum is a college football record for longest period between road games at the same venue. From Pool's research, the previous records were 74 years (Rice at USC) and 72 years (Miami (OH) at Illinois).

MORE NEVADA HISTORY AT THE COLISEUM
As the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is celebrating 100 years in 2023, Nevada was USC's second opponent in the venue's inaugural season (1923). The teams played Oct. 13, 1923, just one week after the Trojans' Coliseum opener against Pomona.

For the November 1929 contest in Los Angeles, the Wolf Pack became the first Nevada athletics team to fly to a competition. According to Robert Nylen of the Nevada State Museum, "Nevada Airlines provided nine Vega Lockheed monoplanes, eight four-passenger planes, and one six-passenger to take the 32 members of the team, student body president, athletic manager, team trainer and its equipment to Los Angeles."

Nevada was not the first football team to fly to a road game. A month prior to the flight, New Mexico flew its team to Los Angeles for an October 1929 game against Occidental College at the Rose Bowl.