Nevada (0-0) vs. Western Kentucky (0-0)
Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026 - 7:30 p.m.
Reno, Nev. - Mackay Stadium

TV: CBS Sports Network (PxP: Rich Waltz; Analyst: Adam Treneman; Sideline: Jordan Giorgio)
Radio: KOZZ 105.7 / The Varsity Network App (PxP: John Ramey; Analyst: Mike Edwards; Sideline: Terrence Newman)

RENO, Nev. - Nevada Football opens its 120th campaign Saturday at 7:30 p.m., hosting Western Kentucky at Mackay Stadium. The game will air on CBS Sports Network with Rich Waltz (play-by-play), Adam Treneman (analyst) and Jordan Giorgio (sideline) on the call.

The radio broadcast of the game will be available on KOZZ 105.7 FM in Northern Nevada, online at www.thevarsitynetwork.com and on the Varsity Network app. John Ramey (play-by-play), Mike Edwards (analyst) and Terrence Newman (sideline) will be on the call, with the 60-minute pregame show to begin at 6:30 p.m.

SERIES HISTORY
Nevada and Western Kentucky will meet for the second-straight season, and second time overall, Saturday night. In last year's first meeting, the Hilltoppers outscored the Wolf Pack, 21-3, in the fourth quarter to come back from a 13-10 deficit.

The Wolf Pack rushed for 207 yards in the contest, led by 66 yards on nine attempts from Caleb Ramseur and 62 yards on 13 attempts from Herschel Turner. EDGE Dylan LaBarbera made nine tackles with a sack while linebacker EJ Smith made his second interception of the season which he returned for 16 yards.

ABOUT WESTERN KENTUCKY
Western Kentucky, led by head coach Tyson Helton in his eighth season, went 9-4 in 2025 and capped the campaign with a 27-16 win over Southern Miss in the New Orleans Bowl.

The Hilltoppers return quarterback Rodney Tisdale Jr. from a season ago. Last year, Tisdale Jr. appeared in nine games, completing 139-of-212 passes with nine touchdowns and seven interceptions while rushing for two more scores. Tisdale is also the Hilltoppers' leading returning rusher, having gone for 83 yards a season ago, while in the receiving corps K.D. Hutchinson (66 receptions, 618 yards, three touchdowns) is the top returner.

Defensively, Western Kentucky is led by defensive back Jaylen Lewis who finished third on the team in tackles (74) while picking off a team-high three passes and breaking up five more.

UNIFIED. COMPETITIVE. TOUGH.
Season three of the Jeff Choate Era at Nevada gets underway in 2026 and the Wolf Pack's philosophy revolves around three key terms: Unified. Competitive. Tough.

Nevada will still rely on a physical brand of ball but a bit of a change in 2026 comes with the arrival of offensive coordinator Brett Bartolone. Bartolone, who served as an offensive analyst for the Wolf Pack from 2020-21, spent the past three seasons on the Colorado staff, joining as the wide receivers coach in 2023, moving over to tight ends in 2024 then adding the title of offensive pass game coordinator in 2025. During his two-year stint with the Wolf Pack, Bartolone played a key role in developing Wolf Pack offenses which ranked among the nation's best in scoring, total yardage, and passing yards per game. Additionally, his work with quarterback Carson Strong led to Strong taking home Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year honors in both 2020 and 2021, becoming just the fifth player in conference history to win the award twice.

An exciting offense needs targets, and to that end Choate tabbed Keith Price to oversee the Wolf Pack wide receiver corps. Price spent the past three seasons (2023-25) coaching wide receivers at Idaho State, a span over which the Bengals improved their win total each season and finished 6-6 in 2025. Under Price's tutelage, Bengal wide receivers played a key role in Idaho State's passing offense ranking fourth in the FCS at 302.8 yards per game as the team's top eight leaders in receiving yards came from the unit. Four different Bengal receivers finished 2025 with at least 500 receiving yards and three touchdowns, with one of them, Damien Morgan (53 catches for 607 yards), being named All-Big Sky Honorable Mention before transferring to Nevada for 2026.

LaBARBERA READY TO BUILD OFF OF BREAKOUT 2025 CAMPAIGN
EDGE Dylan LaBarbera's return to Nevada will bolster a Wolf Pack defense which  ranked third in the Mountain West with 5.4 tackles-for-loss per game (65 total), fourth in red-zone defense (83.7 opponent success rate) and fifth in both passing defense (220.3 yards allowed per game) and first downs allowed (241).

LaBarbera paced this group with a breakout campaign in which he led the Mountain West with 17.0 tackles-for-loss (eighth in the country) and 1.42 TFLs per game (sixth in the country).

CARTER JONES NAMED QB1
Head coach Jeff Choate on August 25 named Carter Jones Nevada's starting quarterback for Saturday's opener.

After starting the second half at Fresno State October 4, Jones made his first start the following week against San Diego State and remained there the rest of the campaign. Over 10 games played (seven starts), Jones completed 64.1 percent of his passes (110-for-171) for 1,019 yards and six touchdowns. He was named Mountain West Freshman of the Week Nov. 17 after throwing for 195 yards and two touchdowns on 16-of-19 passing in the Wolf Pack's win over San José State.

Jones, in his second year of college football, is the youngest (by eligibility year) opening-day starting quarterback for the Wolf Pack since Carson Strong, also in his second season, started the 2019 opener against Purdue.