Peacock honored at Hiram

Former Carson football standout Josh Peacock has enjoyed plenty of success on the gridiron since leaving the Capital City for Hiram College in Ohio.

Earlier this week, Peacock, a junior was a North Coast Athletic Conference honorable mention selection.

Peacock led his team and was second in the conference with 106 tackles. He had eight stops behind the line, second-most on the team. He also blocked a kick and had a fumble recovery.

He had six games with 10 or more tackles, including 18 in the season finale on Nov. 10 against Allegheny College.

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Since I started in journalism, I've had very few opportunities to go to games as a fan. Last weekend was one of those rare opportunities when I was able to watch the Wolf Pack knock off New Mexico, 31-24, to improve to 7-5.

It was a pleasant three hours thanks to the fact that Nevada won, and I sat in front of an elderly couple, who were season-ticket holders and a treat to talk with. The gentleman and I talked during breaks about Colin Kaepernick. Turns out he's a big fan of the former Nevada star. He gave Nevada a polite cheer when the Wolf Pack took the field, and he informed me, with a smile on his face, that would be the last time he would cheer for Nevada.

When New Mexico fumbled the ball away on a potential game-tying drive, he tapped me on the shoulder and said, "We'll get you in basketball."

I replied, "I have no doubt that you will."

The gent knows New Mexico is a team in transition. The Lobos had won three games in three years after Rocky Long took off. Former Notre Dame coach Bob Davie has guided the Lobos to four wins in his first season at the helm.

The UNM fan pointed out that the Lobos are a better team than in the past three seasons, and he said he's looking for continued improvement each year. I sensed that his feelings were shared by many of the fans who left the stadium that day.

Another thing I liked about the day is that not once did I get hassled about wearing my Nevada hat on the Lobos' side of the field. There were 70-80 Nevada fans in attendance, and that small number didn't surprise me either because Nevada never travels well during the regular season, and it's not cheap to fly to the Duke City.

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Reno is one of the worst "college towns" around. The city, and the student population, doesn't live and die by the success of the UNR athletic teams. Never has and never will.

Big crowds for football are usually reserved fro Boise State, UNLV and Cal.

Even during the Mark Fox regime, the Pack basketball team had a hard time selling out games at Lawlor Event Center. The year Nevada went 28-5, tickets should have been the hottest thing in the city. Instead, nearly every game you could walk up 30 minutes before a game and buy a ticket.

Women's basketball? The Pack hasn't established itself through the years, and that is the reason why attendance rarely gets past 1,000.

The women's game I attended in Albuquerque against Texas Tech drew nearly 6,000 fans. It was an impressive turnout for a Thursday night game.

Albuquerque isn't much bigger than Reno, but fans certainly support the UNM teams much better than Reno supports the Wolf Pack.

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Former Carson basketball player Eliza Matley has averaged 13 minutes of action through three games at Stanislaus State. She is averaging 2.3 points per game thus far.