In one corner you have Alabama football, a program that has won 16 national championships, including four of the last eight; has secured 26 SEC titles, including three in a row; has produced eight Pro Football Hall of Famers and 68 consensus All-Americans; employs the $11 million man, coach Nick Saban; and has one of sports’ most rabid fan bases, packing 100,000 people into Bryant-Denny Stadium for every home game.
In the other corner you have Nevada football, which has been nationally ranked in just two seasons since the AP started producing Top 25 polls in 1936; which hasn’t finished better than fifth in the Mountain West since moving to the league in 2012; which has failed to reach a bowl game in two of the last four seasons; and which struggles to draw 20,000-plus fans for its home games at Mackay Stadium.