Around the Mountain West: Nevada coach Choate gets Pac-12 all worked up

FARGO — Nevada head coach Jeff Choate is known for speaking his mind — North Dakota State fans might remember his comments ahead of an FCS semifinal game against the Bison in 2019 when he was at Montana State — and it usually sparks an entertaining reaction. That was the case in 2019, when he said the FCS playing field wasn t level because NDSU had cost of attendance and Big Sky Conference schools did not. He called the Bison s dominance of the FCS bad for college football. In response, Bison defensive end Derek Tuszka made the make it rain (money) signal every time he made a big play in NDSU s 42-14 shellacking of the Bobcats at the Fargodome. It is the case again this week as Choate, always chatty and open in his weekly press conferences with the Reno media, responded to a general question about the new-look Mountain West Conference by saying he believes the league is better than the new-look Pac-12 Conference. I said this. I was on the record saying this. This leag