Win would’ve been great, but experience was incomparable

By: Juan López

Saturday, September 5, 2009 - 7:11 PM

The Kaepernick family came out to support Colin Kaepernick and the Wolf Pack football team in their game Saturday against Notre Dame. Photo by Ricardo Lopez.

A 35-0 loss is nothing to be happy about.

After Notre Dame’s annihaltion of the Wolf Pack Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium, Nevada defensive back Jonathon Amaya looked like he had enough anger in him to run through four brick walls.

But with any loss come the positives. There were some good things and some very, very, very bad things for the Wolf Pack. Most players agreed, playing against the Fighting Irish was a once-in-a-lifetime deal.

“Great experience,” sophomore running back Vai Taua said. “At the end of the day, that’s what we have to look at. It was a great experience and we won’t get another shot like this so I’m going to enjoy it.”

Taua, who had the best statistical day of any Wolf Pack player with 114 rushing yards, seemed almost unfazed by the loss. He, like every other Nevada player, was frustrated at the team’s futility, but he was clearly glad at the shot he got to play in front of 80,795 people at Notre Dame Stadium.

Taua’s backfield mate, quarterback Colin Kaepernick, was more reserved after the game. He credited Notre Dame’s defense for bending but not breaking and was also happy with the opportunity to play at South Bend, Ind. Colin’s family, on the other hand, wasn’t as reserved when describing their time at Notre Dame.

“The university is just amazing,” said Brett Kaepernick, Colin’s cousin. “There was a lot of (Kaepernick’s) here and we were all really happy to watch Colin play in front of a school like this. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to come down here.”

But Colin wasn’t the only Nevada player with family in the stands. Four members of James-Michael Johnson’s family flew from California to catch the game. Although his nephew was on the losing end, Steve Johnson, James’ uncle, had nothing but good things to say after the game.

“Everyone was real nice,” he said. “I don’t have anything bad to say about this experience other than the loss.”

This was a case of looking at the glass half full for the most part. The game went nothing like the Wolf Pack and its fans hoped it to, but there is one thing no one can take away from them: the experience.

Juan López can be reached at jlopez@nevadasagebrush.com.