The importance of the Nevada-UNLV rivalry game on Saturday is not lost on coach Jeff Choate.

The Wolf Pack head coach is reminded about it at least 15 times a month, often when he is out putting gas in his truck at Costco, walking around campus or running errands around town.

"Get the cannon back," people tell him.

The cannon is the Fremont Cannon, a 545-pound replica of a 19th-century Howitzer cannon that accompanied American explorer and politician John C. Fremont on an expedition to the American West and Nevada in the mid-19th century.

The winner of the in-state rivalry game gets to keep the cannon until the next year, and paint the cannon's carriage in school colors.

Choate has never seen the cannon.

Nevada (3-8 overall, 2-5 Mountain West) leads the all-time series, 28-12, but

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