Study: UNR, UNLV teams could decide Senate race

Colin Kaepernick, the star quarterback for the University of Nevada, Reno Wolfpack, could hold the fate of the Nevada Senate race in his passing arm.

According to a statistical study explained by blogger Peter Keating on ESPN.com, "it turns out that our favorite teams influence how we vote in the real world."

The analysis performed by academics at Loyola Marymount, the Univerity of Pennylvania and Stanford Business School concluded that "college football wins help politicians who already hold office, apparently because happy voters are more likely to support the status quo," Keating writes.

"The researchers found that from 1964 to 2008, incumbent pols gained 1.05 to 1.47 percentage points in elections that took place within two weeks after a win by a local team. The jump was even bigger -- 2.30 to 2.42 points -- after victories by teams with championship pedigrees or high attendance, like BCS squads."

Accordingly, "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who's down by an average of three points to Sharron Angle, has to pull for No. 24 Nevada to beat Utah State (told you it was all about Kaepernick!), or for UNLV to pull off a huge upset against No. 4 TCU." Ironically, Reid is a Utah State alum.

By the same thinking, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is praying for the University of Washington Huskies to knock off Stanford. And West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin could really use a win by the Mountaineers over the University of Connecticut, a game being played tonight.

Colin Kaepernick