Thursday, August 31, 2006.

Well, the new era begins—10 years to the day after the Division I-A era began for Boise State football (see “This Day In Sports” below). Chris Petersen starts running with the baton he took from Dan Hawkins last December. It’s Pete’s Boise State team now, as he tries to sustain success that includes a 63-16 record in the new century, fourth-best in Division I-A behind Texas, Oklahoma and Miami. Hawkins started his BSU head coaching career on the road at South Carolina five years ago. It’s a lot different for Petersen, who’s on the blue turf tonight against Division I-AA Sacramento State, a school he faced in heated clashes when he was the quarterback at nearby power UC Davis. Not that Pete is feeling any pangs of rivalry now.

It’s a good opener for him, since expectations are so different than they were in 2001. Petersen can get all his ducks in a row before the Beavers come to town. Pun intended. But here it goes—the looking past and looking ahead that can be so dangerous. Expectations tonight? All these 63-3 scores being tossed out there are unrealistic. Yes, it’s a senior-laden squad, but the new coaching staff will be getting its bearings in a real-game situation.

Sacramento State is legitimately a huge underdog—it has lost 17 straight road games and hasn’t beaten a I-A team in 16 years. But Cal beat them “only” 41-3 in last year’s opener in Berkeley, pulling away in the fourth quarter. Two other “bring-you-back-to-earth” factors: the memory of the Portland State scare last year, when the Broncos escaped with a 21-14 home win over the Big Sky Vikings, and the fact that most Hornet players would have loved to play Division I-A football but were snubbed by schools like BSU.

Tonight is the poster game for Boise State’s much-vilified strength of schedule, ranked by some in the bottom 10 in Division I-A. It’s juts the breaks that the Broncos got the one with the 2-9 record last year. There are seven other I-A schools playing the Big Sky at home this week, including Colorado (Montana State), Arizona State (Northern Arizona), Iowa (Montana), and Oregon State (Eastern Washington). There’s really nothing wrong with the rest of BSU’s schedule—OSU out of the Pac-10, a Utah team that some have in the Top 25, and Wyoming, one year removed from a win over UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl. Remember that Sports Illustrated ranked the Cowboys 25th in its College Football preview last year. Hey, the conference always affects strength of schedule, and BSU’s WAC opponents went a combined 37-56 last season.

No lack of hammer from Petersen as BSU heads into the season. He’s suspended three players—cornerback Kyle Wilson for three games and tight end Julian Hawkins and linebacker Garrett Tuggle for tonight’s contest for a violation of team rules. You could consider it a real setback for all three players. All are (or at least were) expected to contribute at their respective positions this season, but the Broncos are deep at all three spots, so they’ll have to work their way back into the good graces. Wilson at one time was listed as a second-team cornerback, and Petersen went as far as calling Tuggle a potential impact player at WAC Media Day last month.

Next week’s BSU opponent also opens tonight, also at home, also against a Big Sky school. Theoretically Eastern Washington will be more of a challenge for Oregon State in Reser Stadium, but coach Mike Riley says his team is not looking ahead to next week’s nationally-televised event on the blue turf. The Oregonian points out that the Beavers have their own Portland State-type story to tell, although it goes back in time a little further. OSU’s season opener in 2000 was also against Eastern Washington in Corvallis, and the Beavers snuck away with a 21-19 win. That team, coached by Dennis Erickson, went 11-1 and beat Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.

Fresno State and Nevada are gearing up to show their colors tomorrow night—and that angle has gotten them a lot of plugs on ESPN. It’s being called the inaugural “College Colors Day Classic”, so be sure to wear your college colors, like, today, tonight and tomorrow. The Bulldogs are favored by 12 and have the revenge factor on their side, but it’s really hard to figure this one. They lost their last four games of the 2005 season after their landmark win over Boise State and didn’t even share the WAC title. Nevada did, ending the season with five straight wins after its ugly loss to BSU in Bronco Stadium. The Wolf Pack defense has never been anything to write home about, but Fresno State is breaking in new quarterback Tom Brandstater and is more than a little concerned about its running game.

Former Ontario Tiger A.J. Feeley is back with a team that knows him and, theoretically, likes him. After his much-celebrated exploits as a backup in Philadelphia, things were generally sour at his next two stops in Miami and San Diego. The Chargers cut him loose despite a 4-for-4 performance against the Seahawks last weekend. Now the Eagles have brought Feeley back to the place where he won four of five games as a third string starter to end the 2002 season. To make room, Philly cut Koy Detmer, one of the guys Feeley used to back up.

Fans at last night’s Boise Hawks game saw a couple one-of-a-kind moments in their team’s 9-0 win over Spokane. Russ Canzler did it—he broke Todd Greene’s 13-year-old team record for home runs in a season with his league-leading 16th. There was also an inside-the-park grand slam by Tyler Colvin. Let me repeat that. An inside-the-park grand slam. Safe to say that’s never happened before in Memorial Stadium. The win takes the Hawks’ magic number down to three to clinch the Northwest League East Division.

This Day In Sports…August 31, 1996:

Boise State and Idaho make their debuts in Division I-A. The Broncos fall at home to Central Michigan, 42-21, while coach Pokey Allen is away in Vancouver, BC, undergoing alternative cancer treatment. The Vandals lead Wyoming into the fourth quarter before falling 40-38 at Laramie. Ryan Fien breaks Ken Hobart’s Idaho single-game passing record in his debut with 543 yards.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment Sunday nights at 10:30PM on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors five sports segments each weekday on ESPN Radio 1350 KTIK.)

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