Thursday, October 12, 2006.

It’s an interesting season for offenses everywhere, not the least of which is Boise State’s. The much-skewered NCAA clock rule changes have altered how coaches coach and how players get points. Last season BSU averaged 73 offensive snaps a game. This year the Broncos’ time of possession is almost exactly the same, yet they’re getting in just 64 plays a game. You’d have to think those extra nine plays could be worth a touchdown or two the way the BSU offense has been firing since the Wyoming game. So a 400-yard game looks a lot better than it did before the clock changes, and BSU is averaging 414 yards a game midway through the season.

The Broncos lead the WAC and are sixth in Division I-A in scoring at 39 points per game. By the same token, that looks a lot better than it would have last year. Colin Cowherd asked Chris Petersen about the effect the new clock rules have on an offense like BSU’s the other morning on ESPN Radio. Regarding his playbook, Pete said, “It changes how we game-plan. We’re fanatical about overage—we don’t want to waste time in practice.” Petersen says he and offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin have been cutting down the number of plays in the plan weekly, “but there still seems to be too many.”

Petersen could take a few extra plays on the road this weekend, though, as slowly as the clock might be moving. New Mexico State has worked around the rules with its throw-on-almost-every-down philosophy. The Aggies are averaging a staggering (in this year’s terms) 80 plays a game, giving them a shot at a lot more yards and a lot more points. Two-thirds of those snaps go to the air. NMSU is getting 33 points and over 500 yards a game and thriving at home in Las Cruces, where it awaits 19th-ranked Boise State Sunday night.

Can Fresno State survive a track meet against Hawaii? Conventional wisdom would have said yes a month ago—now it says no. A Bulldog win Saturday afternoon would kick the Warriors out of the WAC race, but how is Fresno going to score enough points? Quarterback Tom Brandstater has been a dink-and-dunk replacement for Paul Pinegar, and the offense has turned into the Dwayne Wright show. Coach Pat Hill is toying with inserting untested freshman QB Sean Norton at some point Saturday. This whole thing has rendered the Bulldogs’ sterling receiving corps helpless, although now it’s “health-less”. Paul Williams missed the stunning loss at Utah State with a knee problem, Joe Fernandez is hobbled by a hip, and Jaron Fairman is out for the season with a knee injury.

Idaho State is at a crossroads in its 2006 season—and in the eighth year of coach Larry Lewis. An upset of Portland State on the road Saturday would even the Bengals’ record at 3-3 and keep them in the Big Sky race at 2-1. A loss would put them in danger of another losing season and would eliminate them from the conference title chase for all practical purposes. Lewis, the one-time Boise State Bronco and Vale Viking, is 40-43 in his career—a victory gives him a shot at a winning record at the end of the season, and a loss provides the opposite opportunity. As for Portland State, it’s still ranked 25th in Division I-AA despite back-to-back losses to the Montana schools, its first two defeats of the year.

The WAC Preseason Basketball Polls are out. What year is this? Is it 2001 or 2002…or 2005? Everything looks the same for Boise State. The Broncos are picked sixth in both the media and coaches poll. Expectations obviously remain luke for this team, despite the fact it has two experienced senior leaders in guards Coby Karl and Eric Lane. It’s a pivotal year for coach Greg Graham, with fans waiting for forward movement before they return in great numbers to Taco Bell Arena. And this season BSU can make that jump, featuring more experience inside-out than in any of Graham’s previous four seasons. If it could be a solid season for the Broncos, it should be for Karl, who was picked first-team All-WAC by both the media and coaches. Coby will be building on the experience he got at pre-NBA Draft camps last spring, and relishing his senior year after his bout with cancer.

New Mexico State’s placing in the predictions shows how quickly a turnaround can happen. The Aggies were 6-24 just two seasons ago but are picked second behind Nevada after going 16-14 in their first season under Reggie Theus. The Wolf Pack at number one is a no-brainer. It is to WAC basketball what Boise State is to WAC football, and it has Nick Fazekas back after his withdrawal from the NBA Draft. Fazekas is Preseason Player of the Year. Idaho is last on both lists—it’ll be interesting to see if that pans out. The Vandals have been completely reinvented under new coach George Pfeifer.

It’s going to be a new-look Idaho Steelheads club that takes the ice tomorrow and Saturday nights in its exhibition games against Victoria at McCall’s Manchester Ice & Events Centre. Only five players return from last season, and only four of those were mainstays: veterans Scott Burt and Marty Flichel, standout defenseman Blake Forsyth, and goalie Steve Silverthorn. The Steelies also get the popular Lance Galbraith and Darrell Hay back off the 2004 Kelly Cup championship team. Other than that, though, coach Derek Laxdal has gone with youth and power, with six guys in training camp straight out of college programs.

This Day In Sports…October 12, 1976:

The defending world champion Cincinnati Reds score four runs in the seventh inning and three more in the bottom of the ninth—two on successive homers by George Foster and Johnny Bench—to beat Philadelphia and complete a sweep of the National League Championship Series. The Big Red Machine would then sweep the New York Yankees in the World Series and lay claim to being one of the greatest teams ever assembled.

(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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