Wednesday, October 18, 2006.

It’s been a long time since the Boise State-Idaho game had this kind of sizzle. I’d say since 1999, when the winner got the Big West championship and a berth in the Humanitarian Bowl. It’s “Beat Boise State Week” in Moscow, where one of the themes is “Re-start The Streak”. The Vandals have some swagger back with their 3-0 start in the WAC and 4-3 record overall. And their fans have the old feeling they did when Dennis Erickson started the 12-game winning streak over the Broncos in 1982. Rivalry renewal. No bulletin board material from Erickson, though. On the Vandal radio post-game show last week, Erickson called the Broncos “one of the top 10 teams in the country”. It was not said with a snicker.

It’s certainly the biggest home game for Idaho in seven years, and they’re pulling out all the stops up north. The promotion is “Black Out The Dome”, with Vandal fans encouraged to wear black. And they’ll be there in great numbers, as this will be the first official sell-out in Kibbie Dome history. Which makes you wonder how they fit a record 17,600 people into a 16,000-seat arena for the 1989 Bronco-Vandal game without selling out. (Well, they used to estimate the students’ attendance back then.) Anyway, that was John Friesz’s final game, and at halftime Saturday, the legendary Vandal quarterback will have his number retired. Friesz will join Jerry Kramer, Wayne Walker, Ken Hobart and John Yarno as Idaho players so honored.

Erickson has never lost to Boise State. He started “The Streak” against the Broncos in 1982, ending BSU’s own five-game streak with a 24-17 win in Bronco Stadium. Then in 1983, Erickson sent Ken Hobart off in a blaze of glory, as the Kamiah Kid blistered the Broncos 45-24. The following year the Vandals stunned BSU with the first shutout in Bronco history (and still one of only two suffered by Boise State in 38-plus seasons as a four-year school). That score was 37-0. And in 1985 Idaho pulled away from BSU in the Kibbie Dome, 44-27. The world is different now, but Erickson would love some déjà vu Saturday.

What the Vandals are trying to do, of course, is break the seven-year stranglehold the Broncos have had on this series. After Idaho’s 12-game winning streak from 1982-93 and two more wins in 1995-96, the series record stood at 16-9-1 in favor of the Vandals. Now BSU has brought it all the way back to a tie at 17-17-1 and can regain the all-time lead for the first time in 19 years (Idaho first pulled even in 1987). During the seven-game streak the Broncos have outscored the Vandals by an average of 50-18 and have rolled up 505 yards a game on offense.

Win or lose Saturday, Idaho is starting to get some bowl buzz. How about this? ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel projects the Vandals to play Miami in the MPC Computers Bowl. That’s Miami of Florida, Dennis Erickson’s old school. Well, the MPC Bowl is tied in with the ACC, and the Hurricanes are going to be way down in the pecking order this year. But Dennis versus Miami? Wow. The Vandals would still have some upsets to pull to facilitate something as bizarre as that—they have Hawaii, Nevada, Fresno State and San Jose State left after the Broncos.

So, what to make of San Jose State beating Utah State by only seven at home last Saturday? These Spartans were supposed to be the real deal, turning the corner under Dick Tomey. Well, don’t dismiss them quite yet. SJSU turned the ball over three times inside the Aggie 10-yard-line in the 21-14 win and had to rally from a 14-0 deficit. The Spartans consider themselves a team on the rise that just had a hiccup, one that would have spelled defeat in previous years. But they’re 1-0 in the WAC and 4-1 overall, looking for their first bowl bid since 1987. Now things get more interesting, as San Jose State plays Saturday at Nevada, who’s coming off a bye week.

Here’s an interesting observation from Matt Hayes in this week’s Sporting News. Discuss amongst yourselves. “The best non-BCS team isn’t Boise State,” says Hayes. “It’s not TCU or Utah. It’s BYU, which is a couple of plays away from a 6-0 record. The Cougars have an identity again under coach Bronco Mendenhall. It also helps to have John Beck, the most underrated player in the game.” Yes, BYU is 10 points short of shooting for the same thing BSU dreams of right now.

And the Cougars would probably have a more airtight case considering their slightly stronger schedule—their losses, both on the road, were by three points at Arizona and by seven in overtime at Boston College. BYU is 4-2 and has been rolling since the BC game, having beaten Utah State 38-0, then-no. 17 TCU by two touchdowns on the road, and San Diego State by 30. And the Cougars are poised for another rout, as they come off a bye week to host UNLV Saturday in Provo. Too bad the Cougs and Broncs aren’t playing this year.

I talked yesterday about Lou Piniella getting to know former Boise Hawks as new manager of the Chicago Cubs. Despite his denials, you know he would like to reunite with Alex Rodriguez—Piniella managed him during his first seven years in the majors in Seattle. If Piniella gets his wish (and why wouldn’t it be A-Rod’s wish, too?), the first guy affected would be Hawks alum Ronny Cedeno. He was the Cubs’ rookie shortstop this season, a season-long starter who hit .245 with six homers and 41 RBIs. Rodriguez would slide back into his natural position at shortstop after his uncomfortable tenure as Yankees third baseman. The good news for Cedeno is he played 15 games this season at second base—that might be the answer if the A-Rod move transpires.

This Day In Sports…October 18, 2002:

One of the most electric nights in Bronco Stadium history, as a then-record crowd of 30,924 and a national audience on ESPN watch Boise State dismantle Fresno State, 67-21. The Broncos started B.J. Rhode, and the senior quarterback staked them to a 13-0 lead. But then in the second quarter, Ryan Dinwiddie returned from a broken ankle six weeks earlier and torched the Bulldogs with a record 19-of-22 performance, covering 406 yards and five touchdowns.

(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.)

---

---