Tuesday, December 26, 2006.

Here’s the debate going on in Oklahoma as we head into the final week of Tostitos Fiesta Bowl hype: the media on the OU beat say it’s a no-win situation against Boise State, a team with a short pedigree whom its fans know little about. The Sooners themselves beg to differ. I guess you can understand why the media feels that way when John Helsley of the Oklahoman writes, “Not even Lee Corso could pick Boise State’s Mountain West Conference foes out of a lineup.” Now, did Helsley mean non-conference opponents Wyoming and Utah, or does he really not know—a week before the game—what league BSU plays in? Helsley does acknowledge later in the column that BSU has five straight WAC championships.

That doesn’t soften his take, though. “And should the Sooners fall, well, what could be worse than becoming a punch line to the trivia question: name the first football super-power to lose to a BCS-buster?” writes Helsley. Oklahoma players (not to mention coach Bob Stoops) continue to take the high road on this matchup. There’s been nothing inflammatory, and they dispute the notion that they have everything to lose in this game. "It's a BCS game. It's the Fiesta Bowl,” said Oklahoma quarterback Paul Thompson. "We'd like to have that. Saying we don't have anything to gain, nothing to win, is just absurd to me. We've got a lot to win.” The Sooners consider this whole season a bonding experience after they lost their original starting QB the day before fall camp and started the season 3-2.

Sure tackling will be of the utmost importance Monday. BSU knows Adrian Peterson is coming back from a broken collarbone and has to work his way back into the contact aspect of his game. The Broncos thus might be tempted to deliver a blow without wrapping up, which could quickly turn into six points the other way. This team does know how to tackle, though. That’s been a strength of this team since the nation’s best 85-16 run began in 1999. The Broncos just have to dance with who brung ‘em.

The last time BSU faced a running back of this caliber was in 2003 when Steven Jackson was going wild for Oregon State. Now known as the guy who supplanted Marshall Faulk as the feature back with the Rams, Jackson was an imposing figure at 6-2, 225 pounds, much like Peterson. Despite being the focal point of BSU’s defensive effort that day, much like Peterson will be Monday, Jackson did get his yards in the Beavers’ 26-24 win that season, 122 of them. But it took 30 carries for him to do it, and his longest carry of the night was only 11 yards. A déjà vu would be fine with the Broncos. By the way, Jackson has rushed for almost 1400 yards this season for St. Louis.

Sports Illustrated is already making some college football predictions for 2007, and one of them says, “Miami will win the ACC. New coach Randy Shannon, a linebacker on the Hurricanes' 1987 national championship team, will bring much-needed discipline to the program, making sure that despite their recent struggles, the Hurricanes still get their share of recruits from talent-rich South Florida.” So from that standpoint, the MPC Computers Bowl Sunday night against Nevada has a lot to do with Miami’s future and has some importance for the ‘Canes.

Meanwhile, Shannon’s immediate future entails hiring his coaching staff, with former BSU and now former Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter mulling over his options. One of them is to become Shannon’s offensive coordinator at Miami. Before ASU’s 41-24 loss to Hawaii in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, Koetter said he was debating the merits of college versus the NFL. He’s close to Philadelphia coach Andy Reid and Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis (a teammate at Idaho State). Koetter told reporters he bets he’ll have a job by mid-January.

His job with the Sun Devils ended when Colt Brennan went off yet again—a career-high 556 yards and another five-touchdown performance for the guy who is now college football’s single-season king in the later department with 58 TDs this year. Brennan says right now he’s “planning on returning to the Warriors next season as opposed to pursuing the NFL. "The NFL or whoever is really going to have to present something to get me. If not, I'm just going to come back and enjoy myself," said Brennan, who finished sixth in Heisman Trophy voting.

If you’re keeping score, three of the five Boise State opponents to make bowl games this year have already played, and they’re 3-0. The first two went back-to-back Saturday, starting with San Jose State frustrating New Mexico 20-12 in the New Mexico Bowl. The Spartans thus end the season 9-4—that’s more wins then in the past three years combined. Later Saturday Utah pinned a 25-13 defeat on Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl (formerly the Fort Worth Bowl). Ute quarterback Brett Ratliff has recovered from the mental anguish of September’s loss to BSU—he threw for 240 yards.

The Idaho Stampede appears to be gluing itself together after its 0-5 start. The Stampede has roared back to a 5-6 mark after its sweep of defending D-League champion Albuquerque over the weekend and has its eye on .500 tomorrow night when the Dakota Wizards come to Qwest Arena. Coach Bryan Gates is convinced new arrival Luke Jackson is part of the glue. Jackson is still getting his feet wet after being signed last week—he scored seven and six points in the wins over the Thunderbirds. The former Oregon star went 5-for-14 from the field, but that should improve.

The good news for the Idaho Steelheads is they picked one off over the weekend at Alaska, a most difficult place to play—especially when the home team is defending Kelly Cup champion and really starting to play like it. That should give Steelheads some hope regarding the bad news: it’s been a December not to remember. Having dropped two out of three to the Aces, the Steelies are now 2-7 this month and have dropped eight of their last 10 overall. They wind up the 2006 portion of the campaign with a three-game series against Bakersfield in Qwest Arena starting Thursday.

This Day In Sports…December 26, 1943:

At Wrigley Field, Sid Luckman is a one-man wrecking crew for the Chicago Bears. Playing against Washington for the NFL championship, Luckman ran the T-formation to perfection, becoming the first player to throw five touchdown passes in a playoff game. On defense, he intercepted two passes to help dismantle Sammy Baugh and the Redskins, 41-21. It was the Bears’ third NFL title in four seasons.

(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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