Thursday, January 25, 2007.

It’ll be very interesting to see if last Saturday’s crowd of 10,190 parlays into something significant at the gate tonight when Boise State returns to action against Fresno State. The BSU athletic department is repeating its four dollar-a-ticket offer that worked well for the Hawaii game. But, of course, this one does not include the bonus feature of a Fiesta Bowl Trophy salute with the football team. Coach Greg Graham says his team definitely fed off the energy created by the five-digit throng versus the Warriors. Graham feels the effect was big before the game as during—when the Broncos came out for warm-ups, they felt the buzz that hasn’t been there since the NIT run three years ago. Whatever the attendance is tonight, the Bulldogs won’t be intimidated. They average over 11,000 per game.

Fresno State, like Boise State, is 3-3 in WAC play. But the Bulldogs are 14-5 overall and are looking to get their mojo back. They’ve been under a spell on the road, losing nine of their last 10 away from the Save Mart Center. Fresno State could cause the BSU offense problems, though. The ‘Dogs lead the WAC in scoring defense (64½ points a game) and blocked shots (seven per game) and have two of the conference’s top four rebounders. Whatever Fresno State does tonight, it’ll be without senior Ja’Vance Coleman, who will not play in either Bulldog game this weekend after missing two practices for personal reasons. Coach Steve Cleveland says he’ll meet with Coleman first of the week to talk about his future with the team.

Idaho tried to build some momentum for its showdown with Boise State Saturday night by closing well at New Mexico State. Still, it was an 84-66 loss, dropping the Vandals to 3-16 on the season. The Aggies amassed a 26-point lead midway through the second half—then Idaho whittled it to 14. But NMSU went into cruise mode to pick up its 15th win in the last 16 games. The BSU women created plenty of momentum for their version of the Bronco-Vandal rivalry Saturday night in Taco Bell Arena. They destroyed Utah State on that floor last night, 80-38, to remain unbeaten in WAC play.

The best three-point shooting team in the NBA D-League kept the Idaho Stampede at arm’s length last night, and the result was the snapping of the Stamps’ 11-game winning streak in a 119-97 Fort Worth win at Qwest Arena. The visitors connected on 13 treys, the key to their pull-away in the fourth quarter. You knew Luke Schenscher would play in Boise sooner or later, didn’t you? The 7-foot Australian recruit who got away from Boise State coach Rod Jensen seven years ago was suited up as a Flyer last night. Schenscher, who ended up with Georgia Tech and played in the championship game of the 2004 NCAA Tournament, was Fort Worth’s leading rebounder with 11. Meanwhile, Luke Jackson, who has returned to the Stampede after a 10-day contract with the L.A. Clippers, did not play last night. The Stamps and Flyers face off again tonight.

Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky has parlayed his instant national stardom coming out of the Fiesta Bowl into an invitation to a made-for-TV event at Miami’s Orange Bowl. It’s the ninth annual “State Farm College Football All-Star Challenge’, a skills-and-drills competition based on agility, strength and stamina. The other quarterbacks in the field are Chris Leak of Florida, Troy Smith of Ohio State and Drew Stanton of Michigan State. This is big for Z—none of the NFL Draft projections have him among the top five QBs available. So it’s an opportunity. The competition will be taped Tuesday and shown a week from Saturday at 2PM on ESPN.

Matt Hayes’ column in this week’s Sporting News crafts a passionate argument for college football’s superior appeal versus its pro counterpart. “At any given time in any given year, something will happen that is utterly hypnotic and defines what college football is and why it has never been more popular. Only in college football can the little guy beat the big guy with the hook-and-lateral play, a wide receiver pass and the Statue of Liberty play—and then go completely off the deep end as the guy who scored the winning points takes off his helmet and asks his girlfriend to marry him on national TV.”

Hayes continues: “But, of course, sideline reporter Chris Meyers—the consummate NFL foof—blows it by announcing to the world that Boise State’s Ian Johnson wants to propose to his girlfriend instead of just letting it happen. Because in the NFL, everything must be scripted.” Meanwhile, our national line of the day for Bronco football comes from the latest ESPN Insider SportsNation chat session with Ivan Maisel. Question from Jackson of Boston: “Is Boise State for real or just another left-coast flash in the pan?” Two-word answer from Maisel: “Ask Oklahoma.”

The return of goalie Steve Silverthorn was just what the doctor ordered for the Idaho Steelheads last night. Silverthorn took care of biz in the Steelheads’ zone, and his teammates rallied around him on the offensive end in a 5-0 whitewash of Utah. It was Silverthorn’s second straight shutout, this one separated from the last one by his latest two-week callup to the Iowa Stars. Marty Flichel continued his torrid play, scoring a goal two assists to up his point streak to seven games. The 30-year-old right wing has quietly become the Steelheads’ scoring leader with 46 points (19 goals, 27 assists). The Steelies now head for Las Vegas for games tomorrow and Saturday.

There is, of course, college basketball in the Treasure Valley beyond Boise State. This season it has been especially back-burnered because of certain football events around here. But Albertson College’s official basketball release this week makes a case for the Yotes to be front-burner. So far this season, the Coyotes have averaged 1,607 fans a game—the highest average attendance in the Cascade Conference. The ACI average is nearly 400 more fans than the University of Idaho draws per night (1,211).

In fact, the Yotes biggest draw of the year (2,300 against Oregon Tech) was bigger than Boise State's home date with Montana State, more than three different Idaho State home games, and bigger than any crowd at Idaho this season. In fact again, the largest crowd to watch a basketball game in the state (prior to the BSU-Hawaii game last Saturday) was the ACI-NNU exhibition on November 2, when 4,852 fans watched the Yotes top the Crusaders, 88-80, in the Idaho Center. Albertson is on the road this weekend at Northwest College and Evergreen State, but you can check out a great student-oriented environment when the Coyotes return to the J.A. Albertson Activities Center a week from Friday against Warner Pacific.

This Day In Sports…January 25, 1998:

The Denver Broncos finally win a Super Bowl, beating the Green Bay Packers, 31-24, in San Diego. The Broncos had lost four Super Bowls previously. Three of them were with John Elway, the veteran quarterback who at last got the monkey off his back almost 15 years after coming out of Stanford as the no. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Denver would win the Super Bowl again the following year in the final game of Elway’s career.

(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 1350 KTIK/The Ticket. He also handles color commentary on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football.)