Friday, June 22, 2007.

We’re still over two months from kickoff, but SI.com’s Stewart Mandel seems to be coming up with weekly college football lists for your consumption. In fact, this week there are two that involve a team you know. One is under the headline “Momentous Matchups”—ten showdowns that could shape the 2007 season. No. 9 is Boise State at Hawaii November 23, with Mandel writing what is becoming a familiar national refrain: “Could a BCS berth and/or Heisman Trophy be on the line in a WAC regular-season contest? Quite possibly. Both teams finished last season ranked in the coaches poll, and the fact that this game is in Honolulu could put Colt Brennan and the Warriors in position to end the Broncos' run of five straight conference titles.”

Mandel also poses “Five Random Predictions for 2007” in his College Football Mailbag column. Here’s one of ‘em: “Hawaii will become the first team in history to average 60 points per game. Have you looked at the schedule Colt Brennan will be facing this season? Let's just say the first six opponents are Northern Colorado, Louisiana Tech, UNLV, Charleston Southern, Idaho and Utah State. Boise State and Washington loom at the end, but in the meantime, I shudder to think what kind of numbers the Warriors are going to put up.” Regardless of what happens in those final two games of the season, Mandel’s right on the money with that. Brennan is going to go pinball with that slate.

Both Southern Mississippi and Boise State will be in the process of rebuilding their receiving corps when they meet for an ESPN Thursday night game September 27. And the Golden Eagles’ project just got more difficult, as coach Jeff Bower announced this week that sophomore wideout Rodney Gray has been booted off the team for "rules violations and poor conduct”. Gray was one of five true freshman who played for Southern Miss last year and had 15 catches for 147 yards. He started the Eagles’ first three games.

With former Boise State wide receiver Cole Clasen hurt and a spate of other injuries assisting the Boise Burn’s five-game losing streak, the team has picked up former Nevada standout Caleb Spencer as it travels to Spokane. In his Wolf Pack career, Spencer caught a ton of passes (190 in three years) but didn’t score many touchdowns (only six). He’ll get a chance to—and be expected to—get into the endzone a lot in arena football. And that’s what Boise needs right now, as it’s gone from 70 points to 44 to 33 to 32 and 32 during the current skid. The Burn will get to experience one of the great atmospheres in af2 tomorrow night, as the Shock is averaging 10,564 fans a game in Spokane Arena.

Everything you read out of Winnipeg says the clock is ticking for Ryan Dinwiddie with the Blue Bombers. Dinwiddie auditioned as backup quarterback in an exhibition game last week but tossed two interceptions in one quarter of action. Compared to Dinwiddie, Iowa’s one-time Heisman Trophy runnerup Brad Banks was dreadful. But Winnipeg has now traded Banks to Montreal for Kliff Kingsbury, the former Texas Tech slinger. And Kingsbury will get a long look from Bombers coach Doug Berry in their final exhibition game tonight. No guarantees that Dinwiddie will even get a snap.

The Boise Hawks made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth last night, but not interesting enough to record their first win of the 2007 season. Trailing 5-1, they got an RBI double from Jose Made, a run-scoring single from Jonathan Wyatt, and a sacrifice fly from Marquez Smith that brought in another run. But that’s where the door closed, with Salem-Keizer prevailing 5-4 to give the Hawks a three-game losing streak. There’s gotta be frustration after this one, as Boise out-hit the Volcanoes 13-6. That tells you the Hawks’ pitching wasn’t that bad, but starter Chris Huseby was saddled with the loss nevertheless. They’ll try to salvage something in the final two games of the Salem-Keizer series tonight and tomorrow night.

Boise’s Nick Symmonds turned in the fastest 800-meter time yesterday in qualifying at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Indianapolis. Symmonds, the Bishop Kelly grad fresh off his upset win at the Prefontaine Classic, ran a 1:46:17. He was on cruise control in the preliminaries—that was over a second and a half slower than in Eugene on June 10. Symmonds will run in the 800 semifinals tonight.

One of the guys being interviewed for the New Mexico State basketball job is Damon Archibald, the former Boise State and Albertson College standout. He was an Aggies assistant last season under Reggie Theus, who left Las Cruces this week to coach the Sacramento Kings. Archibald is seen as an up-and-comer in college basketball coaching ranks, although there was a big cloud over his head when he was let go at Iowa State last year amidst a scheduling-for-recruiting scandal. He played for three seasons at BSU before having a falling out with coach Bobby Dye. Archibald then transferred to Albertson and led the Coyotes to the 1996 NAIA Division II national championship.

This Day In Sports…June 22, 1938:

Popular sentiment has Joe Louis fighting not only for the heavyweight championship, but also for democracy as Max Schmeling unwittingly represents Hitler and fascism. Actually, the German boxer was not a member of the Nazi party, but 70,000 at Yankee Stadium cheered as if he were as Louis blitzed him. Sent to the canvas three times, Schmeling was counted out just 124 seconds into the fight.

(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.)

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