Wednesday, August 15, 2007.

We’ve been through this before, but it’s pertinent again today. When Boise State finished No. 5 in the AP Poll in January, everyone speculated on where the Broncos would start the 2007 season in the rankings. The consensus, considering the loss of 22 seniors off the Fiesta Bowl championship team, was somewhere in the mid-teens. Then the Hawaii love started pouring forth, and the question was: would BSU even make the Top 25? Well, the Broncos are already 23rd in the Coaches Poll. And now the Sports Illustrated College Football Preview issue is going to hit newsstands showing Boise State at…No. 15. SI keeps the faith.

Luke Winn’s “Scouting Report” on each team is more of a player feature story. In Boise State’s case, the subject is Marty Tadman and the conversion to Christianity that he says may have saved his life. On the football side, Winn notes that “Tadman's nose for the ball is a big reason why the Broncos had the 10th best turnover margin in the nation last season and why he earned Defensive Player of the Game honors in the Fiesta Bowl. As much as Boise has become synonymous with offensive trickery, it was the team's defense that led the WAC in every major category in 2006. "There's no way we'll be able to top last season's ending," says Tadman, "so this year is going to have to be exciting in different ways."

Some of these lists had already been released at SI.com, but Ian Johnson is No. 14 among the magazine’s Top 20 Players for 2007, and Hawaii’s Colt Brennan is ninth. Ian’s also featured in a “Year of the Running Back” story that compliments his ability to be “patient and cagey with the ball.” Austin Murphy zeroes in the two-point conversion against Oklahoma, when “Johnson essentially loiters behind the quarterback, hands on his hips ‘futzing around,’ he says,” before grabbing the ball and bolting for the end zone. Meanwhile, the BSU-Hawaii game is rated 15th on the “Best 20 Games To Watch” list, “the game of the year outside of BCS conferences,” SI says.

He’ll be wearing No. 15 instead of No. 5, but Jared Zabransky should still feel somewhat at home when the Houston Texans play their second exhibition game. They’ll be facing the Arizona Cardinals Saturday at University of Phoenix Stadium, scene of Boise State’s Fiesta Bowl glory on New Year’s Day. And the Houston Chronicle reports that the Texans will play Zabransky at least for the fourth quarter on the field that hosted the college football all-timer. That’s huge, because Z didn’t get a snap last week against Chicago, and he needs a chance before Houston starts making its roster cuts.

Zabransky is shooting for a spot on the Texans’ practice squad at this point. But the team sounds like it’s ready to look at him. ''With the few reps he's gotten, he's surprised me with the progress he's made,'' quarterbacks coach Kyle Shanahan said in the Chronicle article. "It's tough to make progress when a bunch of guys in front of him are taking the majority of reps. But he's doing a lot of things on his own, and he's really made huge strides."

The essence of the Houston feature talks about How “Zabransky still cannot separate himself from the game that earned him two ESPYs recently. It's partly because teammates are still begging for copies of the EA Sports NCAA Football '08 video game that has Zabransky on the cover.” There’s some good stuff from former BSU star Jeb Putzier, too. "The (Fiesta Bowl) was awesome until one play when I was about to kill (Zabransky); then he totally redeemed himself," Putzier said of his emotions when he watched it. Of Boise State, Putzier said, "That was my dream school. Some guys think of going to Miami or Michigan, but I was a Boise State guy. I'm still a huge fan. I watch as many games as possible. And to see where that program has come from since I first got there, it's unbelievable."

Two days removed from a disheartening sweep at the hands of the Northwest League’s best team, the Boise Hawks have put together probably their best back-to-back efforts of the season. Last night the Hawks victimized Yakima again, this time recording their first shutout of the season in an 11-0 whitewash. The four-pitcher combo of Chris Huseby, Oscar Bernard, Yuri Higgins and Steve Vento scattered three hits, just one after the first inning, in a masterful performance.

The strangest line in the box score belonged to Hawks centerfielder Jonathan Wyatt, who was trying to extend his league-high hitting streak to 21 games. Wyatt drove in three runs and scored a pair, which you would think equates to a hit or two. But Wyatt was 0-for-4, and the streak comes to an end. But Tony Thomas continues on his tear—he’s now hit safely in 14 straight games. The three-game series with the Bears wraps up tonight, your last chance to see the Hawks before the Western Idaho Fair road trip.

Now these are exhibition games with some juice. Instead of your run-of-the-mill preseason dance with a divisional foe, the Idaho Steelheads are going inter-league and intersectional, inviting the Central Hockey League’s Wichita Thunder to McCall for a weekend in October. Steelheads coach Derek Laxdal guided the Thunder for 2½ seasons before coming west in the summer of 2005. The Steelies and Wichita will play exhibitions Friday, October 13, and Saturday, October 14, at McCall’s Manchester Ice and Events Centre. Training camp for the defending Kelly Cup champions opens October 4 in Boise before moving up Highway 55.

This Day In Sports…August 15, 1993:

Greg Norman completes a “Grand Slam” of playoff losses by lipping out his putt on the PGA Championship's second playoff hole, giving Paul Azinger the title. Norman also lost playoffs in golf’s other three majors—the 1984 US Open, the 1987 Masters, and the 1989 British Open. Some consolation for the Shark: he had won his second British Open a month before the PGA Championship collapse.

(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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