Thursday, September 6, 2007.

With all the attention on Washington’s Jake Locker, and what Boise State is going to pull out of the arsenal on the other side of the ball, the heart and soul of the Bronco offense has almost been in the background. But everything starts with Ian Johnson Saturday in Husky Stadium. UW will stack the box to try to stop him, and BSU will give him the ball a lot to try to get in a rhythm. How many carries can Ian handle? Upper 20’s, if his work regimen pays off this week.

Said Johnson after his 18-attempt, 128-yard, three-touchdown night against Weber State, “One of my biggest things is my fitness—to be able to go out there and sustain a drive without coming out.” He says the 13-play marches with a lot of four and five-yard carries are what “gas” him the most, and his quest this week is to prepare for those. Ian’s career high in carries is 31 at Nevada last year, two weeks after he suffered the partially-collapsed lung at San Jose State.

It’s not like Johnson has to go wire-to-wire versus the Huskies. Bronco fans saw the options in the impressive debuts from Jeremy Avery and D.J. Harper last week, and they will have roles Saturday. Little-known fact: Avery did not pass “go” and did not collect 200 dollars last Thursday—all he did was go straight into the BSU record book. Avery’s 10½ yards per carry ranks as the 10th-best performance in that category in BSU history. Johnson only has one game better than that (again, in that category), the 10.9 yards per tote he clocked during his 240-yard, five-touchdown night against Oregon State a year ago. Ian, of course, rolled up his on 22 carries versus 10 for Peanut.

Pete Fiutak at College Football News.com has his “2007 Brutally Honest Heisman Breakdown” out this week. With that headline, you’d expect Ian Johnson to be soft-pedaled. But you scroll through “No current chance” and “On the radar” down to “The true favorites”—and there’s Ian listed, along with John David Booty, Brian Brohm, Darren McFadden, Ray Rice, Steve Slaton and Pat White. Says Fiutak of Johnson: “He'll be among the nation's leading scorers all season long, and he should blow up yardage-wise behind an incredible offensive line. To have any hope of being in the Heisman chase, he needs to go nuts against Washington this week.” Fiutak’s “Current leader in the clubhouse”: Colt Brennan.

You’ll never hear public acknowledgment, but Washington defensive coordinator Chris Tormey had to derive some personal satisfaction from stuffing Syracuse’s “pistol” offense last week. The pistol, of course, is the brainchild of Nevada coach Chris Ault and lines up the quarterback about three yards behind the center. Ault is the one who fired Tormey as Wolf Pack coach in 2003 after four non-winning seasons in Reno. Syracuse installed the pistol in the offseason, and Tormey’s Husky defense held it to just 207 yards. Now Tormey gears up for a former rival, the team he beat with Idaho in 1998 on a surprise two-point conversion in overtime to win the Big West championship—and the team that handed him a 45-14 defeat in his final game for the Vandals a year later.

Expectations are that Idaho will square its record at 1-1 when it takes the momentum from the USC game last week into the Kibbie Dome Saturday against Division I-AA Cal Poly. There should be a raucous welcome for the Vandals after their solid effort in the L.A. Coliseum. Nathan Enderle will call the signals in front of the home crowd for the first time. In standing up well against the Trojans, the redshirt freshman was as poised as any Idaho quarterback since John Welsh, the last QB to lead the Vandals to a winning season. Welsh was a redshirt freshman himself in 1998 when Idaho took the Big West title and won the Humanitarian Bowl.

If Louisiana Tech struggles this season, at least Bulldog fans have reason to hope for an offensive revival next year. The Bulldogs passed for only 71 yards against outmanned Central Arkansas last week, but Auburn backup quarterback Steven Ensminger has transferred to Tech and is enrolled in classes. Ensminger, a redshirt freshman whose dad is an assistant at Auburn, will have to sit out this season. He’ll have to be content to watch what Colt Brennan and Hawaii do to his future teammates Saturday in Ruston.

In these parts, last year’s Colorado-Arizona State game was all about Dan Hawkins versus Dirk Koetter. This year you could say Hawk against Dennis Erickson, as this season it’s not a fellow former Boise State coach on the other side but a two-time Idaho coach. But people are more curious about Cody Hawkins will fare in his first road game as the Buffaloes’ starting quarterback. Cody’s debut last week is one he won’t forget, the come-from-behind 31-28 overtime win over rival Colorado State at Invesco Field. Hawkins ended up 18-of-31 for 201 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.

A record nine Boise State products are active in the NFL as the season kicks off tonight, including one who made a regular season roster as a free agent for the first time. Gabe Franklin hopes to make his NFL debut Sunday when the Chargers host the Bears in San Diego. It’s been three seasons now since Franklin capped his stellar career at BSU. Idaho State has four on active rosters—that might be a record for the Bengals, too. With Rick DeMulling having been cut by Indianapolis, Colts star offensive tackle Jake Scott is the lone Idaho representative in the NFL. Scott will be in action on Opening Night this evening when Indy hosts the Saints.

The Boise Hawks’ season finale was, in effect, playoff baseball last night at Memorial Stadium. And fittingly, the Hawks and Tri-City engaged in a pitchers duel—until things completely unraveled for the home team in the ninth inning. The Dust Devils led 2-1, then put up a six-spot and buried the Hawks, 8-1, to end Boise’s campaign. With the loss, the Hawks finish with a rare losing season (37-39). They had fought back from a 2-12 start this summer to blast into first place in late July. But they followed that run with a stretch that saw 12 losses in 15 games into mid-August, and they battled the rest of the way to get back into contention. That the Hawks did, and they fell one game short.

This Day In Sports…September 6, 1980:

Boise State opens a season of high expectations with a win beyond anybody’s expectations, a dominating 28-7 upset of Utah at Rice Stadium in Salt Lake City. The Broncos break the backs of the Utes with two time-consuming drives of 90-plus yards—with Cedric Minter’s running mate at tailback, Terry Zahner, taking a turn at racking up a 100-yard game. Three and a half months later, BSU would win the Division I-AA national championship.

(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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