Has there been a quarterback in recent history that has presented the challenges Jake Locker will to the Boise State defense tomorrow? Locker is rapidly developing as a thrower—and is over-qualified as a runner. Louisville's Stefan LeFors comes to mind in the 2004 Liberty Bowl. But coach Chris Petersen says whereas LeFors was about as accurate as they come, he didn't have near the speed Locker does. Petersen likens the Huskies’ new offensive style with Locker to Bowling Green’s spread offense with Omar Jacobs, who had far less speed than LeFors. That was a leftover hybrid of Urban Meyer’s system two years after he left for Utah, and the Broncos won big in that 2005 game against the Falcons, 48-20. This will be far more challenging.

The Broncos do have reinforcements on defense this week, though, as middle linebacker Kyle Gingg and defensive end Mike T. Williams are back after missing the Weber State game with injuries. It’ll be the first time Bronco fans have seen Williams since the Fiesta Bowl, when he stripped Oklahoma quarterback Paul Thompson and recovered the fumble to set up BSU’s second touchdown. The interesting development here is Ryan Winterswyk, who gets an “or” on the depth chart this week with Mike T. in the starting spot. The surging Winterswyk, the one-time safety, was BSU’s internal defensive player of the week against Weber with eight tackles.

BSU is a three-point favorite going into tomorrow’s game. You can call that prohibitive. And no matter how it’s painted, it’s not just another game. If the Broncos win, the “can’t beat a BCS team on the road” monkey is off their backs. If they lose, they face a bunch of “I told you so” talk and fall out of the Top 25, faced with climbing the respect mountain all over again. The Huskies are thought of as a lower-tier Pac-10 team, but Chris Petersen notes, “There are usually two or three plays that decide Pac-10 games, and that happened to Washington last year.” The Huskies lost by only six at USC and seven at Cal.

To be sure, Washington of 2007 is not Georgia of 2005. Sanford Stadium was sold out for the 48-13 demolition of the Broncos on Labor Day weekend two years ago—92,000 fans, virtually all wearing red. Husky Stadium will be close to a sell-out, too, with over 70,000 attendees. But 10,000 of them will be awash in orange and blue. That’s going to surprise some people in Seattle. The crowd in itself is big news at UW; the Huskies averaged 57,483 last season. Weather’s another big difference, as instead of the oppressive humidity and 87-degree temperatures of Athens, the Broncos will see one of the most perfect football days imaginable: sunny and 75 along the shores of Union Bay.

A recent New York Times article laments the lack of marquee non-conference games involving BCS schools, with a trend toward home games against weaker opponents. Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen defended his league in the piece, and the angle reporter Pete Thamel took was interesting. “Hansen took a subtle shot at programs that play all of their out-of-conference games at home and do not play return games,” wrote Thamel.

“He is confident in the way his league’s teams have scheduled, especially considering that USC travels to Nebraska, Cal plays Tennessee, Oregon travels to Michigan, Washington is host to Boise State and Ohio State, and UCLA plays Notre Dame.” It’s still amazing to see BSU in a sentence like that. “‘We’re competing for a BCS. berth with conferences where they do have eight home games, and seem to have brought in opponents they’re very confident that they can defeat,’ Hansen said. ‘We’re playing the toughest teams we can find to play, and some of the others obviously have not.’”

The WAC needs some upsets, and it doesn’t look like there are many on the horizon this weekend. Idaho will be favored over Cal Poly tomorrow in the Kibbie Dome home opener, riding some confidence after standing up well to USC, and Hawaii should drill Louisiana Tech. Pivotal non-conference games against Division I-A teams (beyond Husky Stadium tomorrow) have San Jose State facing an uphill battle at Kansas State, Fresno State going into a tough situation at Texas A&M, and Nevada trying to overcome revenge-minded Northwestern on the road. Who knows what’ll happen to Utah State at Wyoming? And it’s New Mexico State meeting New Mexico for the 98th time. The Lobos have won six of the last seven in that series.

Timberline High grad Russel Hill makes his college football debut as starting quarterback for Idaho State tomorrow afternoon. Seth Burford was the last freshman to open the season as the Bengals’ starting quarterback—he was a true freshman in 1997. Hill is unlikely to mirror the middle of Burford’s college career, but he wouldn’t mind the same ultimate destination. Burford transferred to Cal Poly after two average seasons at ISU and became a star, later earning roster spots in the NFL with the Chargers and Chiefs. The Bengals host Southern Oregon tomorrow in Holt Arena, the inaugural game for new ISU head coach John Zamberlin.

If the Boise Hawks are curious about how Triple-A baseball might play here, they can monitor what happens 400 miles to the south over the next few years. The Reno City Council has voted unanimously to support a deal aimed at bringing a Pacific Coast League team to downtown Reno. SK Baseball bought the Tucson Sidewinders and plans on building a $48 million stadium with a capacity of 10,000 people. The organization can use up to $27 million in special Washoe County car rental fees for the stadium. If and when the Tucson franchise moves to Reno, the key would be putting bodies in the seats. Whether that can happen remains to be seen.

This Day In Sports…September 7, 2006:

Indisputably the best performance ever by a Boise State running back, as sophomore Ian Johnson gains 240 yards and ties a school record with five touchdowns in a 42-14 rout of Oregon State at Bronco Stadium. Johnson was named Division I-A Offensive Player of the Week after his nationally-televised effort, which is a perfect word for it. He not only had scoring runs of 59 and 50 yards, he continually broke tackles and dragged Beaver players along for the ride. It was an exclamation point to BSU’s celebration of its 20th anniversary on the blue turf.

(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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