Thursday, October 4, 2007.

Can New Mexico State light a fire under Boise State fans Sunday? With incendiary coach Hal Mumme and flame-throwing quarterback Chase Holbrook? Probably no more than Wyoming or Southern Miss did. But that’s the point. The BSU program is truly at a place now that anything wearing white on the blue turf is in for a din. The noise in Bronco Stadium the past two games has been phenomenal (and yes, Joe Glenn, it was natural). BSU is expecting its ninth straight crowd of 30,000-plus. That’s one thing, but in the opinion of a writer covering Southern Miss last week for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, it “sounded more like 60,000.” There’s the key. There are lots of crowds in the 30,000 to 40,000 range in Division I-A football. But the 30,000 in Bronco Stadium has become something else.

BSU’s Chris Petersen is encouraging that noise more than ever Sunday. Like Wyoming, New Mexico State runs a no-huddle offense. It’s partly to keep defenses on their heels, but the Aggies want to get as many plays in as they can. They’re averaging 78 plays a game and ran off 85 against BSU last October in Las Cruces. Interestingly enough, though, the Broncos are also averaging 78 offensive snaps a game this year.

You have two very different quarterbacks in Sunday’s Boise State-New Mexico State game. Which one is going to manage his offense the best? Boise State likes its chances with Taylor Tharp, considering the strides the senior has made over the last two games. Tharp played smartly in the win over Southern Miss last week, repeatedly picking up the Golden Eagles’ blitz to grab big yards on swing passes, most notably the game-opening 35-yarder to Vinny Perretta and the back-breaking 54-yarder to Ian Johnson in the third quarter after USM had pulled to within 12 points. Tharp admittedly has thrown a lot more through the first four games than Jared Zabransky did in the same period last year, but he’s already at 958 yards for the season. In BSU’s balanced offense, that’s significant.

Northern Colorado will be a welcome sight Saturday for the struggling Idaho State Bengals. The Bears have 13 straight losses, and they’re ISU’s homecoming opponent in Holt Arena. From that standpoint, it’s a chance for Timberline High product Russel Hill to get some confidence back. After a solid performance in the Bengals’ Opening Night win over NAIA Southern Oregon, Hill was rocked in losses to Oregon State and Eastern Washington and was benched in favor of Luke Butler in last week’s defeat at Montana State. Then Butler suffered a concussion in the second-to-last play in Bozeman, and Hill was plugged back in for homecoming. Hill has thrown for 607 yards and two touchdowns with eight interceptions.

After missing two games with a strained abdominal muscle, former Nampa Bulldog Rob Morris had just returned to the Colts lineup for last Sunday's game against Denver. But he was right back out again just before halftime with a knee sprain. Turns out Morris had torn a tendon in his left knee and had surgery Tuesday, forcing the Colts to put him on injured reserve and ending his season. It’s a bitter pill for the BYU product. Morris was Indy’s first round draft pick in 2000 but was almost a forgotten man two years ago, when he had to earn a spot on the team as a free agent. Late through last season, though, he was moved into the starting lineup in place of Gilbert Gardner at outside linebacker and helped shore up the defense. It was a key move in the Colts’ eventual run to a Super Bowl championship.

The 2007-08 edition of the Idaho Steelheads, the group assigned with defending a Kelly Cup championship, will gather for the first time today for the opening of training camp. The first order of business will come early this afternoon—one of the most important rituals in hockey. The Steelies will be fitted with their mouthguards. The first official practice is Saturday morning at Qwest Arena; camp moves to McCall Monday afternoon. Meanwhile, there are three former Steelheads on Opening Day NHL rosters, highlighted by 2004 Kelly Cup Finals MVP Dan Ellis as a backup goalie for the Nashville Predators. Calgary Warren Peters is poised to make his NHL debut with Calgary, and one of last season’s Kelly Cup champs, Francis Wathier, begins the season on injured reserve for the Dallas Stars.

Baseball’s divisional playoffs are underway, and there are nine former Boise Hawks involved, divvied up between the team’s two parent clubs of the past 18 seasons. On the Cubs roster you have Rich Hill, Felix Pie, Ronny Cedeno and Geovany Soto. It’s somewhat of a surprise that Cedeno made the cut. The Angels feature John Lackey, Francisco Rodriguez, Scot Shields, Robb Quinlan and Garrett Anderson. Not to forget the “honorary former Hawk”, Angels first baseman Casey Kotchman, who spent summers in Boise in the 1990’s watching his dad manage.

Lackey got the Game 1 start last night for the Halos in Boston and didn’t have it despite a caree-high 19 wins during the regular season. The 6-6 righthander served up homers to Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz in the 4-0 Red Sox victory. By the way, the Hawks’ 2008 season will open at home with a five-game series against Eugene starting on June 17.

The one Utah Jazz player allocated to the Idaho Stampede in the one year of affiliation between the two teams is back in Boise for Jazz training camp. C.J. Miles, Utah’s second round pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, is trying to make the squad for a third season. His eight-game assignment to the Stampede last winter did what it was supposed to do; it got Miles some valuable court time. He averaged 17.3 points and shot 51 percent with the Stamps. Overall for the Jazz, Miles played 37 games last season and actually got 13 starts. He averaged 10 minutes a game and 2.7 points. Two years ago, at the age of 18, Miles became the youngest player in Jazz franchise history.

This Day In Sports…October 4, 2003:

A record-shattering day for the Boise State in Ruston, LA. Ryan Dinwiddie became the first Bronco ever to throw for over 500 yards in a game, amassing 532 in BSU’s 43-37 win over Louisiana Tech. The senior quarterback was 40-of-60 on the day, on his way to 2003 WAC Offensive Player of the Year honors. Meanwhile, wide receiver Tim Gilligan broke a 30-year-old Bronco standard with 16 receptions. As a team, the Broncos set marks with 569 passing yards overall and 732 in total offense.

(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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