Friday, October 10, 2008.

Boise State is ranked second in the WAC in total defense going into tomorrow night's test at Southern Mississippi, allowing 324 yards a game. That's a solid number, though not a great one. But it's not hard to find other numbers that reveal the essence of the Bronco D to date. The bottom line is found on third down and in the red zone. BSU is holding opposing offenses to only 28 percent on third down conversions, highlighted by the 3-of-14 allowed at Oregon. Inside their own 20, the Broncos are giving up points less than 64 percent of the time. The red zone has been a Southern Miss bugaboo. In last week's double-overtime loss to UTEP, the Golden Eagles racked up 516 yards and were 10-of-16 on third down conversions. But they were forced to go for field goals six times, and they missed three.

You don't get out of drives like Boise State did last week without leadership on defense, especially on the fourth quarter goal line stand. So I asked Chris Petersen who's taking charge out there to help produce these results. Petersen thought for a second, and said, "Everybody." He said defense is truly playing as a unit this season--it's leadership as a group. The Broncos subscribe to the notion, "Do you your job--and the rest of your boys out there will do theirs."

When asked after spring football about the "sleepers" in his position group, BSU defensive line coach Pete Kwiatkowski pointed to Chase Baker and Shea McClellin. They'll have a chance to really awaken tomorrow night when the Broncos face a potent Southern Miss offense. Baker's role is especially magnified with Joe Bozikovich out and Sean Bingham "day-to-day" at defensive tackle. Baker saw his most action yet last week in the win over Louisiana Tech, registering two tackles and a pass breakup. Baker, from Rocklin, CA, and McClellin, from Marsing, are both technically true freshmen. But they both grayshirted last fall, so they had the benefit of spring football. McClellin has been in the D-line rotation since Opening Night against Idaho Satte.

Southern Miss has a freshman quarterback of its own, and he's trying to light it up with his teammates just like he's been doing on the field. "It's time for this team to step up and answer the challenge," Austin Davis said in the Biloxi Clarion-Ledger. "There are a lot of questions out there about our character and how we're going to bounce back. It's a great game to get it done," Davis said of Saturday night's game against the 15th-ranked team in the country. "We let a few slip away, but we're not going to lose focus. We know we can beat this team--I think the guys are ready for this one." Davis is the first Southern Miss quarterback, freshman or otherwise, to start his career with five-straight 200-yard passing games.

Idaho will see a familiar face who won't be so friendly tomorrow night, as Fresno State offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier tries to rebound his group from the crushing overtime loss to Hawaii. Nussmeier, of course, quarterbacked the Vandals from 1990-93 under John L. Smith and won the 1993 Walter Payton Award as the top player in Division I-AA. After stints in the NFL and CFL, he got into coaching in 2001 and eventually worked for two of the guys who mentored him at Idaho: Smith at Michigan State and Scott Linehan with the St. Louis Rams. Nussmeier was lured to Fresno from the Rams last winter by Pat Hill. Good move. He has to be wary of his former team, but he knows the Vandals are 1-5--and he knows they have just two sacks in six games. Nussmeier's Bulldogs are favored by 34 points.

There really isn't a game-of-the-week in the WAC. All the home teams are favored. Louisiana Tech could always shake the ball and chain that seems to be around the Bulldogs' offense, but it's a lot to ask as Tech goes to Hawaii in the nation's longest conference road trip. The schedule sets up in San Jose State's favor for a build-up to the Boise State game October 24. The Spartans, with the WAC's top defense, have Utah State at home tomorrow and New Mexico State on the road next week. But how about this? The WAC team with the longest winning streak in conference games: Utah State at three. The Aggies finished the 2007 season with road wins in Las Cruces and Moscow--then beat Idaho in Logan last month.

Legedu Naanee's role should increase Sunday when San Diego hosts New England. Charger stars Chris Chambers, Antonio Gates and LaDainian Tomlinson all have injuries, and the Bolts are going to need their supporting cast to step up. Naanee only has one catch this season, going for six yards in a 39-38 loss in Denver in Week 2. That was the wild game that also saw the former Boise State star score the first NFL points of his career on a two-point conversion catch.

Meanwhile, former Boise State star Korey Hall is listed as "limited" for Sunday's Green Bay game in Seattle. Hopefully he can get in to play, because it's as close as he'll ever get to Glenns Ferry and the extended Hall clan. Hall has missed the past three Packers games after injuring his knee in the Pack's win at Detroit September 14. He has an interesting season statistical line: one catch for one yard and one touchdown. Seattle is also as close as the Packers ever get to Alaska, so BSU product Daryn Colledge should have some family support from North Pole at Qwest Field.

We won't know what the Idaho Steelheads roster looks like until the smoke clears for Opening Night October 18, because there are lots of comings and goings right now. Two key Steelies have left training camp in McCall, headed at least temporarily to the AHL. Mark Bomersback goes to the Providence Bruins on a player tryout contract. And John Lammers, just assigned by Dallas to the Steelheads, has been loaned by the Stars to the Houston Aeros. Both Bomersback and Lammers are expected back at some point. Idaho wraps up its McCall session with exhibition games tonight and tomorrow night against the Victoria Salmon Kings in the Manchester Ice and Events Centre.

If Clint Malarchuk didn't have bad luck, he'd have no luck at all. The former Steelheads coach is recovering in a Reno hospital after accidentally shooting himself in the chin with a rifle at his ranch in Minden, NV. Malarchuk had been shooting rabbits when he placed the butt of the rifle on the ground between his legs--and it went off. He's most famous for the ugly slice of a skate that opened up in jugular vein in a 1989 NHL game with Buffalo. Malarchuk is currently a goalie coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He led the Steelheads in their second and third seasons of existence, from 1999-2000.

This Day In Sports...October 10, 1923:

In one of baseball's great ironies, the first World Series home run in Yankee Stadium history is a ninth-inning, game-winning, inside-the-park clout by Casey Stengel, giving the New York Giants a 5-4 win over the Yankees in Game 1. The future Yankee manager would hit another game-winning homer for the Giants in Game 3, but the Yankees went on to win their first Fall Classic in six games, celebrating their first season in "The House That Ruth Built".

(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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