Friday, October 3, 2008.

Wednesday night games might be a pain to many fans, but over 32,000 of 'em were still lured to the blue turf for Boise State's win over Louisiana Tech. The positives of the inconvenient placement sure outweigh the negatives. The fact that it's all by itself on a weeknight gives it a place among the top stories on SI.com and ESPN.com et al. The game got airtime on every SportsCenter update on ESPN Radio yesterday morning. There was a photo of D.J. Harper on the front page of The Sporting News daily online edition, with a full-page spread on the game inside. Of course, it would have been a bit lower on the totem pole had the Broncos not beaten Oregon 11 days earlier.

Honesty is the best policy, and BSU honestly revealed that Bronco Stadium was 70 tickets short of being sold out Wednesday, breaking a streak of 14 straight sellouts. Those seats would have been sold one year ago. It's not because the BSU program has lost any luster, or even because it was a work night. To borrow a phrase from political campaigns of the past 30 years, "It's the economy, stupid." Those tickets were there for the walk-up crowd, and there are simply far fewer fans now who can afford them versus a year ago--as much as they want to be there. Better get used to it.

After watching two left-handed quarterbacks battle it out on the blue turf Wednesday night, which one would you take? The one who's a senior with BCS-level experience, or the one who's one year removed from Prosser High School in rural southern Washington? Well, the veteran was 9-of-27 for 202 yards, and the kid was 20-of-28 for 325 yards and two touchdowns. You know which one is which. Taylor Bennett, the Louisiana Tech QB and one-time Bronco recruit, is generally considered a great kid, but let's just say that BSU is happy that things worked out the way they did with Kellen Moore. After his second straight 300-yard passing game, Moore is now over 1,000 yards for the season in just four starts (he has 1,165).

Special teams, long a point of pride for BSU, were point-counterpoint Wednesday night. Point: the Broncos held the explosive Louisiana Tech kickoff returners to 21 yards a runback and didn't allow the Bulldogs to return a punt. The latter was thanks to Kyle Brotzman's intentional line drives off rugby punts, and the great bounces that resulted. Counterpoint: the Broncos averaged just 18½ yards on kickoff returns and only three on punt returns. That has to be sticking in their craw. The most surprising sight was No. 69 in the middle of those units. That was Byron Hout, the Idaho Gatorade Player of the Year last season at Lake City in Coeur d'Alene. Hout was supposed to redshirt this year, but Chris Petersen said Hout was playing so well in practice--particularly on special teams--that the staff (and Hout) decided to burn the redshirt year.

A week after taking down top-ranked USC, Oregon State was poised to bump one of the BCS busters last night. But 15th-ranked Utah rallied for 11 points in the final minute and a half, with Louie Sakota hitting a 37-yard field goal as time expired to stun the Beavers, 31-28, in Salt Lake City. So BSU won't get any help from that game in the polls Sunday. The Broncos could conceivably leapfrog South Florida if voters punish the No. 10 Bulls for losing to Pitt at home last night, 26-21.

Shiloh Keo has been scotch tape of sorts, holding the Idaho defense together. But the junior safety has been missing most of the last two games with a shoulder injury. Both losses were lopsided ones to previously winless teams. Keo's been serving as an unofficial coach since then, helping with signals. But how important would he be on the field tomorrow, as Nevada and Colin Kaepernick's craziness come to the Kibbie Dome? Who's going to direct traffic against the Wolf Pack? The Lewiston Morning Tribune reports that Keo "is now able to raise his arm over his head and the pain is dissipating, but he must get clearance from the doctor." So he'll don a headset and try to will some success out of his teammates, who are 24½-point underdogs to Nevada.

There are three other blowout alerts in WAC country. Fresno State hosts Hawaii, a team that, with Colt Brennan, put 68 points up on the Bulldogs in Fresno two years ago. Look for the Bulldogs to seriously turn the tables on the Warriors, who are suddenly trying to find their way--last in the nation in turnover margin, 107th in scoring and 103rd in total offense. Utah State, with a bye week after its win over Idaho, has the thankless job of playing BYU tonight. It is at home, but Cougar fans will take over Romney Stadium. And New Mexico State should easily outmatch FCS Alcorn State, the replacement opponent for the canceled game against Nicholls State from Labor Day weekend.

It's official now. Randy Livingston, who in 10 seasons of Idaho Stampede basketball has become the face of the franchise, is Bryan Gates' new associate head coach with the club. "Once Ray Lopes left, the job was Randy's if he wanted it," said Gates. The 2007 NBA D-League MVP and leader of the 2008 D-League champions has been thinking about this for a long time. In an interview last season, Livingston said, "Yes, I will definitely get into coaching as soon as my career is over. Over the past five or six years I've always coached the young players and have been a role model for them. We all don't get lucky like Avery (Johnson) did by going from playing to coaching, but I would love to have that career whether I have to start in the D-League or wherever." Stampede it is.

There's always good stuff coming out of Carroll College in Montana. Former Capital High standout Zach Richardson, now a starting senior safety for the Saints, has been named a national semifinalist for the 2008 Draddy Trophy, sponsored by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. The Draddy is the top academic award in college football. Richardson is one of 164 semifinalists. The 5-11, 205-pounder is a Pre-Med-Dentistry major--he had four interceptions for Carroll's NAIA national championship team last year.

Big day for the College of Idaho, as the C of I Athletic Hall of Fame holds its 10th induction ceremony tonight on the Caldwell campus. It features the best team from the school's football era, the 1953 squad that went unbeaten and untied in the regular season and won the Northwest Conference championship. Those Coyotes had convincing victories over both Idaho State and Montana State and earned a bid to the Refrigerator Bowl, one of only six bowl games at the time (the Yotes lost 14-12 to Sam Houston State). Among the 15 former players representing the '53 team tonight will be R.C. Owens, the receiver who went on to star for the San Francisco 49ers.

This Day In Sports...October 3, 1951:

Bobby Thomson hits the "Shot Heard 'Round The World" in the deciding game of the National League playoff series between the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers. With two out in the bottom of the ninth--and the Dodgers leading 4-2--Thomson belts a three-run homer off Ralph Branca to give the Giants a 5-4 victory and the National League pennant.

(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.)

---