Friday, October 2, 2009.

Okay, it's going to be cool tomorrow night, and times are tough in the Treasure Valley, and it's just an FCS team coming to the blue turf. But it still doesn't make sense that Bronco Stadium will be under capacity for the second straight game. There's a message on the Flying Pie Pizza readerboard on State Street that says, "We used to need plane tickets to watch a Top 5 team." Think about that. A Top 5 team. Boise State didn't buy its way into that position. National media and coaches have voted it there. This is an historic time for a school that's been in the FBS just 13 years to be sitting among the very best in the land. A school with a stadium that seats only 33,500. It should be full.

It's Homecoming in a number of ways for BSU. The Broncos are coming off back-to-back road wins at Fresno State and Bowling Green. Innocent enough. But at Fresno State, they faced a team that wanted to beat them in the worst way--on a 100-degree evening in front of a very hostile crowd. Last week BSU was out of its element in the state of Ohio, where the game had been hyped all week. Bowling Green led Missouri on the road in the fourth quarter three weeks ago--yet the Falcons come home to face Boise State, selling out their stadium for the first time in six years, and they lose by five touchdowns? At his talk benefitting the Log Cabin Literary Center Tuesday night, renowned sportswriter Frank Deford called Boise State football "a Rocky story" and "a Horatio Alger tale." Did I mention the stadium should by all rights be full tomorrow night?

Every FBS team that plays UC Davis is reminded by its coaches of the Aggies' stunning 20-17 win at Stanford in 2005. But it's not Boise State's nature to take Davis lightly. Expect the Broncos to play under control--and in control--tomorrow night, just like any other game. "Our focus is to play our hardest and play our best, to execute, to play with a smile on our face," says coach Chris Petersen. The fact that UC Davis is Petersen's alma mater won't have any bearing on it.

What would you expect more of after four games out of Boise State's stalwart defense? I'd say sacks. The Broncos have only five over the first four weeks of the season. On the other hand, that's third in the WAC. Getting pressure on UC Davis quarterback Greg Denham is the key to totally disrupting the Aggies game plan. Everything else should take care if itself--the Broncos have nine interceptions already, and they're fifth in the country in pass efficiency defense with a rating under 84. The UC Davis numbers would suggest Boise State will be able to stop the run tomorrow night, as the Aggies have been under 100 yards on the ground the past five games.

On the other side of the sack column, the Boise State offensive line has picked up where it left off last year. The Broncos haven't allowed a sack since the win over Oregon, so their season total remains two. "Kellen has something to do with that," says Petersen, pointing out that Moore has uncommon instinct and deceivingly quick feet. But the O-line has been improving weekly. "We're definitely ahead of where we were last year," says Pete.

Boise State's special Homecoming guests tomorrow night at Bronco Stadium are members of BSU's 1999 Big West and Humanitarian Bowl champions, the group that started the Golden Era. The fourth and fifth-year seniors on that team had endured a grueling stretch that started with Pokey Allen's cancer and eventual death. Those Broncos played for Allen, interim coach Tom Mason, one-year coach Houston Nutt, and finally the coach who got the thing rolling, Dirk Koetter. The '99 guys, especially the ones like Philadelphia Eagles standout Quintin Mikell and former Kansas City Chief Shaunard Harts who haven't been back in awhile, can survey the rather electric scene tomorrow night and know they have some ownership in it.

As part of Homecoming, LSU men's basketball coach Trent Johnson will be one of six people to be honored tonight with Distinguished Alumni Awards from Boise State. Johnson has made his mark as an elite-level coach after rebuilding the program at Nevada, successfully succeeding Mike Montgomery at Stanford, and now righting what was becoming a rudderless ship at LSU and being named 2009 SEC Coach of the Year.

Johnson played at BSU from 1974-78, helping the Broncos to their first Big Sky championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. How's this for dredging up nostalgia? I recall that on Senior Night in 1978, the valley's number one radio station at the time, KFXD (for which I worked) gave Johnson and fellow four-year seniors Steve Connor and Danny Jones brand spankin' new copies of the soundtrack from "Saturday Night Fever." I'm sure today that would be an NCAA violation.

There's more sidebar material as the buzz builds in Moscow for tomorrow night's Idaho-Colorado State game. A poll is a poll for the Vandals these days, and they've entered the CBS Sports non-BCS Top 10 at No. 10 this week. Considering there are 54 non-BCS schools, this is quite a leap for a team that had lost 23 of its last 26 games coming into this season. One thing that's made it go for Idaho is its running game, which was already the strength of its offense. This year it's not Deonte Jackson or even Princeton McCarty leading the Vandals in rushing, but DeMaundray Woolridge, the senior transfer from Washington State who's run for 295 yards and averaged seven yards a carry.

Elsewhere in the WAC, action resumes tonight when Utah State tries to measure its progress under new coach Gary Anderson in Provo against BYU. Nevada hosts UNLV tomorrow in the battle for the Fremont Cannon. The Wolf Pack will try not to press against their rivals--they've won four in a row over the Rebels but are desperately attempting to avoid an 0-4 start. And this one could be interesting. The WAC's most moribund program, New Mexico State, visits its Mountain West counterpart at San Diego State.

Idaho State would like to come up for air, but it probably won't happen this week. The Bengals, now 0-4, host Eastern Washington tomorrow in Holt Arena. The Eagles are ranked 17th in the FCS, and they come in on the heels of last week's visit by Central Washington, then ranked No. 5 in Division II. Central, ISU coach John Zamberlin's former employer, embarrassed the Bengals in a 33-22 decision. Idaho State committed six turnovers, all in the first half, and also allowed a blocked punt and a safety.

With Darrell Hay departed, the Idaho Steelheads have just one member of the old guard left as players report for training camp today. Marty Flichel begins his seventh season with the Steelheads and will be a multi-tasker for coach Derek Laxdal, adding the title of assistant coach to his captain's duties. The 33-year-old forward, the team's career scoring leader, will thus be directing traffic when the Steelies hit the ice at Qwest Arena Sunday morning for their first official practice.

This Day In Sports...October 2, 1993:

Quarterback Tony Hilde burns his redshirt year and makes his first career start as a true freshman against Montana in Missoula. He threw the first of his then-BSU record 70 career touchdown passes--that one pulled in by Ryan Ikebe, who was burning his redshirt year that day as well. Hilde's 388 passing yards and 406 in total offense in his collegiate debut would also be his career highs. He would rack up over 9,000 yards passing and over 10,000 in total offense over the next four years, and 26 of his TD passes would go to Ikebe.

(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.)

---