Tuesday, October 6, 2009.

You've seen the term "announced attendance" in the reporting of various sporting events, pro, college and otherwise. Sometimes it's there to intimate that the number announced isn't entirely accurate. That would be the case at Saturday night's Boise State game against UC Davis. The "tickets sold" number was certainly accurate at 32,497, but it was clear not everybody showed up. And that brings up my column last Friday. It said a Top 5 team with a stadium that seats only 33,500 should be able to fill it up every game, regardless of weather, economy or opponent. It generated an unusually high amount of comments.

A sampling: "Tickets are too expensive for a family of four." And, "They may be a top 5 team, but they are still a college team and 30-50 bucks is too much to pay to go see them play. Even if the economy was good and I hadn't lost my job, I wouldn't pay that to go to a college game. It's insane." From the other side comes a Californian who watched the telecast on ESPN GamePlan wrote, "You people live in Boise, this is your climate, put on a freakin' jacket and represent for three hours. You're the number 5 team in the nation. Get out there and support these kids. Unreal." Maybe it comes down to this: is Boise still just too small a market? If so, the Broncos are indeed college football's biggest-ever over-achievers.

I touched on this on Sunday Sports Extra the other night. Chris Petersen said before the season started that he wanted to cut down on penalties this year--to be the least-penalized team in the WAC. That goal is getting harder to reach after the Broncos were penalized nine times in the win over UC Davis Saturday night. Four of the infractions were called on the Kyle Wilson-less BSU secondary. The Broncos are averaging 7½ penalties covering 68 yards a game, actually up from 2008. Do you think that's a focus this week? "We are talkin' about it. We are charting it. We are going after the culprits," said Petersen yesterday. "We've still got a lot of football left to play."

I mentioned yesterday that BSU probably missed cornerback Jamar Taylor Saturday night against UC Davis. The Broncos will now miss him for the rest of the season, by choice. Taylor, who tore his meniscus and had surgery earlier this year, had not played this season and will redshirt. Coach Chris Petersen feels it was getting too far along in the season to waste a year of eligibility for the talented sophomore from San Diego. Taylor had a redshirt year available after playing last season as a true freshman. The guy the secondary missed the most, Kyle Wilson, is expected back in the lineup game for the Tulsa game a week from tomorrow.

Boise State is taking a lot of grief for "not playing a Top 50 team the rest of the season blah-blah-blah." How about this little development? If you look at CBS Sports.com, the Broncos will be playing at least one Top 50 squad--and it is Idaho. CBS has the Vandals catapulting from No. 83 to No. 50 in its latest rankings after their 31-29 win over Colorado State Saturday night. The next-highest WAC team on the list is Fresno State at No. 69.

Idaho keeps racking up WAC Players of the Week. The Vandals picked up two more yesterday, as safety Shiloh Keo earned defensive honors and kicker Trey Farquhar took the special teams award. Keo made 15 tackles and had a game-clinching interception against Colorado State, while Farquhar connected on a 47-yard field goal at the end of the first half that inspired the Vandals' rally, pulling them to within 20-10 at the break. Offensive Player of the Week is Nevada's Mike Ball, who rushed for 184 yards and five touchdowns in the Wolf Pack's rout of UNLV. It was the WAC's first five-touchdown game since Ian Johnson's landmark night for Boise State against Oregon State three years ago.

If it wasn't the worst night of former Boise State star Daryn Colledge's NFL career, it had to be close as the Packers fell to the Vikings 30-20 in BFNF (Brett Favre Night Football). Forced to play the now-unnatural position of left tackle due to Chad Clifton's bad ankle, Colledge was run over by former Idaho State great Jared Allen. The Minnesota All-Pro had his way, leading a pressure parade that buried Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers. By the time Allen sacked Rodgers for a safety in the fourth quarter, Colledge had left the game with a knee injury. Allen had a ridiculous 4½ sacks on the night, the most on Monday Night Football since sacks became an official stat in 1982.

As the Idaho Steelheads get into the meat of training camp, some of their "ancestors" are already into the NHL season. Dan Ellis, MVP of the 2004 Kelly Cup Finals for the Steelheads in 2004, is starting in goal for the Nashville Predators. Ellis won his first start Saturday at Dallas. Zenon Konopka, also part of Idaho's 2004 championship team, is playing for Tampa Bay. Tom Wandell is lacing 'em up for Dallas, with former Steelies Warren Peters and rookie Luke Gazdic on injured reserve for the Stars, and B.J. Crombeen is back with the St. Louis Blues.

Wrapping up 2009 for one of the former Boise Hawks in the majors who didn't make the postseason. Garret Anderson, the longest-tenured Hawks alum in the bigs, did not disappoint the Braves after being cut loose by the Angels after the 2008 season. The 37-year-old outfielder still has value, batting .268 for Atlanta with 13 home runs and 61 runs batted in. Anderson had two hits last Thursday to reach 2,500 in his 16-year career, making him the 89th player in Major League history to reach that milestone. The only downer: those were his final two hits of the season--Anderson was 0-for-12 in three games over the weekend.

This Day In Sports...October 6, 1993:

The first of three retirements for Michael Jordan. At the age of 30, he thought he had accomplished all he could in the NBA, with three straight Chicago Bulls championships and three MVP awards. Jordan would drift off into minor league baseball, only to return to the Bulls about a year and a half later.

(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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