Monday: Links with officiating

We'll have some exciting Ryan Dinwiddie news later today. What other kind is there, right?

Story of the day:

Idaho fan resents ESPN's "winless" remark [ESPN.com]

ESPN's newest non-BCS blogger, Graham Watson, suggested last week that the Vandals would go winless this season. Sounds like he knows his non-BCS football.

Watson made his prediction fully expecting the wrath of Vandal fans to rain down upon him. Instead, he got propositioned from a guy in Seattle.

Dan in Seattle writes: Hey Graham Watson, You challenged us Vandals fans to "let the emails fly." In light of your unfounded prediction that the 2008 Vandals will NOT WIN A GAME (and keeping with the relatively non-inciting tone in which it was registered), I propose a little more. How about a straightforward, even odds bet to back up that fearless prediction? Up to $500.

Watson didn't bite, but we imagine that Robb Akey would. Five hundred bucks could buy a lot of Just for Men mustache coloring.

The only way we see Idaho not going winless is beating Idaho State in Moscow. However, Seattle Dan seems to think there are other wins on the schedule, too.

Come on. WINLESS?? Multiple win-able conference games aside...

We'll stop you there. Apart from maybe Utah State (who, if you'll remember right, beat the Vandals last year), there are pretty much no games that Idaho is expected to win in the WAC. Maybe things will be different come midseason, or maybe pigs will fly through frozen hell. We're not holding our breath for either.

Other links:

The south end zone will be closed someday [Statesman]
What's another 20 million dollars?

$2500 per person for seats in the Mothership [Statesman]
Has BSU gone corporate?

Boise State preview [FOXSports.com]
Yes, 10-3 is a disappointment.

Scanned version of Boise State's Phil Steele preview [Boise state football news]
Now if we could just get the other 150 pages scanned, we'd be in business.

Only a month and a half left to bet [Wizard of Odds]
Week One lines from around college football

Reggie Larry update [Warriors.com]

Four minutes, zero points in finale of summer league

Interesting picks from Las Cruces newspaper [Daily Herald]

NMSU ahead of Hawaii? Favoritism!

Karl Benson interview [Statesman]
Brian Murphy is the new Larry King.

Baseball not in BSU's future [Press-Tribune]
Stupid Title IX.

Thursday: Links with religion

Story of the day:

Peak redeems itself with Jadon Dailey [Statesman]

With the hiring of former BSU center Jadon Dailey as the new color commentator for Bronco football games, Peak Broadcasting has done something that has thus far eluded them: appear competent. If the reaction to Dailey's hiring is any indication, then Bronco fans are feeling pretty good about life after Paul J.--at least as good as they could feel.

Bob Behler's already a fan.

Behler, who said he has worked with many first-timers in the booth, was impressed with Dailey's intelligence and enthusiasm. "He's going to add a lot in stories and knowledge," Behler said. "He's going to help me a heck of a lot, knowing personnel, history and coaches. He's going to bring a lot to the table."

Will Dailey's lack of experience be an issue? Not with Behler, the father of modern radio, in the booth! Besides, if things get bad, Peak can always just play snippets of Dailey's Out of the Blue commentary in between Behler's live-action play-by-play calls. Don't think anyone would mind that. 

Other links:

New recruit Mooney not taking other campus visits after all [Press-Tribune]
Guess he was okay missing out on all the fun times at Army.

Bush Hamdan is a better man than you are [Scott Slant]
Thanks to Tom Scott we suddenly feel much less charitable for giving that homeless guy a dollar.

Boise State season preview [Don Best]
Always trust a man with a mustache...except for Robb Akey.

Cocaine hoax fuels Big XII rivalry [SI.com]
We anxiously await the Idaho "pirated Norbit DVD" hoax.

Thursday: Links with politics

Story of the day:

Yahoo/Rivals starts rankings countdown [Rivals.com]

Starting with the bottom of college football and working their way up, Rivals.com will be unveiling a countdown of all 120 teams over the next few weeks. And there's no surprise whom they chose for the bottom.

Numbers 118 and 119 out of a possible 120 are the WAC's Utah State and Idaho. Only Florida Atlantic was deemed worse.

RE: the Vandals:

THE BUZZ: It's tough to succeed in the WAC when you can't throw the ball effectively. Playing in a league that featured five of the nation's top 40 passing offenses last year, Idaho is going to continue to lag behind until it shores up its passing attack.

Well, we don't know if we would call it "buzz." More like sad, depressing truth.

Their take on the Aggies started awfully optimistic, but quickly turned south.

Utah State enters the season on a two-game winning streak. They haven't won three in a row since 1996-97. But a 1-4 start looks likely, and unless the Aggies win at home against Idaho on Sept. 20, a winless season is a possibility.

Too bad Florida Atlantic isn't on the schedule.

Other links:

Face of Boise State football [Bronco Nation NOW]
Our vote rhymes with "Schmadman."

WAC expansion with...Utah Valley State? [Parsing the WAC]
They don't have a football team, which is a far more honest assessment than that of the University of Idaho.

Utah State pretty geeked up about Phil Steele [Utah Statesman]
Take comfort in the small victories, Aggies.

Still no Jeremy Childs [Idaho Statesman]

Life Coach: Airport Cheering 101

The Life Coach believes that there are no stupid questions, just stupid Vandal fans who ask questions. His purpose is to shepherd Bronco Nation to the calm waters of illumination, guiding them through their perfunctory problems with grace, flair, and competent advice. Got a question for the Life Coach? Email him at OneBroncoNationUnderGod@gmail.com.

Dear Life Coach,
I recently was in another airport and saw another traveler wearing a Boise State shirt. I suddenly had an uncontrollable urge to shout "Boise!" and he responded with "State!" Is this acceptable?
Annoying in Arco

No. A thousand times no. Please do not do this. If you do this, mature Boise State fans will slowly shake their heads, look down to the ground, and sigh. Here’s why.

I lived in Ohio for a year once. In Ohio, one person will yell “O-H!” and another person will yell “I-O!”. It’s fun. It’s unique. It’s been around forever. That’s why it works. But it does NOT work for us to do our "Boise...State!" cheer. First, it’s not fun to do it with just two people (especially if the guy on the back end is a little quiet because then it's just a dude in an airport yelling “BOISE!” and that’s a little odd). Second, it’s not unique at all. Every team has a back and forth cheer like that. And third, we’ve only been doing it so habitually for, like, 10 years – ever since we’ve been good. So please, please, don’t do this.

But there is something all to our own that is kind of cool that you can yell in an airport at another Boise State fan. By yelling this, you will see if this person really is a fan or not, and it will be a special moment between the two of you where you will both laugh and high-five each other. Just yell out, “And that’s another Boise State…” And if he or she is a true fan, they will yell back “FIRST DOWN!”

Life Coach,
How many Idaho Vandals does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Seriously, because I have four here right now and that isn't enough.
Handy in Hailey

It actually takes 17 Vandals to screw in a light bulb. Why? Because 16 isn’t enough, and 18 is too much.

It doesn’t have to make sense. We hate you, Vandals. Get better so we can have a rivalry again.

Mr. Life Coach,
Are Utah State fans worth jeering or are we just wasting our breath?
Sincerely, OBNUG

Well, let me say this. The name “Aggies” is actually short for “Agriculturalists." Now, don’t get me wrong; I support our agriculture as much as the next guy. But I just don’t think we need to waste our breath jeering the Utah State Agriculturalists. Not worth our time.

But we could do something new and exciting. I would encourage all fans instead of jeering to simply pity the other team. Simple and genuine pity. Instead of giving them the effort of our jeers, we could just feel bad for the Agriculturalists and their relative obscurity (ed's note: this works well with those New Mexico State Agriculturalists, too). Gentle pats on the back. Small encouragements for them to “keep trying, guys!” This will infuriate them. Agriculturalists hate pity.

Utah State starts at bottom of rankings

One blog's quest to rank every single football team in America begins at an appropriate place: the intersection of Utah State and the bottom.

God Inc is starting its rankings from worst to first, and the Aggies are the first ones up. The website sees Utah State finishing 2-10 (2-6 in WAC play), which we consider to be a roaring success as far as Utah State is concerned. And we already know where one of the wins is coming from:

Game to look for:

Idaho. This seems like it will be the game for last place in the WAC unless something changes fast for either of these programs. Utah State won last year’s meeting 24-19 in Moscow, Idaho.

We imagine that Idaho should be popping up on the site's rankings pretty soon, and we are more than prepared to wait 100 days or so to see Boise State's name.

2008 College Football Countdown [God Inc]

Boise State's odds on winning national title

Cash in your 401K and break out Grandma's birthday check!

Bodog.com lists Boise State's odds of winning the 2009 national championship at 100/1. We'll take those odds any day. Some of the other teams with the same odds at the national title are Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, and BSU's September opponent Oregon. The team with the best odds is USC, in an obvious nod to 2005.

What we love best about the sports book is that Fresno State is not even listed. A group of teams are bundled into "The Field," and Boise State appears to be the only small-conference school to not be included in that group. Compulsive gamblers know what they're talking about!

The University of Idaho also did not receive a specific mention, either because they are to be included in The Field (says The Field: "Thanks for nothing!") or because sports betting agents didn't have their scientific calculators on hand to calculate the exponential figures of Idaho's national championship odds.

Football Futures Betting [bodog.com]

Democracy fails; Idaho voted No. 1

Looks like Robb Akey just found himself a recruiting tool.

The Idaho Vandals, all one win and eleven losses of them, are the number one team in the nation, according to a poll at collegefootballpoll.com. Curse those computer macros!



We're fascinated to see the Vandals on top, and we are equally surprised to find Utah State at number two. Talk about a scintillating BCS Championship game!

WAC spring football...catch the fever (or don't)

With nearly every WAC team in action, we thought it would be fun to take a look around to see what our conference rivals are up to. Enjoy.


Hawaii
The Warriors begin their WAC championship defense the only way they know how: getting up at the crack of dawn.

Most practices run from 7-9 a.m. and are open to the public.

Getting up early? Hah! Nothing a 64 oz. Coke can't fix!

Warriors Open Spring Practice [Hawaii athletics]


Utah State
The Aggies are halfway through their spring practices, and head coach Brent Guy is predictably optimistic.

"The main thing was that it was much more physical than in years past because of our numbers; we have a lot more guys to get in there and we were able to get quite a few live snaps in," said Guy.

Utah State Football 2008: Quantity Over Quality.

Guy pleased with...practice [Utah State athletics]


New Mexico State
NMSU will become the final WAC team to open spring practice, when they kick things off later today. The last shall be first? We doubt it.

Aggie football gears up for first spring practice [NMSU athletics]


Idaho
In addition to oily team-building, the Vandals have lots of work to on the football field during spring practice.

"That’s the one thing we really need to work on," Enderle said, "finishing our drives and getting in the end zone.”

"Also, pretty much every other aspect of football," he continued.

Akey likes what he sees [Idaho athletics]


Fresno State
When Kansas State pulled out of the Bulldogs' 2008 schedule, Fresno replaced the Wildcats with Big East power Rutgers. The Fresno-Rutgers season opener will take place on Labor Day, and the Scarlet Knights will return in 2012 to take on the Bulldogs in Fresno.

Gene Bleymaier is hard at work replacing Idaho State with ITT Tech.

Football schedule gets a facelift [Fresno State athletics]


LaTech
Something is going on at Louisiana Tech's spring practice, but we're not sure what exactly that is.

Following Saturday's first scrimmage of spring workouts, the Bulldogs focus was on improving and building a brand of Louisiana Tech football Monday. Head coach Derek Dooley told his players when each of them earns respect from the opponent the team will have an identity as a strong football program.

What?

Bulldogs build brand of football [LaTech athletics]

Idaho president sick of losing

University of Idaho President Tim White has high aspirations for his school. Among them? Winning a WAC football game.

White, in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, said a successful sports program is key to the image of his Moscow, Idaho-based school.

"You bet it matters," said White, a former college water polo coach.

Idaho sports has had a troubled decade since moving to the Division I-A ranks, especially in the main revenue sports of football and basketball.

To think that the football program is bringing down the collective image of the University of Idaho is rather unfortunate. That is a lot of pressure to put on Nathan Enderle.

White puts a lot of blame on the coaching turnover.

"There was no stability in leadership," White said. "You can't do anything without that level of stability."

With Robb Akey back for his second season, it appears that White is confusing stability with longevity.

Idaho President pushes sports, law school [Seattle P-I]

Grading the classes: Idaho

This week, OBNUG will be grading the recruiting classes for each WAC team. Our research may be spotty, but as you can see from the final result, there is no questioning our loyalty.



Idaho

To understand the recruiting strategy of the Idaho Vandals is to believe that winning occurs through osmosis and not, as many believe, through hard work.

“I like the fact that every guy on this list … comes from a winning program,” Akey said. “All but one were in postseason play.”

One such winner is DE Hank Bryant, a recruit from Tumwater High School.

“I’m sure what they liked is his athleticism and agility,” Tumwater coach Sid Otton said. “He has a great first two or three steps.”

Actually, coach, what they liked was the fact that he played on a winning team. Having a great first step is just a coincidence.

Eschewing talent and athleticism, the Vandals completed their recruiting class with 19 high school seniors and two junior college transfers. All of them will have a chance to play right away considering that the Vandals are not all that good.

If help arrived anywhere, it was along the defensive line. Big bodies like Bryant and Brad Marboe, the lone Idaho product in the class, should make a difference along the defensive front. And yes, we consider garbage time sacks during a 35-10 loss as a difference.

Compared to some other teams in the WAC, Idaho's class looks pretty good. Of course, that's not saying much.

Scout.com rank: 81
Rivals.com rank: 101
OBNUG grade: F

Akey fields second recruiting class [Spokesman-Review]