BSU's Pro Day a success

Ryan Clady made his mark on NFL scouts yesterday, virtually assuring himself to be the second offensive lineman taken in April's NFL Draft. According to the Statesman, more than 50 pro personnel representing 30 of the NFL teams were on hand to watch Clady and a dozen other former Broncos work out and go through drills.

By all accounts, Clady impressed during the session, likely solidifying his spot as the No. 2 offensive tackle in the draft behind Michigan's Jake Long. Representatives from the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins spoke with him after the workout. The Chicago Bears have a private workout scheduled with Clady for next week.

"With his workout I know he impressed everybody," said Clady's agent, Pat Dye Jr., who was not allowed inside during the workouts, but spoke with NFL personnel after the session. "Everybody came out and said he really helped himself."

Clady had a disappointing Combine performance after being forced to sit out with an injury. Doing well in yesterday's Pro Day assured everyone that he is worth a high first-round pick.

Clady solidifies his draft status [Idaho Statesman]
BSU's Clady impresses crowd at Pro Day workout [Idaho Statesman]

Southern Miss conceding victory?

In an article from the Hattiesburg American, an intrepid reporter tries to predict Southern Miss' record judging solely by the looks of the schedule. Here is his initial take.

I expect the Golden Eagles to win their season opener at home against Louisiana-Lafayette and add victories over Arkansas State, Marshall, UTEP, Rice, UAB and SMU. Conversely, I anticipate them losing to Auburn, Boise State, Memphis, East Carolina and Central Florida.

A few paragraphs later, he seems to have had a change of heart.

I see the Eagles taking care of business against UL-Lafayette, Boise State, Arkansas State, Marshall, Rice, Central Florida and UTEP, but falling victim to Auburn, Memphis, East Carolina, UAB and SMU.

In the matter of a few poorly constructed sentences, Boise State went from certain victor to certain loser. Kind of like the author.

Don't worry; readers let him have it in the comments.

Will Southern Miss football record improve? [Hattiesburg American]

UPDATE: Something reeks of censorship at the Hattiesburg American. After we posted this story about the dual-personality author, the website added a byline and changed the headlines to show that two different guys wrote the story. Don't worry, their sins live on in the comments section. What we wouldn't give for a screen grab right now.

The overthrow of communism trumps Statue Left

Boise State lost in its bid to have the greatest highlight of all-time, thanks to ESPN voters who don't know the difference between great moments and great highlights.

In the voting for ESPN's Greatest Highlight, Mike Eruzione's goal in the Miracle on Ice took 59% of the votes to win the title. Boise State's Fiesta Bowl finished a respectable second place, having beaten a Michael Jordan buzzerbeater, the Cal-Stanford band play, and Doug Flutie's miracle Hail Mary to make it to the finals.

ESPN guy ranks non-BCS teams

ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg seems to have drawn the short straw among the site's college football writers. His reward? Non-BCS conferences!

His ranking of the top non-BCS conference teams has BYU on the top (we like that pick), Fresno State second (predictable), and our very own Boise State Broncos third.

What we know: Minus safety Marty Tadman, the defensive back seven returns. So does running back and non-BCS posterboy Ian Johnson.
What we don't know: The starting quarterback and several first-team offensive linemen.
How the Broncos can reach a BCS bowl game: Win nonconference road games at Oregon and Southern Miss before the favorable WAC schedule (home against Fresno State and Hawaii).

Someone might need to tell him that Orlando Scandrick turned pro. Otherwise, we agree with his assessment, however obvious it might be.

Here is his take on Boise State's spring practice preview:

Quarterback also is a priority at Boise State, which breaks in a new starter for the second straight season. Bush Hamdan has held the top spot before, but fell to fourth on the depth chart last season. He will compete with Nick Lomax and Mike Coughlin this spring.

Apparently, he did not use this kid as a source.

Cougars, Bulldogs top spring power rankings [ESPN.com]
Spring offers promise... [ESPN.com]

Bold Predictions for the Week Ahead

With the arrival of March comes the arrival of spring football, and OBNUG couldn't be more excited. The offseason has felt especially long after the bowl loss, so we are happy to get back to some real football. And yes, we will be reading entirely too much into what happens at the spring game.

• Idaho State will pull out of the Broncos' 2008 schedule citing a desire to not lose by 56 points, and Gene Bleymaier will fill the open slot with the San Francisco 49ers, catering to Bronco Nation's demands of tougher scheduling.


• BSU's Pro Day will go extraordinarily well, prompting many scouts to wonder just what went wrong in the Hawaii Bowl. There will be no answer.


• In anticipation of spring practice, Bronco fans will begin practicing the "Boise"..."State" cheer in inappropriate public settings.

WIR: Breaking news and Broncos' schedule

Week in Review (WIR) feels that OBNUG has raised the bar for other WAC football blogs after this week's scoops on Orlando Scandrick's mood and the Idaho Statesman's misprint. Of course, the bar was pretty low to begin with.

• Ryan Clady's pec chooses not to participate in Combine.
• Statue of Liberty to the finals of ESPN's highlight contest. Vote!
• MySpace journalism at its finest. We approve.
• Scandrick blazes through the 40. He's fast.
• Pro Day is coming.
• Fresno's new lackey hire.
• The Brock Forsey Experience.
• Boise State's schedule is released.
• The Statesman drops the ball.
• WAC schools await impending losses.

Have a great weekend, Bronco fans. Start planning those road trips to away games. We'll have a lot more Bronco schedule coverage next week.

OBNUG WAC schedule breakdown

With the release of Boise State’s 2008 football schedule yesterday, we feel pretty good about the Broncos’ chances of running the table again. Obviously, Oregon will be a big hurdle, and traveling to Southern Mississippi will not be easy. But our two toughest WAC opponents will be traveling to Boise, so we can’t complain.

With our schedule setting up quite nicely, we thought it might be interesting to take a look at the schedules of our WAC competition to see who else might surprise. Needless to say, we are not very worried.

Fresno State

• Toughest game: The Bulldogs will get one of the nation’s best teams when Wisconsin visits Fresno. This has the makings of David Carr’s 2002 all over again.
• Weakest game: Anyone, anywhere, any time works out great when it is Toledo.
• Schedule strength: respectable

Utah State

• Toughest game: Two weeks before the Broncos head to Eugene, the Aggies travel to face the Ducks. Utah State fans are nervous about getting killed. Oregon fans are annoyed to have a I-AA team on the schedule.
• Weakest game: There are really no easy opponents for the Aggies, but playing Idaho at home at least gives them a chance at not going 0-12.
• Schedule strength: impossible, relative to their being Utah State

Nevada

• Toughest game: Two Big XII teams back-to-back will pose a good challenge for the Wolfpack early in the year. Although, after giving up 69 points to the Broncos last year, I can’t wait to see what Texas Tech and Missouri can do.
• Weakest game: The season-opener against Grambling appears to be nothing more than a chance for Colin Kaepernick to stretch his legs.
• Schedule strength: mildly difficult

Idaho

• Toughest game: After a surprising show at USC last year, the Vandals get a crack at another PAC-10 opponent when the visit Arizona. Can lightning strike twice? In the form of a loss, yes.
• Weakest game: Idaho has in-state rival Idaho State on the schedule, which can only mean that the Vandals’ audition for the Big Sky is underway.
• Schedule strength: mediocre

LaTech

• Toughest game: When the Bulldogs scheduled a game at Kansas a couple years ago, I bet they never thought Kansas would be good. Also, having an improving SEC team (Mississippi State) come to town can’t end well.
• Weakest game: We’re not sure if they made up the name Southeast Louisiana or not.
• Schedule strength: commendable

New Mexico State

• Toughest game: The Aggies visit Nebraska in an early-season lopsided affair.
• Weakest game: NMSU plays traditional rivals New Mexico and UTEP in what is otherwise known as a cop out.
• Schedule strength: boring

San Jose State

• Toughest game: The Spartans have two BCS-conference teams on the road: Nebraska, a week before New Mexico State visits the Cornhuskers, and Stanford.
• Weakest game: A WAC schedule wouldn’t be complete with competition from a lower level. San Jose State’s choice? UC Davis.
• Schedule strength: predictable

Hawaii

• Toughest game: To open the season, the Rainbow Warriors play at Florida. As if getting beaten up by Georgia wasn’t bad enough.
• Weakest game: Hawaii’s annual division I-AA opponent? Drumroll please…Weber State!
• Schedule strength: better than usual