Preview mags take Moore over Hamdan

We were browsing at Barnes and Noble the other day, and we came across some interesting news from the two college football preview magazines that were available: Both Lindy's and Athlon Sports projected Kellen Moore as the starting quarterback.

Bush Hamdan was not available for comment.

An open letter to Phil Steele

Dear Phil Steele,

Thank you for putting out an annual college football preview. That said, please stop.

If your All-WAC teams were any indication, the body of your work is built upon name recognition, wild guesses, and having an intern write things for you. We were appalled at the lack of reason to your WAC selections. Four Broncos among the WAC's top 30 players? Have you watched the WAC lately?

We fear that you have not. In fact, we fear that your entire list was pieced together with little to no research or outside opinion. All-conference teams are usually made up of several players from the best teams, a group to which the University of Idaho does not belong. Yet, there they were with ample representation on your all-WAC selections. What happened? Do you owe Robb Akey's mustache money?

Unfortunately, we fear that the conclusion is that you settled for a lazy approach to your WAC preview. And we cringe to think about what you might do with other lists:

• Your preseason Heisman might include Knowshown Moreno, Terrelle Pryor, and Tom Brady's one-year-old son.


• Your NBA MVP list might have included Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and Larry Bird.


• Your Democratic national ticket might include John Edwards, Joseph Lieberman, and Peter Griffin.


• Your list of your favorite summer movies of 2008 might include Indiana Jones, Cloverfield, and Spiderman 4.


• Your preseason poll might include Notre Dame (ed's note: Steele's preview included Notre Dame at #19).

Next season, please try to factor in traditional on-field performance when you are considering your all-conference selections. If you are randomly guessing at breakthrough players, do not look at San Jose State. If you are hurting for a breakout QB, take a stab at a Bronco.

And if you think we're buying your magazine, guess again.

Sincerely,

OBNUG

Friday: Links with Boise

Story of the day:

Greg Graham staying with Broncos [Idaho Statesman]

Oft-beleaguered Bronco coach Greg Graham looks to have a new incentive-laden deal with Boise State that could keep him in Boise for the better part of forever.

The contract includes standard components, such as an annual salary of $345,000 and financial incentives for conference championships, postseason berths and academic performance... The contract also has incentives for additional years that strictly relate to wins, championships and postseason bids.

Graham's contract could turn into a nine-year extension, provided he keep winning. Certain criteria range from winning the conference tournament to earning an NIT berth to completing fundamental inbounds plays.

We're happy to have Graham back because we feel that the Bronco men's basketball team has an opportunity to build upon its success from last season. The more winning BSU teams, the better!

Other links:

Extension coming for Hawkins? [Ralphie Report]
Being mediocre in the Big XII is a lot better than being awful in the Big XII, we guess.

Someone's talking Big East split [Fanblogs]
Southern Miss is being thrown around as a possible addition.

Was Hawaii's Sugar Bowl trip unethical? [Star Bulletin]
We mean besides the horribly lopsided loss part.

J Bates column links to OBNUG [J's Blog]
Ergo, OBNUG links to J Bates column. Thanks, J.

San Jose State and NMSU also not good [Rivals.com]
Well, half the WAC is out of the way, and Rivals isn't even out of the 100s yet.

EA Sports knows its football

While so-called experts are making preseason picks about WAC champions and dark-horse BCS candidates, EA Sports is speaking the plain truth. And nothing says credibility like a video game.

Fight Fight BSU brought us news of Bronco Stadium being one of the toughest places to play in NCAA Football 09, and today we find that the team rankings in the game are optimistic, too. EA Sports lists Boise State and Hawaii as the best teams in the WAC with Fresno State a distant third. Here is the predicted order of finish judging from the total team rankings (in parentheses)

1. Boise State (77)
2. Hawaii (77)
3. Fresno State (74)
4. New Mexico State (74)
5. Nevada (69)
6. LaTech (69)
7. San Jose State (62)
8. Utah State (60)
9. Idaho (60)

We were also pleased to find out that EA thinks Utah State has the worst offense in college football and Idaho has the worst defense in college football. We haven't felt this good about a video game since we went undefeated in Madden 05 on the Gamecube.

NCAA Football 09 rosters [EA Sports]

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]

OBNUG Hall of Fame podcast #2

We are trotting out the big A/V guns again for our Hall of Fame nominees. Our second ever OBNUG podcast should sound much better than the first. There was nowhere to go but up, right?

Once again, Nick and I debate the merits of this week's Hall candidate--Ryan Dinwiddie's three quarters versus Fresno State. We also find time to discuss recruiting, Taylor Tharp, and drunken Nevada Wolfpack players.

Voting for Dinwiddie will be available through Sunday, so vote, vote, vote! (Actually, just vote once; we don't want a repeat of last time.)

HOF Discussion: Dinwiddie's 3 quarters vs. Fresno Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Phil Steele's messed-up All-WAC team

Phil Steele, one of the more famous names related of college football preview magazines, has released his picks for the WAC's all-conference teams. And boy did he pick some doozies.

First, allow us to disagree with a number of items:

• Kyle Brotzman: 4th team kicker
• First team defense: no Broncos
• Second through fourth team offense: no Broncos
• No Jeron Johnson
• No Titus Young
• No Vinny Perretta
• No Richie Brockel

At least Steele found Ian Johnson's name while he was figuring, in vain, the distance between his rear end and a hole in the ground. In all, Boise State had three first team members (Andrew Woodruff and Jeremy Childs joined Johnson with that distinction), and one second team member. That is exactly one more than Utah State and two less than Idaho.


In addition to egregious mistakes on the Bronco front, we had some nits to pick with the rest of Steele's reality-challenged opus. But the greatest one might have been the horrible future he predicted when he named NMSU QB Chase Holbrook to the first team.

Needless to say, we will not be purchasing Steele's print publication.

Phil Steele's 2008 WAC all-conference [Philsteele.com]