Next Stop, Blue Turf

Load the busses at 10:30, on the road at 11:00 .... just my Friday mantra LOL. Couple of housekeeping notes before we head over to the lovely blue turf and that nice new press box:

Soccer and volleyball open today. Soccer is at Air Force, and there is no live stats or radio. The game with Colorado College does have a livestats link, and a live video link, although it is a pay service. The volleyball tournament (the MCM Elegente Lobo Classic...that's a mouthful) has a page with GameTracker and pay video.

Ryan Collingwood caught up with the man of the hour in some ways, Russel Hill, for a quick Q&A.

Todd Dvorak of the Associated Press also checks in with his game preview (the Zamberlin quotes came from audio clips I sent out on Tuesday....nice huh?) ... SIDE NOTE, sign up for the free Sporting News Today....very very cool.

By the way, if you are driving over the Boise for the game, or on any of the interstates near Pocatello...two words...SLOW DOWN.

Kevan over at One Bronco Nation Under God is wondering where our fan blogs are? Our fans all work at the INL and can't have blogs...still, I like Kevan...all schools should have passionate fans like him. Oh, they have a central links page for the game too.

Sometimes you are the hammer, like Weber State was last night against Montana-Western. Next week at Hawaii, they might very well play the role of nail.

Benedict Arnold Schmenedict Scharnold ... Bengals for Life

One of the interesting things that's been going on this week (aside from having the Boise media fawn over me since I'll let our players talk to them, a practice that Boise State and many Bronco opponents do not follow) is the propensity of interviews with Mitch Rudder, formerly of Boise State, and Jayson Bird, formerly of Idaho. Now, those two guys keep getting questions about why they left where they were, and why go to Idaho State, and all of that, and it's been interesting to hear the response from those two guys.

Mitch enjoyed Boise State, and the Treasure Valley, but as a married guy, having a scholarship was important, and when he couldn't get one at BSU in a timely fashion, he transferred. Jayson had a graduate school opportunity at ISU, plus he is also married and now closer to his and his wife's family. What was interesting was a question posed to Jayson, and I'm sure during the next few days you can catch this on KTIK's website during an archive or live listening of the Caves and Prater show, but Jayson was asked if he considers himself a Vandal or a Bengal? Actually a good question, and Jayson's answer made me think. He said he's both. He's a Bengal now, and proud to be playing football at Idaho State (and he's all smiles around practice...it's fun to see), but he is a Vandal alum, and wants to see his alma mater do well. Sorta makes sense to me.

Anyways, this got me thinking about people like Ally Sisel, who transferred to Idaho from Idaho State, or a Luke Butler (now at Augustana, and boy they are happy about having him around), or a Codi Boek, who was moved to fullback and is on the two-deep for Boston College's season opener against Georgia Tech. People come, people go, but they were all Bengals, and you know, if they are happy, I'm happy, and the fans should be too.

Side note, Luke is the starting quarterback for Augustana, and Codi, who originally left ISU because of some health issues with his dad, told me his dad is doing well and will be in Boston for his son's first game at BC, which is pretty cool.

Onto the links....enough rambling from me...

Bronco Bustin'
One of my all-time favorite non-ISU coverage beat writers is Brian Murphy of the Statesman, and he checks in with the five biggest questions for Bronco football. Brian's compadre Chadd Cripe talks to Rudder and company about returning home. Dipping out of the mainstream, Kevan Lee has a decidely slanted view of this Saturday's proceedings. I should mention that Kevan offered a wager to me on the game, with the winner getting a free post on the other person's blog. Due to NCAA regulations, the fact I like my job, and the fact that this isn't a fan blog (It's Official!), I passed...cute idea though.

Bengal Links
The College Zone returned to the Idaho State Journal (YEAH!), and Dan Thompson has his conference notebook detailing the fact that off the seven Big Sky games this week, all are up or downs (four teams play down, three play up). Dan also is not a fan of drop-down quarterbacks, although life might be pretty good for former ISU drop-down Matt Gutierrez. On the soccer front, as ISU has a challenging road trip ahead (seriously, I had no clue Colorado College was as good as they are), Lauren Ryan talked to Tim Flagstad about her midwestern roots. Also, ISU's extremely young cross country teams open at home this weekend at the Centennial Cross Country Course.

One other thing...on the right side of the blog is a Bengal newsreader that will showcase the five latest stories on the official site. Cool huh?

We weren't the only ones?
My good pal Paul Lukas checks in with his annual College FBS uniform change column....a must read. Also Kyle Whelliston has a Big Sky preview ... for basketball. Kyle is a great writer, and a big supporter of mid-major basketball, with his midmajority site, and of course, Kyle is the smartest writer on the planet, and just go to the Rescheduling section of this link to see why.

Podcast Interview online
My podcast interview with JT Ray of Bronco Nation NOW is online here, and if you want to skip ahead, it starts somewhere around the 38 minute mark. I was cooking my daughter's lunch while doing the interview, but I don't think you can tell. Also, if you go to the forums of Bronco Country (you need a login, but I think it's free) and find the thread for ISU Look Alikes....just hilarious. The Bengal Den needs to get on that pronto....

He's Back
Mitch Worthington, formerly of the Post Register, is now a graduate assistant in the sports information office, but he has his own blog where he can drop in some thoughts on things (and now, I haven't censored him). Make sure you check it out.

Totally Unsolicited
These were responses to my first set of football game notes...."Your football game notes is [sic] great. Informative without being boring like so many others I've read." (and that was from a Bronco fan!) .... "Those are awesome, I think somehow we need to work a rhombicosidodecahedron into sports" ... "Wow, one of the most random things on the face of this earth" ... "The most entertaining football game notes I have EVER read!!! Kudos for reminding us all that this job is supposed to be fun!!!!" .... nice to get a pat on the head, eh? See I got through the whole blog without mentioning that my hockey team won 6-4 last night, or that I had 26 saves, or that I picked up my third assist as a goalie, extending my league record. Well...almost got through it...onto Boise!!!!

Interesting Thoughts

Couple of notes for folks....first of all, a women's basketball schedule! Yeah!!!! The Jounral had some thoughts on the road-heavy slate. Also, Jana Davis-Boehler will only be out a few games with a strain of her knee. The MRI came back negatory, which was good to hear ... this is gonna sound funny, but she was in too much pain coming off the field for it to be a torn ACL. I've seen enough of them to know by this point.

Previews, previews....the best part of a movie.
Now, far be it for me to say this, but sometimes...just sometimes, beat writers drink the Kool Aid, whatever, and don't have realistic thoughts of the teams they cover. However, the Missoulian's football writer is Fritz Neighbor, who is one of the best in the business, and one of the fairest reporters out there, and he has his preview of Idaho State running today, and it's a pretty solid, fair assessment. Personally, I think .500 is attainable, but it's a solid piece. Take Idaho. The Vandals have lost 16 of their last 17, and they open at Arizona, so that's a tough one. The only win out of those 17 games was an FCS team by the way, and they've won three FCS games since the end of the 2005 season. It is for those reasons that I decry that whoever put this together for the Times News in Twin Falls must be a Vandal graduate.

Bronco Bits
Neil Lomax's son has decided that the writing is on the wall with a freshman QB, so he will be transferring. Also, a couple of other Broncos have been suspended for the game on Saturday for the all-encompassing violation of team rules. And while some folks might want to know what those violations are, I'm gonna say good for BSU and coach Petersen (a rock-solid, stand up guy by the way) for holding his players accountable. Just another chance to teach .... Also, BSU's Game Notes are online here (the link is at the bottom of the page).

We Agree...Gutz Should Win
SouthCoastToday.com thinks Matt Gutierrez is perfect for New England....we agree.

BigSkyTV Rhymes with Free!!!
In keeping with giving a treat to the blogger-fans out there, the Big Sky blog announced this little doozy ... nice huh? Jon Kasper and his crew hear all ....

I did a Podcast! Other Bengals did Regular Radio
It should be here in the next day or so....I did it while cooking my daughter a hamburger. Seriously. Also, Jeff Caves and Mike Prater are talking with John Zamberlin tomorrow, as well as Russel Hill, Mitch Rudder, and Jayson Bird today, and those will be on KTIK's page, and run on the afternoon drive show, so go here to check that out as well

Head Over Heels for ISU Athletics!

Well we had a pretty good crowd on Friday for the ISU soccer game, and boy did they get their money's worth. Idaho State scored with just 16 seconds left in the second overtime to win the game, running the teams' undefeated streak at home to 13 straight, going 10-0-3 in the process, the longest such streak in school history, and stretching back to 2006.

However, the real fun at the ISU soccer games is the flip throw-in. The Bengals have two players who can do it in Alex Hanson (that's her in the picture), and Jen Munro. Definitely an eye-opener.

Anyways, here is Katie Zigars' detailed release on the exciting opener, and Tim Flagstad of the Journal had this take. KIDK, KIFI, and KPVI also had reports (those all are viewed best with internet explorer by the way). Also, Flagstad did a nice piece on an interesting Utah connection for some of the players.

It's Game Week for Football
Lots of football stuff coming up. The Idaho Statesman has a ton of stuff from this weekend. Chadd Cripe has a pretty good rundown of the new rules that are in play, and then the Statesman has season previews on both Boise State and Idaho State. Also, Dan Thompson checked in with a great historical piece on the three interstate schools and their rivalry.

Game Notes Lives
It's irreverent, it's silly, it's my chance to be silly for television folks...yes, it's Game Notes, and they are back for week one of the 2008 season. Seriously though, go here, click the link, and enjoy. As soon as Boise State's notes are live I'll link to them here. Same for the Big Sky notes.

Shout Out from the Esteemed Mr. Lukas
Paul Lukas of ESPN.com's Uniwatch is running his NCAA college uniform college this week, but the editors at ESPN.com have stated it will be for FBS schools only. Paul however, ran all of the information on Idaho State's changes, including the first look at the road jersey, on his must-read uniwatchblog.com site. The Idaho State information is in the ticker, but make sure you read about the uni-snafu from yesterday, where Adam Everett's jersey said "MINNESTOA" ... classic.

Volleyball gets ready with scrimmage
The volleyball team looked much improved in their scrimmage on Saturday, and here are the stats and stuff.