Friday Night Lights

Actually, there are none for ISU....just a regular ol' practice before the high schoolers invade Holt Arena for a game tonight and then four tomorrow. Soccer picked up a 0-0 tie yesterday, and head coach Allison Gibson told Tim Flagstad at the Journal that it was a good result.

So anyways, today is fairly quiet with no games on the schedule. Soccer is at Brigham Young tomorrow night at 7:00 pm, and the game is on KBYU TV, whatever channel that is. Volleyball is also in Orem, taking on North Texas at 1:00 pm and Utah Valley at 7:00 pm

Enjoy your weekend!

Send a Wire to the Main Office, and Tell Them I Said ... OOOWWWWWW!!!!!

As someone who works in statistics all the time, it's only slightly annoying when my own hockey statistics are wrong, and since I have a big game tonight at 9:30 pm (be there or be square), and since there is no ISU event tonight, I'm just saying....8-2-1 record, 4.21 goals against, 82.7 save percentage, and three assists. Just saying.....it's all skillz.

Seriously though, has there ever been an ISU season like this? By the time September 18 gets here, the sports season is over three weeks old, and only soccer and cross county have had home games/meets? Really? Thankfully men's basketball has 23 home games. Well, 16, but it'll seem like more.

Linkage S'il Vous Plaît... (sorry, I've been listening to Air Musique on XM 100....French Top 40...lots of good music coming from France these days ... Les Respectables and Pamela are the currect biggies)

He's Back.......
Matt Gutierrez' time to collect unemployment was awfully short. The serious knee injury to Tom Brady left the Patriots with just Matt Cassel and rookie Kevin O'Connell, so Matt was resigned by Dr. Belichick yesterday, and could be the backup this Sunday against the New York Favres.....er, Jets.

He's Back, Part II
Kellis Robinett's long strange journey to the ends of the earth are over, and as such, his blog is finally updated. And while Kellis might be worried about ISU playing Hawaii in basketball, how many dstractions are there in Honolulu at 11:00 pm? Don't answer that. Either way, it's OK, because the WAC representative Jason Erickson, formerly of ISU, will be there as well. Jason is moving up in the world by the way, and while we are in Hawaii, don't think we aren't looking for this guy, and visiting these places. And yes, I know exactly how long until "Because You Left" begins....

Black (Orange) and Blue
Bailey Williams has seen most of the action in goal for ISU, especially with the other freshman keeper Michelle Harrison a bit under the weather. Now, some folks that peruse this blog know I'm a former collegiate soccer goalkeeper, so I have a soft spot for our keepers on the women's team. Now, the fact that Bailey got kicked in the face doesn't make me a bigger fan of hers, and getting four stitches and playing the next game two days later is great, but that doesn't necessarily make me a bigger fan either. But, thinking that the blood is streaming down her face, is "pretty sweet"? Just call me a Bailey Williams fan for life

Welcome to the FCS......Finally

Well, Idaho State is now 0-2 in the Western Athletic Conference. The beauty of that statement was that we don't compete in the WAC. Of course, counting soccer we are 1-4 in the WAC this season. But that will change.

Anyways, the Bengals get an extra few days to heal up a bit and ready themselves for North Dakota, who is 2-0, and will be 3-0 after playing a Division III team this week. Their first two games were against Division IIs at home as well, so while North Dakota is without a doubt a very, very good program, their record is slightly deceiving. I would imagine for the folks that were here a few years ago when we hosted Northern Colorado right after they made the jump (ISU won 42-33), I think that's the type of team you will see in Holt Arena on Friday night.

A quick congrats to ISU volleyball coach Chad Teichert on his first collegiate win against Lamar. All the talk has been on ISU's football schedule so far, but the volleyball team has played perhaps the most brutal schedule int he country in their two tournaments so far, considering we went 6-23 last year. Three NCAA teams already, another ranked, and I think all of them were above .500 last year (I haven't checked so don't quote me on that one).

Anyways, getting a win in the final game had to make the plane flight a little smoother, and congrats also to Paige Palmer who was named All-Tournament. For those of you that don't know Paige's story (it's been in the paper a bit, but she took last season off as he fiance' battled and ultimately lost a fight to cancer). Paige has come back to the team, wearing a new number as well, and has been an inspiration for the team for sure, and has been one of the leaders.

To the links, most of which are recapping the weekend's events:

Football
Dan Thompson was a game recap (which isn't online for some reason) and a notebook on the game in Moscow. Dan's Blog goes into more casual detail, and note the comments regarding the Altitude broadcast. Certainly Dan can improve that, since he is doing some sideline reporting for this weekend's big high school deal in Holt Arena. And you can always tell the week Boise State is off because the Statesman sends out their guys to cover the other Idaho State, like Nick Jezirny and Brian Murphy. Kellis Robinett is back (after the longest wedding ever) and talks about the many Big Sky near misses on Saturday.

Soccer
The Governor's Cup is not coming back to Pocatello after losing to Boise State 2-1 and Idaho 2-0.

Who's Up Next in Football?
Here is a Bismarck Tribune report about the Fighting Sioux getting the best of Division II St. Cloud State 31-17.

Not Who You Think
After breaking the ISU receptions in a game record, Eddie Thompson had a big day, and as expected, ISU got a Player of the Week in the deal. But not Thompson. JD Ponciano was selected for the Special Teams Player of the Week after returning from a sports hernia to return four kicks for 144 yards, a 36-yard average, including returns of 60 and 44, and a return that was just 18 yards due to a face mask penalty that would have gone on for a while.

Thompson lost out to senior running back Andrew Schmidt at Montana, who in his first start rushed for 145 yards (120-something in the second half) and the eventual winning touchdown. For those that remember, Aaron Boyce of Eastern Washington had 17 catches for 230-something yards last year and also was by-passed, and before folks go crazy on the Big Sky folks, I was informed of this before hand, and I'm OK with the decision. Montana beat #11 Cal Poly, and Schmidt was a major key in that, especially with his second half. I think if Eddie had more yards per catch, he would have fared better.