By Brian Murphy
bmurphy@idahostatesman.com.
The most eventful portion of Boise State's Friday morning practice: a best-of-three tug-of-war contest between offensive players and defensive players. The offense behind victories by the fullbacks/tight ends (vs. linebackers) and wide receivers (vs. cornerbacks) avoided extra running with its win.
Boise State coach Chris Petersen often throws in different competitions at practice.
"It's like a change-up," defensive end Ryan Winterswyk said. "The tug-of-war is the toughest competition. It wears out your arms and legs and then you have to go and finish practice."
For more on Boise State's practices, check out Chadd Cripe's blog.
Links
I watched HBO's Hard Knocks, featuring the New York Jets, earlier this week. There wasn't much footage of former Boise State star Kyle Wilson, the team's No. 1 draft pick. Although former Nevada defensive end Kevin Basped, an undrafted free agent, did figure prominently in the first episode.
The star of the series is going to be Jets' coach Rex Ryan, who foul language caused quite a stir. Even with his mom.
Opponent roundup
Virginia Tech: Landover, Md., Sept. 6, 6 p.m., ESPN
The Hokies are considering playing their back-up quarterback Logan Thomas at tight end. To be fair, the 6-foot-6 Thomas was the No. 1 tight end recruit in the country.
To keep up with all the Hokies' news, I'd suggest bookmarking Kyle Tucker's blog. I worked with Kyle at the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph and he does a very comprehensive report daily with quotes and notes on all things Virginia Tech football.
Wyoming: Laramie, Wyo., Sept. 18, 6 p.m., CBS College Sports
Wyoming suspended three players for its first game of the season and three others, all underclassmen, have left the team. Here is the story.
Check out this blog for information on the Cowboys.
Fresno State: Boise, Nov. 19, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2
Safety Zak Hill, the son of coach Pat Hill, is out for the season after tearing a knee ligament.
Fresno Bee columnist Matt James — one of the funniest writers around — says quarterback Ryan Colburn could be a surprise this year.
For a collection of Fresno State stories, blogs and video, check out the Fresno Bee's Dog Blitz page.
Nevada: Reno, Nev., Nov. 26, 8:15 p.m., ESPN2
Safety Duke Williams has been suspended from the Wolf Pack's first game for an altercation with a teammate. This is the third suspension for Williams.
To keep up with the Wolf Pack, check out this page for blogs, stories and photos.
You can follow Murph's Turf on Twitter.
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Must be a short season
with only 4 opponents.
LOL
Yup everything else is exhibition. That will change next year.....
Say "So Long" to Vandals' Kibbie Hut
How befitting that Idaho isn't even mentioned - in an Idaho paper! The inebriated frat boyz of Moscow can have the glorified Quonset Hut to themselves. (I always wondered if they bought the Kibbie Hut as a kit.)
Oh, not to worry. They're sending in some security nannies to babysit the elitist inebriants.
Hmmm???
Perhaps this is the week strength of schedule the BCS has a problem with. Makes it a lot easier to undefeated again...
Actually this is our best SOS in a long time.
I think the BCS will be very pleased and If we are undefeated I am pretty sure our SOS won't be impeding us....
BCS will be very pleased?
So is this the year BSU fans like the BCS? In past years the BCS was unfair, arbitrary, and biased against BSU, but when it possibly suits your needs, the BCS is legit and completely valid?
Of course, all fans have a love/hate relationship with the BCS depending on how their team is doing. It would be nice if people just boycotted it completely until a playoff was put in place; otherwise, it will never change.
Not necessarily
Boise State is merely adhering to the conditions set before them. Do they like the conditions? No. But, they can only obey or not play. It's not a matter of finding the BCS "legit" when it "suits our needs".
Nobody likes the BCS except those that benefit from it. The BCS has certain "rules" that BSU is trying to abide by. If the Broncos continue to "play by the rules", and continue to win, then Boise State can beat them at their own game. Then, one of two things will happen: either the BCS will change the rules, or the BCS will cease to exist. If the former, then the BCS will be revealed for the fraudulant system it is. If the former, then the "Elite" schools run the risk of losing their cash-cows to "lesser" teams.
Have A Question....
When did BCS enter the scene, and why?
Anyone?
Curious2
Going off the top of my head here, but the BCS started as the Bowl Alliance around 1992. The bowl alliance was formed because too often the No. 1 and No. 2 teams did not meet in the same game — because conference obligations to bowls kept teams apart.
The SEC champ for instance always went to the Sugar Bowl. And the ACC champ went to the Orange. So if Alabama and Miami were undefeated, they wouldn't play each other.
The Bowl Alliance did not include the Rose Bowl, Big Ten or Pac-10, which created problems as you can imagine.
Eventually, around 1996 or so, those three entities finally joined in. The BCS' main goal is to pit No. 1 vs. No. 2 and it's been somewhat successful in doing that.
-- murph
Better answer
Here is the link: http://assets.espn.go.com/ncf/s/historybcs.html
Here are the excerpts:
Bowl Coalition in 1992: Allowed the Orange Bowl to hold its tie to the Big 8, the Cotton to the SWC, and the Sugar to the SEC, but allowed the Bowls to be flexible in choosing high-ranked opponents from the ACC, Big East and Notre Dame.
Bowl Alliance in 1995: A slimmed down version of Bowls including only the Fiesta, Orange, and Sugar -- but with one major twist, a rotation which guaranteed No. 1 vs No. 2 unless the Big Ten or Pac-10 held one, or both of those slots in the final AP poll. Taking the initiative of giving up conference ties was another huge step forward for the bowls.
The final piece of the long awaited puzzle fell into place after the 1997 season when the Big Ten, Pac-10 and Rose Bowl realized the benefits of the Alliance and joined the fold.
Bowl Championship Series in 1998: The first BCS Championship was won by Tennessee in 1998 as the No. 1 Volunteers squeaked by No. 2 Florida St. 23-16 in the Fiesta Bowl.
-- murph
Have "Vandals" and "BCS" ever been mentioned...
in the same sentence?
Yes! cBOY
You just did, idiot.
Meaning of ellipsis alludes Idaho grad
Thanks for proving the point about UI's sinking APR, brain child. The use of ellipsis technically fragments the sentence. Thus the Vandies remain free of BCS delusions.
Glad you brought your BJC education to the table, cBOY.
The use of ellipsis indicates intentional ommission of a word, a pause in the original speech text, or silence at the end of a sentence.
Which use did you intend? I think you used it to pause your text to seek attention to your post. Your fragment void excuse is typical of a Donk looking to escape a dumb post. So technically, nice try idiot.
Tatoehead & cBOY
Obviously it did not occur to you 2 that Murphy posted opponent news that have current running information news blogs linked to them. Maybe a little common sense would help before you post silly observations.
Way to go! Brilliant !
So News sites aren't interested in the Vandals?
Not much of a surprise there. That's what you're effectively saying, oh ye condescending Vandie elitist.
Let's just ask Murph
I am ok with his answer to settle this one, you?
Murphy
Why did you post information re only 4 of BSU's opponents?
Thanks for the question
No grand conspiracy. It was a matter of time and information. I had seen some news from Wyoming, Virginia Tech and Fresno State and was trying to get it out there. At first, I just had Virginia Tech stuff. Then I wanted to get in the Zak Hill stuff. Then I saw the three players were suspended from Wyoming. Hopefully, as camp goes on, I will find "news-worthy" links about other teams. Simple camp updates is not what I was looking for.
-- murph
Thank You Murphy.
.