Boise State squares off against another Mountain West Conference team (Wyoming) on Saturday at Bronco Stadium.

The Broncos are 11-0 against teams currently in the Mountain West, including 3-0 against the Cowboys.

With each meeting between the Broncos and a team from the nine-member Mountain West, the talk quickly turns to Boise State’s conference affiliation.

Should the Broncos move to the Mountain West? Should the Mountain West take the Broncos?

Remember this is a decision that is not solely based on football. Men’s basketball matters. As do Olympic sports.

Now football definitely is the most important factor, and in that sense the Broncos are certainly capable of being in the Mountain West from a competitive standpoint.

Boise State coach Chris Petersen is looking for leaders to emerge on this year’s team after last week’s 24-10 loss at Washington.

“We need our guys that have been around to kind of ratchet it up,” Petersen said Monday.

One of the Broncos’ most experienced players apparently got the message. Senior center Jeff Cavender said he wants to help fill the leadership void.

“We don’t have the leaders we had last year — Korey Hall, Jared Zabransky. All those guys did a great job with leadership and it’s something I need to put on myself,” Cavender said.

“Not only am I a senior, but I’m a veteran guy with lots of career starts and I need to step up and fill that role.”

I went 11-3 straight up, 8-5-1 against the spread. We're not counting I-A vs. I-AA games in the overall stats. Check Chadd Cripe's blog for his picks.

My pick for the Boise State-Washington game will be posted this morning in an audio file available at IdahoStatesman.com/bsufootball

WAC games:

Wyoming 27, Utah State (+24.5) 6

Hawaii (-27.5) 52, Louisiana Tech 14

New Mexico State (+7) 28, New Mexico 27

Northwestern (-10) 30, Nevada 10

Texas A&M 30, Fresno State 20 (+17.5)

Idaho (no line) 28, Cal Poly 7

Local/national interest:

Kansas State (-17.5) 34, San Jose State 14

It’s not too late to secure a ticket for Saturday’s Boise State-Washington game in Seattle.

Despite earlier reports that the game was a sellout, several thousand tickets remain available, according to Washington officials.

You can get tickets — $60 for reserved seats and $30 for east-end bleacher — at gohuskies.com or by calling 206-543-2200.

Kickoff is 1:30 p.m. MDT.

• Voting for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year began today. You can cast a vote for Chris Petersen or any other Division I, I-AA or II coach in the nation at

Brian Murphy

Not that we need any more proof that college football is a corrupt system, but we got it this afternoon with the release of the coaches' and Associated Press' Top 25 polls.

Michigan — which in case you missed it, lost to two-time defending Division I-AA national champions Appalachian State 34-32 at home on Saturday — is still receiving votes in both polls.

What?

The Wolverines received 39 votes in the AP poll, good for No. 33. In the coaches' poll, where I'd expect such shenanigans, Michigan is ranked No. 27.

Are you serious? This must be a joke, right?

The pre-season poll is a popularity contest. Since no one truly knows what's going to happen, I can accept just about any vote. Even Steve Spurrier always placing Duke No. 25 in the coaches' poll. Who knows, maybe this is the Blue Devils' year.

Linebacker Kyle Gingg, who suffered a concussion during the Broncos' second scrimmage in fall practice, did not dress out for the season opener against Weber State.

Derrell Acrey replaced Gingg in the starting lineup.

It’s finally game day. We can stop speculating and start seeing what the Broncos’ 2007 football team is going to look like and play like.

At IdahoStatesman.com, we are trying a new feature during this year's Boise State games. I will be online at the game to answer questions from readers. If you have a question during the game, drop me a line and I will use a similar blog format to answer as many as I can during the game.

Chadd Cripe and I have decided to pick games each week with the winner getting an all-expenses paid trip to, ugh, I mean, getting the pride of having defeated the other one. We'll keep score all year.

The good news just keeps coming for Boise State, as Sports Illustrated placed two Broncos on its preseason All-America team.

Safety Marty Tadman and left tackle Ryan Clady are among the 26 players on the team.

Check out the target="_blank" style="text-decoration:underline;">entire team here.

• NFL teams must cut their rosters to 75 by Tuesday, and several former Boise State players didn't make it.

Jerard Rabb was cut by the Dallas Cowboys today. Quinton Jones was cut by the San Diego Chargers. Alex Guerrero was waived by the Minnesota Vikings.

Boise State released its depth chart Friday evening for the season opener against Weber State, and senior Taylor Tharp is the starting quarterback.

The Broncos opted to go for experience and consistency with Tharp. I expect he's going to have to win over the Boise State fan base, which hasn't been too excited about the career backup during fall camp.

The quarterback will be discussed at length, here and elsewhere. But for now I want to focus on a couple of other positions:

Redshirt freshman Jason Robinson earned a starting spot at safety opposite senior Marty Tadman. Robinson (6-0, 190) beat out classmate Jeron Johnson for the spot. Johnson (5-11, 190) is listed at No. 2.

By Brian Murphy

While waiting — and waiting and waiting — for a decision on Boise State’s starting quarterback, we’re slowly filling in the gaps on the rest of the Broncos’ starting lineup.

Special teams coach Jeff Choate named his specialists earlier this week:

• Deep snapper: Dallas Dobbs

• Kicker: Kyle Brotzman, though Choate would like to travel Brock Jaramillo to the Washington game.

• Punter: Brad Elkin

• Holder: Tanyon Bissell with Taylor Tharp as his backup.

• Punt returner: Kyle Wilson, Marty Tadman. Tadman will again be the “sure hands” returner, used when fielding punts deep in Bronco territory or at the end of a half. Wilson will handle the other punts.