Grading the 'Dogs (7-5, 4-4) at No. 9 Boise State (12-0, 8-0)

Quarterbacks: D
Credit Brandstater for being a tough son-of-a-gun, but he's just an average QB at best right now. He doesn't do anything to win ballgames, including when he spiked the ball with 1 second remaining in the first half.

Running Backs: D
2.4 yards per carry will never, ever cut it at Fresno State. Harding stopped moving his feet too often in the backfield. Hard to believe not having Mathews makes that much of a difference with this offense.

Receivers: D+
What a terrible time to start dropping passes. Bear Pascoe and Ajirotutu had costly drops on a key drive that led to a punt, then West drops one (that was thrown behind him) and it gets picked off.

Offensive Line: D
See above 2.4 yards per carry is absurd. The 'Dogs never seem to be able to run on Boise State, and until that is fixed they will struggle against the Broncos.

Defensive Line: C
Applied some of their best pressure of the year in the first half, but Broncos QB Kellen Moore didn't panic and got rid of the ball every time. He made plays when necessary.

Linebackers: D
Reverted to more poor tackling and struggled to get off blocks in the second half.

Defensive Backs: C
Great pick-6 by Owens in the first quarter, but 'Dogs confusion in the third quarter more than negated it.

Special Teams: F
Here we go again. Two blocked kicks for the 'Dogs and then what do they do? Allow a 90-yard punt return for a TD (yes, Malone was held by a Bronco, but the team shouldn't have had to rely on its punter anyway). For a special teams guru such as coach Baxter, he sure doesn't seem to be doing much coachinig this year. Where are the adjustments in personnel? The 'Dogs don't have enough speed on the coverage unit, especially with Wylie out. Dunn defended the punt return horribly and it cost them.

I have a hard time with Bozo State fans...

They're just so cocky. And I don't respect cocky. In fact, I dislike cocky.

Now granted, Boise State has accomplished an amazing thing -- going through its first seven-plus seasons in the WAC undefeated at home on the Smurf turf. That's impressive. Heck, it's almost unbelievable. And they've beaten Fresno State a handful of times while they were winning a handful of WAC titles. So head to head, there's no room for Fresno State to talk. As a college student back in 2001 I didn't have a lot of money, but I would have gone all in betting Boise State would never accomplish anything close to that record. I mean, it's Boise State -- the team we were all so angry was being added to the WAC, a patsy like Utah State, Idaho and New Mexico State.

Only Boise State turned out not to be such a patsy (although it consistently schedules like one). The Broncos enter Friday's 3 p.m. game against visiting Fresno State undefeated at 11-0 and ranked ninth in the nation. That was supposed to be Fresno State's record right now.

The strange thing about Boise State, the conundrum, that I just can't quite figure out, is how it is so darn successful against the WAC but just barely won on the road against a BCS-conference school (Oregon) for the first time in history this year...?

Even more annoying, is when we have to sit back leading up to this week's game and listen to such garbage bravado from Boiseans about how Fresno State hasn't beat anyone good all year. Hello -- Oregon is no better than Rutgers. Rutgers is one game in the loss column from heading to a BCS bowl. Oregon is nowhere near that. And the Pac-10 is down, perhaps, more than ever before.

In actuality, Fresno State has won TWO BCS-conference road games THIS SEASON -- twice as many as Boise State has won in its history. How's that for a fact? Heck, even La Tech matched Boise State's success this year against BCS-conference opponents. I mean, welcome back to planet Earth Boise State. Stop whining about getting shafted from a BCS bowl game.

If you want in, play a respectable schedule, beat highly regarded programs outside of conference, and earn the right. Stop trying to backdoor your way in to the limelight.

Heck, I know your university spawned from what started as a women's college, but it's time to man up.

The H-Bowl Experience

OK, OK, OK, I know I said I could never root for Boise State (still can't), but I gotta admit their fans treated us darn good this year. It was almost eerie how much they seemed to love Pat Hill and the 'Dogs. How can you yell, pull and fight so hard to defend a team other than your own -- an ARCH-RIVAL team!?

Well, Boise State's fans did. Take the four dudes sitting in front of us in the second deck at the 50-yard line. One had a BSU parka with a Fresno State hat. One had an Ohio State jacket (?) with a FS hat and red and blue face paint. The other two also sported FS hats. They not only cheered for FS, they screamed, barked and chanted right along with us. They cursed at the refs for each of their MANY horrible calls and no-calls. They exchanged high-fives like crazy, talked about how they'd love to play for Pat Hill for just one day and actually started a FRES-NO STATE chant.

Could you ever imagine yourself cheering so rabidly for another team? Matter of fact, do you even cheer that hard for YOUR OWN team?

The man in the parka with the FS hat turned around at one point in the fourth quarter and said, "man it sure is fun being a Bulldog for a day."

DC3's response to him: "Try doing it for a lifetime."