The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Sept. 12, 2012

Between the kickoff of Saturday's Coeur d'Alene-Mercer Island football game and the conclusion of Monday night's NFL doubleheader, a lot was learned about teams in the northwest.

COEUR d'ALENE, which breezed past West Linn (Ore.) at Viking Stadium two weeks ago, fell behind Mercer Island early in the fourth quarter, but still found a way to rally 39-21 to win for the 24th straight game.

For a team that has won that many games in a row, it didn't seem as if anyone was satisfied with how the team played - coaches and players included.

Once the momentum shifted back to the Vikings on a 50-yard kickoff return by Addison Johnson to set up the go-ahead touchdown, Coeur d'Alene didn't allow Mercer Island to score again on the way to a nonleague win.

This weekend's game might be a little more difficult, with Skyline of Sammamish, Wash., coming to the Kibbie Dome to play the Vikings on Saturday at 8 p.m. in the final game of the Idaho Football Classic.

Skyline, which beat Cottonwood of Murray, Utah, 57-25 in a game televised by ESPNU, has won three of the last four state 4A championships in the state's highest classification.

The team's quarterback, Max Browne, has already committed to USC next fall.

And for as much was made about those Division I players from Whitney High of Rocklin, Calif., last year, the Vikings had the game wrapped up by halftime, eventually winning 55-6.

With the level both programs have played at, don't expect another runaway this time around.

BETWEEN THE Idaho Vandals and Washington State Cougars, a lot of hope was put into this season.

After an 0-2 start and who knows what on Saturday at No. 3 LSU - things should get better for the Vandals.

Because it can't get much worse.

Scoring three points in a 20-3 loss to Eastern Washington to open the season and losing at Bowling Green on Saturday might not have been the best way to open the season.

Idaho still has a chance to turn it around in the Western Athletic Conference, because someone’s going to win it — so why not them?

Washington State, which struggled in its opener, escaped with a win against Eastern Washington on Saturday. Maybe they’ll get in on some of those Pac-12 Conference upsets if they can find a way to score some points.

That same hope is a little bigger across the state of Washington after the Seahawks went unbeaten in the preseason.

On Sunday, they looked pretty far from unbeaten and closer to a team that will be fighting to keep up with San Francisco — even if it seems unlikely at the moment.

The best thing that came from Sunday for Seattle was that they had chances to win.

So many that the replacement officials lost track of their timeouts and nearly handed them the win.

But with football — nobody’s going to hand you a win, you’ve got to earn it.

Starting this week, expect to see that.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected].