THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Sunday, August 24, 2014
With another lean toward optimism, here's my season predictions for the area's big four college football teams:
Idaho: It's hard to say this with a straight face, but the Vandals were a better team than their 1-11 record showed last year.
Idaho was at least competitive in loses to Northern Illinois, Arkansas State, Texas State and Old Dominion. Losing to Wyoming, Ole Miss and Florida State was expected, but falling to New Mexico State in the season finale was troubling.
That said, in Year 2 of the coach Paul Petrino regime, I'm thinking Idaho improves to 4-8. They'll avenge that "bitter" loss to New Mexico State this year, and should pick off Western Michigan in their home opener. Where will the other two come from? The best bets are Georgia Southern and Appalachian State, though both are road games.
If there's an upset special, maybe Troy at home on Senior Day?
We'll see.
I'd like to predict more wins, but the Vandals have to prove it on the field first.
Washington State: Coug-ing it in the New Mexico Bowl put a little bit of a damper on last year's 6-7 season, but at least it meant WSU made it back to a bowl for the first time since 2003.
In their third year under coach Mike Leach, the Cougars will build off of last year and finish 7-5, making it back into another bowl game.
Provided they don't stumble against Rutgers, Nevada and Portland State, the Cougs should be 3-0 heading into their Pac-12 opener at home vs. Oregon - and won't things be a little bit crazy in Pullman for that Sept. 20 tilt?
One of WSU's wins will come over the Huskies in the Apple Cup - a Chris Petersen-coached team finally loses a game on the Palouse.
(Bonus thought: Huskies will finish 8-4. New coach, but a new quarterback as well, so they will continue their tradition of winning a game or two they probably shouldn't, and losing a game or two they probably shouldn't.)
Boise State: A lot of the predictions I've heard have the Broncos going 9-3. I'll say they go one better and finish 10-2. And if they can upend Ole Miss in the opener, it could be 11-1.
Then again, I don't think anybody saw them getting clobbered by the Huskies in their opener. A similar thumping by Oregon State in the Hawaii Bowl was a little more understandable, considering their coach had just left to take the Huskies' job.
BYU also pounded Boise State, but the Broncos get the Cougars at home this year, as they do Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State, three of their toughest foes in the Mountain West.
The problem is, Boise State is still looking for a reasonable facsimile of Kellen Moore at quarterback, and until they do (perhaps next year?), the Broncos could stumble in a game or two. But aside from that, they should have the talent to beat everyone on their schedule.
You have to feel a little bit for Boise State. The Broncos have proven they can play with the big boys, but with the impending split between the Power-5 and the Wannabe-5, BSU has to fight off the football field just for possible spot on the field.
Eastern Washington: What a neat advertisement for the Eagles and Cheney to be the only game on Saturday? Even better that the Eags play an entertaining style of football.
Eastern should be 10-2 at the least this year, with the potential losses being one in Big Sky play and one at Washington on Sept. 6. EWU nearly beat the Huskies at Husky Stadium a few years ago, which showed the Eagles it can be done. Last year, they looked like the better team in beating Oregon State in Corvallis last year.
Wouldn't Eastern at Montana before more than 20,000 in Missoula be a cool opener in a future season? Or is that too regional a matchup for the national folks?
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.