THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE, Sept. 7, 2014

If you're a fan of the Idaho Vandals football team, you had to be happy with all the extra publicity the Vandals got last week - for a game that lasted all of one play!

Had the game at Florida last Saturday gone off as scheduled, with the expected result - an easy Gators victory - the game would have just been part of the glut of college football games on Saturdays these days.

But with the lightning delay, the cut-ins at Florida during the delay, the eventual "termination" of the game after the opening kickoff, then the days of speculation in the local - and national - media on when/if the game would be rescheduled, kept the Vandals in the headlines much longer than they would have if the game had gone off as scheduled.

* If you're a fan of the Washington State football team, I feel your pain this weekend.

But at least they're still undefeated on Saturdays - ba da bing!

But seriously, folks, the Cougars have played two winnable games - and have an 0-2 record and a lot of frustration to show for it.

What looked like a pretty good bet that WSU would make it to a bowl for a second straight season is now looking like a bit of a longshot.

Provided the Cougs beat Portland State on Saturday in their home opener - no sure thing anymore, given how the first two games went - WSU will have to win at least five of its nine Pac-12 games to be bowl eligible.

Not out of the question - but the Cougs are making it harder than many thought it would be.

* But then, if you're a fan of the Seattle Seahawks, the beginning of the defense of their Super Bowl title couldn't have started much better.

The Seahawks may not have been flawless - yet they still looked dominant in handling the Green Bay Packers 36-16 last Thursday. Their defense was its usual scary self, and the offense showed some creativity.

If you're a fan of any other team that hopes to unseat Seattle as champs, your best bet, your best bet, at least defensively, is to smack them around like their defense smacks everyone else around.

If not, the Seahawks will just shred your defense whichever way they want to.

The Packers weren't going to provide that physicality - they haven't been known for defense since Ray Nitschke retired.

So that leaves it up to one of the other contenders to do something about it.

If not, get ready for a repeat.

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.