THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Saturday, September 12, 2015

At The Press, sometimes you get some emails that are more interesting than others.

Others, meanwhile, they make you think a little.

A READER attempted to conduct a personal poll on which area football coach was going to be fired first, Idaho's Paul Petrino or Washington State's Mike Leach.

On one hand, neither team got off to the best start last weekend when they opened the season at home.

Idaho slumped its way out to a 21-0 deficit, only to fight back to lose 45-28 to Ohio at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

Washington State meanwhile, had a lead against Portland State of the Big Sky Conference - again, at home - and managed to blow it in a 24-17 loss in Pullman.

Washington State was heavily favored, a 30-point margin if you're a betting person, and couldn't get the offense going.

At least with Idaho, they fought back and made things as interesting as possible in a game in front of a half-filled crowd on opening night.

Things get tougher this weekend for the Vandals with a trip to eighth-ranked USC in a game where they'll likely get to see more of backup quarterback Max Browne than starting quarterback Cody Kessler.

Browne was the guy behind center when Skyline High of Sammamish, Wash., beat Coeur d'Alene 71-20 in 2012 at the Kibbie Dome.

Washington State visits Rutgers this afternoon. Rutgers rolled last week by 50 points at home, but should see a Cougar team that's a little more than ready to show that last week was just a bad day.

Firing either coach during the season might not be best for either program.

Petrino has only won twice in two years thus far in Idaho, and the quarterback that engineered those wins - Coeur d'Alene High product Chad Chalich - is currently the backup at Montana.

Transitioning from a strong running game to the Air Raid offense that Leach ran at Texas Tech, and right now at Washington State, takes time to get the right players in the right spots.

Washington State had a lead late in the New Mexico Bowl in 2013 before the walls closed in against Colorado State, so the Cougars are not that far off.

SOME OF the more consistent programs in the nation don't fire coaches after three or four years.

To build these programs into contenders - or close to it - these coaches need at least four years, if not longer.

Programs need time to build and identity and put what they practice into a game situation. If that direction keeps changing every three years, then the only direction they'll head is downward.

Both teams will need better showings in the next three to four weeks, no question about it, but who else are they going to find to do a better job?

Let the season play out - no matter how ugly it gets - and not judge it by a couple of clunkers to open the season.

Otherwise, we'll be looking at another poll in a few years.

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]. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.