GRIDIRON GUESSES: Coeur d'Alene's road to state title game runs through Rocky Mountain

By MARK NELKE

and JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writers

It's somewhat of a small sample size, but the only thing Coeur d'Alene (8-0) seemingly has going against it heading into tonight's state 5A football semifinal at Rocky Mountain (7-0) of Meridian is history.

Coeur d'Alene is in the playoffs for the 12th straight season. But the last time the Vikings won a road game in the playoffs was in 2014, beating Meridian in a first-round game in 2014.

Since then, Coeur d'Alene is 0-4 on the road in the playoffs, losing twice at Rocky Mountain, once at Eagle, and once to Highland of Pocatello in the 2017 state championship game at Holt Arena, where the Rams play their home games — except for during COVID-2020, of course.

Whether any of that matters this year remains to be seen.

Neither COVID nor a freak snowstorm has slowed down the Vikings this year. Coeur d'Alene has barely been tested this season — in last week's 56-7 quarterfinal rout of Timberline from Boise, the Vikings' backup quarterback saw nearly the same amount of playing time as the starter.

Tonight's other state 5A semifinal pits Mountain View (5-3) of Meridian at defending champion Rigby (9-0).

If Coeur d'Alene and Rigby win, next week's state title game would be played in eastern Idaho, at a site to be determined. If Coeur d'Alene and Mountain View win, the title game would be played somewhere in North Idaho.

If Rocky and Rigby win, the title game would be in eastern Idaho. If Rocky and Mountain View win, the title game would be in the Boise area.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, no fans will be allowed in the stadium to watch the Coeur d'Alene-Rocky game. The game will be streamed by the NFHS Network (video) and IdahoSports.com (audio).

As for the picks, Mark and Jason both went 2-0 on the high school games, 1-1 on the college games. Mark picked Boise to beat BYU, and was just a little off on that pick. Jason had Oregon State beating Washington State, perhaps thinking they were playing women's basketball instead.

Boise State already played this week, beating Colorado State on Thursday night, and we would have picked BSU anyway — the Rams are no BYU.

HIGH SCHOOL

State 5A semifinal

Coeur d'Alene (8-0) at Rocky Mountain (7-0)

Friday, 6 p.m.

NELKE: Methinks Coeur d'Alene's depth on offense and aggressive defense means more than its recent road history in playoff games.

Coeur d'Alene, 32-20

ELLIOTT: Coeur d'Alene has been a level above whoever it has faced this season. With no fans in the stands, it will be hard to rattle the Vikings on the road tonight.

Coeur d'Alene, 42-28

COLLEGE

Oregon (1-0, 1-0 Pac-12) at Washington State (1-0, 1-0)

Saturday, 4 p.m., KAYU

NELKE: Logic would suggest Oregon, ranked 11th in the country, would come into Pullman and win handily. But this is 2020 ...

WSU, 26-24

ELLIOTT: College Gameday isn't coming like it did two years ago when these teams played in Pullman a few years ago. Kind of seems like a bring your own energy kind of game, and if it snows, this could favor the Cougars.

Oregon, 28-24