FanHouse BoiseStateFootball

The opening-week jitters are now behind Western Athletic Conference teams as they await week two opponents.

Thursday Night Special

Boise State has already played their game this week, defeating Pac-10 foe Oregon State 42-14 before a raucous home crowd.

Pac-10 Battles

WAC teams are looking to take advantage of a limping Pac-10. The conference saw preseason top 10 member California get demolished at the hands of Tennessee, saw Oregon State lose to Boise State last night, saw Arizona State tied with Northern Arizona heading into the fourth quarter before rallying and Washington nearly toppled by the WAC's own San Jose State.

All times Eastern.

Idaho vs. Washington State (3:45 p.m.) FSN Northwest, FCS Pacific
Stanford vs. San Jose State (6:00 p.m.) Comcast West, WAC.TV
Nevada vs. Arizona State (10:00 p.m.) FSN Arizona, KREN, FCS Atlantic, Comcast West
Oregon vs. Fresno State (10:00 p.m.) ESPN2, ESPN2 HD

SEC Battle

Utah State will hit the road to face a wounded Arkansas team, last seen losing another blowout to USC, 50-14.

Utah State vs. Arkansas (7:00 p.m.)

In-State Battle

New Mexico State takes on in-state foe New Mexico on Saturday.

New Mexico vs. New Mexico State (8:00 p.m.) KRQE, WAC.TV, ESPN GamePlan, DirecTV 780, Dish Network

Tonight's 42-14 Boise State victory against Oregon State turned into a laugher, but one player made a big name for himself in Broncos sophomore back Ian Johnson. Johnson scored five touchdowns, tying a school record as part of a 42-point unanswered scoring binge. He also ran for 240 yards on 21 carries, emerging as the school's new star tailback.

ESPN inadvertently provided opponent trash-talk fodder late in the broadcast after spotlighting Johnson's unusual, very un-football hobby: crochet.

Apparently Johnson is a world class crochet knitter, as his completed wares are wildly popular all over town, selling as quickly as he can produce them. ESPN reporter Erin Andrews showed off one of Johnson's brown knit women's caps to the broadcast audience and modeled it briefly. He also makes and sells men's beanies.

An unspecified "leading crochet magazine" has also apparently tracked him down for a story.

Does crochet qualify as a fallback if that football career doesn't work out?

The Boise State Broncos are asking fans to participate in a "Blue Out" for today's home opener against Oregon State (7:30 p.m. Eastern, ESPN). Fans are requested to wear blue instead of the traditional orange to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the unveiling of Boise's now-famous blue "smurf turf" playing surface.

Additionally, 20,000 "Blue 20" rally towels will be made available to fans and commemorative t-shirts are being sold at the game.

College football fans tuning into the game will no doubt be annoyed with the expected saturation of all things blue on their television screens.

The blue tradition started in 1986 as an idea from Boise State Athletic Director Gene Bleymaier. It was such a brilliant idea, no other D-I program has copied the formula. In all seriousness, it's been something for Boise State fans and the state of Idaho to rally around, something uniquely their own and that they're proud of. No harm in that.