Over the past few seasons, we've had a pretty solid selection of players to don the coveted #1 jersey.  Jerard Rabb, of course of "hook and lateral" fame.  Kyle Wilson parlayed his 2 seasons in #1 into a first round draft pick. Most recently we had perhaps the most prototypical #1 ever, our very own Titus Young.

Those are some big shoes to fill.

I'm not an expert on this at all, but allow me to try to break this down. 

First off, I believe I have observed some ground rules for the #1.  It's usually an upperclassman though not exclusively. Generally in a speed position.  And that player has to have the panache to pull off the #1.  Here are the contenders as I see it from next years roster.

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Ok... here is what I'm afraid of this weekend.  

We are all aware of the scuttlebutt coming out of ESPN, predicting that Boise State will be the BCS #1 when the initial rankings come out this weekend.  

We also know that a LOT of the voters out there are big conference... apologists... who spend half of their ballot voting out of spite anyway.

When you add all that up, I'm predicting that Boise State will fall even more in this week's polls (especially the "Coaches" poll) no matter this weekend's results, as the agenda voter wanting to do everything they can to try to ensure that Boise State is NOT number one in the BCS.  I'm  telling you... BSU will have votes in the Coaches poll of 10, 12, or 15th places.  Especially since those votes are secret.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid I'm not.

Thoughts?

You may or may not have noticed this weekend, but there was something of note in the NFL for Boise State fans. 

Every single one of the five games broadcast in the Boise market featured at least one ex Boise State Bronco.  Not sure if that has ever happened before.

(s) denotes starter according to the ESPN depth chart.

Early games Sunday:

Packers vs Redskins: Daryn Colledge (s) and Korey Hall (s)
Broncos vs Ravens: Ryan Clady (s) and Chris Carr (s)

Late game Sunday:

Chargers vs Raiders: Legedu Naanee (s) (he was questionable but played and had a carry in the game)

Sunday Night:

Eagles vs 49ers: Quentin Mikell (s)

Monday Night:

Vikings vs Jets: Kyle Wilson (not starting now, but has in the past) (Edit: I had a reference to Ian Johnson here, completely forgetting that he's now a Cardinals practice squader. My bad. Thanks Mikrino ).

That is pretty impressive.  We've come a long way.

I poo-pooed this whole SI Cover jinx business... hogwash, I said...

After looking at who the covers were last year, I'm a bit more nervous.

All these had the subtitle "(team name) Have The Power to Shake Up The BCS"

Oregon - (with Masoli), yes, they won the pac10, but they lost to Boise State, Blount was suspended for the season and Masoli was eventually kicked off the team.

Penn State - finished 6-2 in conference but lost to Ohio State and Iowa at home who were the only good teams they played all year. No BCS.

Oklahoma State - 6-2 in conference, 9-4 overall but had their all everything receiver Dez Bryant suspended for the season for talking to an agent. No BCS.

Ole Miss - Big hype to start the year, but ended up 4-4 in conference, no major bowl game.

Yikes.

I didn't get as many really good photos at this game.  I think it was because I spent a good deal more of the time just watching the game and not worrying so much about shooting, tho I love it so... Now, if I could just get a sideline pass for a game sometime.  But, it would have to be a 1-AA school or something, otherwise I'd just spend the whole time worried about the game and not shooting pictures.

This one is my favorite:

And you can view the rest of them on Flickr here.

Go Broncos!

Hey Gang,  was listening to Cowherd's show yesterday and heard this little exchange between Colin and Kirk Herbstreit.  Transcription follows. (edited for clarity and whatnot, but you'll get the jist of it.)

Colin Cowherd: Hey you wanna hear a little upset pick?

Kirk Herbstreit: Oh boy... what do ya got?

CC: Heh... ok now... the key in college football is urgency.  Can you match somebody else's energy or urgency. That's why you have upsets in college football because if it was just about winning, Florida, USC would win all their games.  Watch Boise State... The game against Oregon is the biggest game in the history of that stadium.  It's the second biggest game in the history of the program.  For Oregon it's about the 6th biggest game.  They're billing it as the game of the century for Boise State.  At home... they return everybody..  For Oregon it's their 7th biggest game on the schedule.  Watch Boise State at home play the game of a lifetime like they did against Oklahoma.

KH: And you're calling that an upset?

CC: Well, kind of... it's like 4 point spread.

KH & CC: Laugh.

CC:  I wasn't gonna take Army to beat Notre Dame... I mean, come on...

KH: Hey, you get the Broncos on the blue turf on a Thursday night on national television... I wouldn't want to be anybody going in to play Boise State.  But you're right, they continue to get underappreciated and undervalued by your friends, of course, in the desert (Vegas) in the big games... and they continue to beat people. I mean, what Chris Petersen has done here I think is his 4th year coming up... you know that's another team that get stereotyped a bit because of the razzle dazzle way that they beat Oklahoma, but if you really know their program they are a tough tough blue collar type of football team... Yeah, Orgeon on the road... I like that pick early in the year by you.

So there ya go.  Some unexpected love from the national guys.

Season is almost here, gentlemen.