Bess, K. Jones, BCS, Etc.

Stephen Tsai writes that despite a somewhat rough start, Davone Bess will retain his job as the punt returner.

Of the 26 punts in which he was the returner, 12 were downed and three landed out of bounds. Bess has four fair catches. Of his seven returns, two were muffed for an aggregate 1-yard gain.

"I'm thankful (Jones has) been with me," Bess said. "It's been rough. I'm going to get it done."

With kick returners Ryan Mouton (sprained knee) and Malcolm Lane (jammed thumb) nursing injuries, Keenan Jones and Michael Washington will be returning kicks this Saturday.

June Jones said Keenan Jones is deserving of a chance.

"He's practiced really hard, and he's athletic as heck," June Jones said.

Keenan Jones said: "I'm ready for whatever coach has in store for me."

And Michael Lafaele had an MRI that cleared him from any major injury to his knee, but he was diagnosed with a strained right hamstring.

"I'm all right," said Lafaele, who has not missed a game despite a fracture in his right hand. "It's nothing serious."

Dave Reardon writes about Lafaele's injury, and profiles Utah State receiver Kevin Robinson.

"Right now, he's our big-play guy, for both offense and special teams," Guy said. "We're trying to get him as many touches as we can because he can break the game open for us."

"They're finding different ways to get me the ball," he said.

"I get some reverses and short passes and we do a good job spreading people out."

Reardon also writes about Colt's hair, and has an ankle injury update.

"It's good, it's coming along," Brennan said of the ankle. "Practicing and playing on it doesn't help. The bye week (after next week's San Jose State game) will be a really good thing for me."

Here's a preview of the Utah State game from Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune.

The Warriors intercepted five passes in last week's 48-20 win at Idaho, and Jones said first-year defensive coordinator Greg McMackin's schemes are becoming more effective as his players get more familiar with them.
That's bad news for the Aggies, who haven't scored more than 20 points or gained more than 280 yards in any of their first five games.
"They are very athletic," said Utah State coach Brent Guy.

Ferd Lewis looks ahead to the possibility that UH just may end up in a BCS bowl.

Let us count the ways. At the same point last year en route to the Fiesta Bowl appearance against Oklahoma, Boise State was 20th in the Associated Press media poll, 21st in the USA Today coaches poll and 22nd in the Harris Poll. UH is 16, 15 and 16. The USA Today and Harris polls being the key ones since they are components of the BCS standings, which also include computer rankings.

"Historically," Benson notes, "the computers have actually treated WAC teams better than the polls. Whether that will continue, we don't know."

Here are some unofficial BCS standings as tabulated by BCSguru.com. Hawaii is at #18 in the Guru's standings. As Ferd writes, the official standings debut a week from Sunday.