Black Friday

photo courtesy of UHWarriorFan.com

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Dave Reardon has a big gameday preview with stats, probable starting line-ups, players to watch, and this key matchup:

Boise State special teams vs. Hawaii special teams

The Heisman hopefuls, the big guys on the line, the great runners, receivers and defenders -- the big stars, and even the coaches, might just all cancel each other out tonight.

It could all come down to a holder on a point-after-touchdown when Hawaii and Boise State meet for the Western Athletic Conference championship.

It has before.

A blizzard of botched kicks, often having to do with the holder not performing his function, have helped Boise State get the winning edge the last two times the teams met.

Ferd Lewis writes about the bigness of this game.

The game has been sold out for more than two weeks, ESPN2 is here to show it, the Orange Bowl is on hand from Florida to scout it and national media have been talking it up. WAC "Championship" T-shirts are popping up around town and more than 2,000 Bronco fans have brought an Orange Wave of electricity here.

Attached to Ferd's article is some Aloha Stadium parking, shuttle and tailgate info.

Stephen Tsai has a great article with a lot of great quotes from players, coaches and fans about today's game. Here are a few:

"The loser goes home from the prom with his sister," UH offensive line coach Dennis McKnight said. "You don't get points for second place."

Lafaele should be the symbol for the Rehab Hospital of the Pacific. His right hand is fractured; his left wrist is sprained. He also has a strained right knee and sore left quadriceps. After every practice, he sits in an exhausted heap, a scarecrow with unraveling athletic tape hanging from every limb.

"I can't sit out," Lafaele said. "I sat out one game, and it was hurting me inside. I'm all beat up right now. But it's not going to stop me from playing in this game."

For John Wade, the destination could be almost as fun as the journey.

Wade was the pilot of the Hawaiian Airlines jet that brought in several Boise State fans. During the flight, he announced: "Please remove all blue and orange items. The flight attendants will hold them until we land."

Chadd Cripe of the Idaho Statesman has a short preview.

The undercard is over. The main event is here - and it's a doozy.

The five-time defending WAC champions from Boise State hope to continue their conference domination Friday at Aloha Stadium (7:06 p.m., ESPN2).

The undefeated challengers from Hawaii think they can start a dominant new era of their own.

It's the WAC's Game of the Decade for sure - and perhaps the biggest league game in conference history. The victor gets the outright WAC championship, a Top 15 ranking and a possible Bowl Championship Series berth.

Cripe has an article about the preseason Heisman hype for Colt Brennan and Ian Johnson and how they've played this season, details of the "experimental" officiating crew for today's game, and a glimpse at Boise State's strategy against UH.

You hear it all the time: The way to beat a team like Hawaii, which leads the nation with 48 points per game, is to control the ball and eat the clock.

"That's everybody's game plan," Utah State coach Brent Guy said.

Not Boise State's.

The Broncos always have eschewed that idea. They are an aggressive team, and that won't change against the Warriors' high-powered passing attack.

"You've got to do what you've got to do to score points," Petersen said. "You can't just play to keep it away from them."

Les Keiter tells Dave Reardon that this is a huge game in Hawaii sports history.

But the ardent observer of island sports since 1970 said he thinks it is the biggest sports event ever to be staged in Hawaii with interest level as the judge.

"When you say magnitude, there's nothing else," Keiter said. "I know we've had some great boxing matches, volleyball, basketball and baseball games, but nothing that has caught fire with everybody like this. What they've done so far is unbelievable."

Ferd Lewis has a great column about what June Jones has done for the program, and what he still hopes to accomplish.

Even for a coach who resuscitated a once moribund UH program, stanching record losing streaks to make bowl games the rule rather than the exception, this has defining moment written all over it. As crossroads go for UH's winningest coach against an all-college schedule, this is the biggest since he engineered an NCAA record turnaround from the 0-12 (1998) season preceding his arrival to 9-4 in his inaugural season (1999).

Dave Reardon writes about June Jones taking it one game at a time.

But UH coach June Jones is among those who can't sit back and enjoy the ride. Simply, there's still too much traffic ahead.

"You don't really have time to do that. You're getting ready for Boise State," said Jones, when asked if he'd taken a moment to savor the flavor. "I'm sure I'll do that after Washington, before the bowl game. Right now you're just getting plugged into what you're doing."

Dave Reardon writes about BSU coach Chris Peterson trying to keep his team focused.

"We're not gonna get caught up in all the other stuff that doesn't really concern us or help us play better. We're just directing all of our attention right to Hawaii."

And Ferd Lewis writes about the WAC hiring a media consultant to get the word out about UH and BSU.

"He (Rose) has been bird-dogging (media) people making sure they don't overlook WAC teams and the seasons they are having," Benson said. "It is part of a combined effort (with UH and BSU) to try and position our teams, and I think we've seen some positive results," Benson said.