Idaho’s Phillips Gets Invitation To Shrine Game

University of Idaho linebacker Ryan Phillips has been invited to play in the East-West Shrine game in Stanford, Calif.

Phillips, who had seven tackles and 1.5 sacks against Wyoming on Saturday, will be the first Vandal to play in the Shrine game since Doug Nussmeier in 1993.

Phillips’ seven tackles gave him 217 in his career. He moved past Coach Chris Tormey’s 214 and into 16th place in school history.

Encore?

Vandal quarterback Ryan Fien’s record-setting performance against Wyoming came against the Western Athletic Conference’s best secondary last year. So? So all four Cowboy starters returned.

Fien, the transfer from UCLA who passed for 542 yards, takes on another talented WAC secondary as the Vandals visit San Diego State Saturday.

The Aztecs’ secondary was rated No. 1 in the WAC by The Sporting News. SDSU returns its starting foursome, which picked off a nation-leading 26 passes last year.

However, cornerback Ricky Parker won’t be available Saturday because of a minor NCAA rules violation. Also sidelined by the NCAA for Saturday’s game are Heisman Trophy candidate George Jones, a running back, and wide receiver Will Blackwell, rated the nation’s fifth-best receiver by The Sporting News.

Mr. Smith gets a bath

Usually coaches get the obligatory sports drink postgame shower after their teams have won bowl games or national titles.

Utah State’s John L. Smith, the former Vandal coach, got doused after the season opener. The reason: His Aggies upset arch-rival Utah 20-17 on Saturday.

USU, a 14-1/2-point underdog, handled the Utes, who narrowly missed making the preseason Top 25. The Aggies had lost eight straight to Utah.

“I can’t remember one of my teams being more prepared to play a game,” said Smith, who called it a “benchmark” win for the program. He’s in his second year at USU.

USU held Utah’s Chris Ma’afala to 49 yards. He rushed for 180 last year against USU. Meanwhile, USU’s Abu Wilson ran for 146 yards and two scores.

And the Aggies survived a second-quarter injury to quarterback Patrick Mullins. J.C. transfer Matt Sauk took over for the final 2-1/2 quarters. Sauk will probably start this week against Cal State-Northridge, though Mullins could see time.

Broncos stumble

Boise State’s weaknesses - notice the plural - were exposed in a 42-21 loss to Central Michigan.

The Broncos have little depth and wore down against the physical Mid-American club.

BSU was successful in stopping CMU’s running game, which might not have been a good thing since the Chippewas burned BSU’s inexperienced secondary.

BSU senior cornerback Walter Reed hasn’t played football in five years. He comes from the BSU track team. Sophomore strong safety Jeff Davis punted last year. The others are redshirt freshmen Marcel Yates and Damien Schilling. The backup corners are true freshmen.

Notes

Big West schools face a couple of interesting non-conference games on Saturday. Nevada, the preseason pick to win the conference, visits Oregon. New Mexico State, which lost to New Mexico last Thursday, is at Texas.

Idaho punter Mike O’Neal’s debut was a good one. The J.C. transfer, who won the job in the fall over two other candidates, averaged 43.6 yards per kick and two of his punts were downed inside the 10. .

The Vandals’ only serious injury against Wyoming was sophomore Garner Moody’s broken ankle. The second-team defensive lineman is out for the season.

BSU quarterback Tony Hilde actually has a higher efficiency rating than UI’s Fien. Hilde was 23 of 34 for 269 yards and three touchdowns. His efficiency rating is 163.2 to Fien’s 159.8.

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