John Blanchette: Battle of the Palouse worth keeping

They are not the most proximate campuses in NCAA Division I-A football, but they are the closest marooned in small towns – college towns. So you can understand the claustrophobia that has Washington State and Idaho thinking they don’t need to play each other every year.

This Saturday, yes. Next year, too. After that, whenever it works out.

“We’ve played each other how many years in a row? Ten?” said Idaho athletic director Rob Spear. “It’s nice to be able to play it once in a while. Playing every year is something we need to review.”

This is what everybody seems to want – both head coaches, the athletic directors, purportedly even business proprietors and ticket buyers. Not that the reform sentiment is particularly loud. It’s a consensus built on a shrug, like the Deltas of “Animal House” admitting freshman pledge Larry Kroger (“We need the dues”).

But the same holds true for traditionalists. The series is lopsided (68-17-3 for Wazzu) and has already endured an extended hiatus or two. A charming geographic rivalry back in the day, a marriage of convenience recently.

It’s still convenient. And it seems a strange time to suspend it, since it just got a little flash of heat.

Of course we’re talking about Dennis Erickson. Isn’t everyone?

Erickson’s return as head coach at Idaho – and this weekend, coaching against another former employer – has changed the entire chemistry of football on the Palouse, even before there have been any actual results. Why either the Vandals or the Cougars wouldn’t want to exploit that to the fullest is a little mystifying, but they have their reasons – sound enough in the short view, if a little myopic in the bigger picture.

It’s served its purpose.

When the series resumed in 1998, Idaho was mummified in NCAA red tape, desperate to meet the arbitrary attendance standards then in place for I-A membership. Counting a Martin Stadium date against the Cougars as a home game was essential – but not any more.

“Since they’ve changed the criteria to (averaging) 15,000 tickets sold, that eliminates some of the pressure,” Spear acknowledged. “We still need to be proactive and get our fans to buy season tickets, but it’s a lot better situation than having to have 15,000 attend each game.”

Fellowship takes it in the shorts.

“We used to go over and watch their spring practice,” said WSU coach Bill Doba, “and they’d see ours. We’d share ideas, visit. It was a good learning experience for both staffs. Now you think, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t tell them what we’re doing.’ It would be healthy to play every third year, or every other year.”

In the WAC, Idaho doesn’t need the Pac.

At least not as much.

“With a tougher conference schedule – Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii – they don’t need to play as many Pac-10 games,” said WSU athletic director Jim Sterk, and Spear agreed his ideal non-conference schedule might include a team from a BCS conference, a non-BCS, a mid-level Pac-10 program and a I-AA.

Keeping the peace.

This one is out of left field, but it’s one of those things college coaches must grapple with these days.

“In the off-season, these guys go to the same clubs,” Doba said. “It’s a physical game. You might carry that grudge or bloody nose with you. They socialize over here and we socialize over there – it’s an accident waiting to happen.”

Echoed Spear, “There have been some issues. Nothing serious, but that last thing we want is something serious.”

Money talks, but not very loud this weekend.

“We don’t sell many tickets,” Sterk said. “Our west side people don’t necessarily come over for an Idaho game. Even local businesses like it when we bring somebody else in – economically, it’s better.”

Hmm.

The last seven UI-WSU games on the Palouse have drawn an average of 32,494, and that includes a couple of dreaded dates on Labor Day weekend. Over the same stretch, just for comparison, the fourth game on WSU’s home schedule – all but one a Pac-10 opponent – averaged 29,481. The customers may not fill as many hotel rooms, but the Idaho games do better traffic.

Besides, are WSU’s west side fans really going to be that more jazzed about seeing, say, Nevada or San Jose State in Idaho’s stead?

If Erickson’s presence really has Idaho’s fan base psyched, then it should be reflected at the gate – this Saturday and forward. Surely it drives the emotional stakes up. Even the fools who still seethe over his leaving Wazzu after two season to take the job at Miami – can you believe he’d do such a thing? – would admit as much. If there are collegiality and peacekeeping issues, surely they could be attacked just as proactively as ticket sales.

And if Erickson takes Idaho to the place it wants to go, it’ll look a little silly if the Cougs and Vandals aren’t playing then. Two competitive programs, 8 miles apart.

Seems to make all the sense in the world – especially the very small world of the Palouse.