Boise State (7-2, 5-0 Western Athletic) at #20 Fresno State (7-1, 5-0 Western Athletic)

Thursday, November 10 at 8:00 PM EST

TV: ESPN

Surface: Natural Grass (Bulldog Stadium)

Line: Fresno State -9.5 (Sportsbook.com)

Editor's note: Christian Alexander owns a 7-4 record on Thursdays this year, so don't miss out on his winner for tonight!
  

Still stinging from a double pimpslap last week in that Pittsburgh-Louisville game, I was initially finding it hard to turn the page and move on to this Thursday’s game.

But once I had the opportunity to sit down and do a little research I realized that this was probably the biggest Thursday night game of the year. And now for the shocker: it’s a WAC game!

That’s right, the WAC showdown between Boise State and Fresno State couldn’t have bigger stakes for both teams as this will clearly settle the conference championship and determine postseason fates. On hand will be seven bowl representatives and of course a national-TV audience will be tuning in. That’s about as big as it gets, in the WAC or anywhere else for that matter.

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You’ll excuse coach Dan Hawkins and the Broncos if they don’t see what all the fuss is about. After all, Boise State has a 31-game WAC winning streak on the line, including four in a row against Fresno State and coach Pat Hill. Beat Fresno State? Win the WAC? Been there, done that - many times - for Boise.

And the Broncos just haven’t won those games, they have often humiliated Fresno. In fact, over the past three years Boise State has beaten the Bulldogs by an average of 26 points. (Granted, that number was a tad inflated by a 67-21 woodshed beating in 2002 but you get the picture.)

And let’s not forget, this Boise State domination of Fresno comes during a stretch where Pat Hill has built his program up to the point where a postseason bowl and victory over big conference schools such as Virginia (2004 MPC Bowl), UCLA (2003 Silicon Valley Bowl) and Georgia Tech (2002 Silicon Valley Bowl) has become a given.

The big story for each of these programs is their high-octane offenses which are both led by stud quarterbacks.

For the home team Bulldogs, QB Paul Pinegar is having such a nice season that he has been named a semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, which goes to the top signal caller in the nation.

Pinegar, who has been at the controls for Pat Hill for four years straight, has twice been selected the WAC offensive player of the week, including last week for his effort against San Jose State. Pinegar’s stats tell the story as he ranks ninth in the NCAA in passing efficiency, tossing 16 touchdown passes against only four interceptions while completing 65% of his attempts.

Lurking in the WAC shadows of Pinegar is Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky. Known to teammates simply as “Z”, Zabransky has established himself as a tough as nails leader on the field who can light up the scoreboard.

“Z” has nearly as many TD’s (15) as Pinegar but the difference this season has been the mistakes with Zabransky throwing an uncharacteristic 10 interceptions. You can be sure a nasty Fresno defense will be swarming Thursday night for more takeaways.

Of course, the quarterbacks aren’t the whole story as Fresno State boasts a pair of talented backs in Wendell Mathis and Bryson Sumlin. Boise counters with a dynamic duo of their own in Ian Johnson and Lee Marks – those two contribute quite a bit to the WAC’s leading rushing offense.