Spartan media has as much faith in their team as I do.

Sorry Dick, "close" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Among all the hand-wringing and backhanded praise for the Spartans going on this week, I actually found a couple of level-headed takes on the game...but from an unusual source...the San Jose State student newspaper's blog. What was apparently supposed to be a spirited point/counterpoint quickly devolved into the dramatic realization that the Spartans aren't playing a patsy this weekend, and thusly, will lose.

Last week, Boise State’s defense dominated Hawaii. They forced Hawaii’s quarterback Inoke Funaki into five interceptions. Funaki is very comparable to Kyle Reed who threw three interceptions against a soft New Mexico State defense. That spells trouble for the Spartans offense...

It also spells L-O-S-S. According to John Hornberg (who also picked the Spartans to lose), the Spartans held a "top notch" New Mexico State offense to only 14 points last week. Fun fact: Boise State held the same "top notch" NMSU offense to zero points last year, and that wasn't our "good" D. Bottom line: Boise State can and will score more than 14 pts. on the Spartans...and that's all they need to do. The Spartans anemic offense will not score more than 10 points on the Broncos—mark it down...use a permanent marker. Besides the erroneous classification of NMSU's offense as "top notch"...the San Jose guys got it right...the Spartans will lose this weekend and it probably won't even be as close that they think.

Boise State 23, SJSU 6

San Jose Daily Sports

A clean campaign?

Phil Dailey is a shrewd campaigner. Either that or he is some sort of freakin' clairvoyant as Dailey has boldly proclaimed that the quarterback job is Hamdan's to lose. Whether Dailey is really good at deciphering vague coachspeak or is of the mind that an Ian Johnson endorsement all but seals the deal for Bush we'll never know.

All I want to know is if Mr. Dailey, with his all-knowing power would be willing to grant me some hot stock tips.

Granted, I don't have access to practices like Phil Dailey does, and I can't command the awesome resources of the Idaho Press Tribune...but what exactly is Dailey hearing from the tight-lipped coaches that confirm his claims? Was it this quote from coach Pete...

“We might have more of feel now, but there’s no rush to set anything in stone. We want these to keep these guys competing and the best medicine for improvement is competition.”

Or maybe this concrete declaration by coach Harsin...

“Nobody is overall making a huge jump at this point, they’re doing what we ask them to do.”

Hmmm...maybe Dailey really looked into Harsin's soul when he made that statement and saw the profound commitment to Hamdan glimmering in his eyes. Maybe.

Heck, everyone's got their favorite (even Ian Johnson), but you're the sports director for the Press-Tribune, Phil Dailey...headlines like "Hamdan has QB lead" just aren't going to cut it when you can't back up that statement. Just admit that you are as clueless as the rest of us in this thing until about mid-August.

Dailey's psychic reading