GAME NOTES: Back in the South Pacific for the second time in as many games, 24th-ranked Boise State tries to win over the Hawaii faithful, as the Broncos take on the East Carolina Pirates for the first time ever in the Sixth Annual Hawaii Bowl at Aloha Stadium. Boise State was here a month ago closing out its regular season and shooting for yet another Western Athletic Conference title, but a 39-27 loss to the hometown Warriors meant it was Hawaii that was moving on to a BCS game and leaving the local event for another program in the WAC, that program of course being the Broncos. It was the only conference loss of the season for BSU. Aside from the setback to Hawaii, the only other team that Boise fell to this season was Washington in the second game of the campaign, 24-10, on the road. As for the Pirates, they're lucky to be playing in the postseason at all, especially after opening the season with three losses in four tries, although two of those came against Virginia Tech and West Virginia. ECU and head coach Skip Holtz closed out the regular season on November 24th with a 35-12 rout of Tulane at home, giving the squad three wins in the last four opportunities to go 7-5 overall and 6-2 in Conference USA action. As far as the team's experience in the postseason is concerned, the Pirates are an even 4-4 despite losing two in a row and three of the last four chances. Last year the squad bowed to South Florida in the Papajohns.com Bowl. On the other side, head coach Chris Petersen led the Broncos to one of the most improbable and exciting postseason triumphs in history as the Broncos slipped by Oklahoma State in overtime of last year's Fiesta Bowl, 43-42, on the now-legendary Statue of Liberty play for a two-point conversion. That victory pushed Boise State to 5-2 in bowl games since 1999. Except for 2005 when Nevada took on UCF, the Hawaii Bowl has been monopolized by the Warriors, simply because the team was locked into the event as long as they became bowl eligible and were not invited to take part in the BCS game, as is the case this season. Last year the Warriors posted a 41-24 victory, which means a WAC team has won four in a row in the event.

The offense for the Pirates this season was dominated by Chris Johnson who charged up an even 1,200 yards on 208 of the team's 434 rushing attempts. Of the squad's 25 touchdowns on the ground, Johnson accounted for 16 as he averaged just under six yards per attempt. Quarterback Pat Pinkney placed second on the team with his 253 yards rushing, the squad coming in fifth in Conference USA and 38th in the nation with 171.3 ypg rushing. Pinkney was an average passer at best for ECU, throwing for 10 touchdowns and four interceptions, while backup Rob Kass logged nine TDs and four picks as well. Not only was Johnson a dominant ball carrier for the Pirates, he also lent his talents to the passing game by picking up 34 receptions for 496 yards and five touchdowns, all second on the team behind only Jamar Bryant and his 42 catches for 626 yards and six scores. Perhaps most impressive about the Pirate offense is that it turned the ball over just 13 times in 2007, which in turn made the entire team sixth in the country in turnover margin with a plus-1.17 turnovers per game.

After limiting Virginia Tech to just 17 points in the season opener, the Pirates went through a stretch of seven games in which opponents scored no less than four touchdowns per game. Because of that, the squad ranked 80th in the nation with 29.8 ppg allowed and was 98th in yards given up at 436.4 per game. The pass defense was especially suspect, surrendering 290.6 ypg to rank ninth in the conference and 115th among the 119 program at the FBS level. A total of 11 different players combined to log 15 interceptions for the group, and still opponents found a way to pick apart the secondary for significant yardage on a regular basis. Although he had just 35 stops overall, C.J. Wilson was first on the team with six sacks and had a total of nine and a half tackles for loss, placing him third in that department behind Zack Slate (11.5 TFLs, 4.5 sacks) and Quentin Cotton (11.0 TFLs). Of the unit's three blocked kicks, two were attributed to the efforts of Wilson. Due primarily to the play of Wilson, Slate and Cotton, the team finished first in C-USA and 11th in the country with close to eight tackles for loss per game.

Trying to live up to the accomplishments of last year's edition of the Broncos was not an easy task, but the 2007 version of coach Petersen's squad certainly made a valiant effort with just two losses. Leading the charge was starting quarterback Taylor Tharp who earned himself All-WAC Second Team honors by completing a stunning 68.3 percent of his pass attempts for 28 touchdowns and just nine interceptions. Tharp's favorite target proved to be Jeremy Childs who went on to secure a spot on the All-WAC First Team with his 82 catches for 1,045 yards and nine TDs, but he won't be a prefered option in this game because coach Petersen has suspended him for a violation of team rules. Not to be left out of the conversation is running back Ian Johnson who thrilled fans last year with his game-winning play in the Fiesta Bowl. Injured for a couple of games this season, Johnson still managed to repeat as a First Team All-WAC choice with his 1,030 yards and 16 touchdowns, producing just over five yards per attempt. Because of the efforts of Tharp, Childs, Johnson and all- conference lineman Ryan Clady, the Broncos ended up 10th in the country with 475.7 ypg of total offense, not to mention second in the conference and fifth in the nation in scoring with 42.8 ppg.

More than just a beast on offense, the Broncos also showed an increasing toughness on defense even though the squad lost critical components from last year's unit. Four times this season Boise State held opponents to a touchdown or less, logging a pair of shutouts versus New Mexico State and Utah State. Take the unusual 69-67 quadruple-overtime game out of the mix against Nevada and the Broncos would have given up far less than the 20 ppg that had them first in the WAC and 21st in the nation this season. Making his way to the All-WAC First Team, the third straight year he's been named to an all- conference team, Marty Tadman was again the player that opposing offenses had to be aware of at all times. He finished with just two interceptions, yet was constantly laying out punishing hits that made him second on the team with 83 tackles. Although he missed one game, Kyle Gingg ended up first on the team with his 86 tackles and also had three recovered fumbles. Orlando Scandrick, who is suffering from a dislocated thumb but is still listed as probable for the contest, was one of the nation's leaders with four blocked kicks this season.

Being left out of a major bowl game may have left a bad taste in the mouth of the Broncos, so a great way to show that they felt disrespected would be to run up the score on East Carolina. The Pirates shouldn't take it personally though, because that's the way the WAC handles it business anyway.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Boise State 49, East Carolina 21