Weekly links — Boise State’s Brett Rypien hurt by league, Houston’s done, Jerry Jones is nuts and a baseball drought will end

Hey, we’re doing the my weekly links thing again … it is fully a tradition now.

Boise State has a pretty solid quarterback in sophomore Brett Rypien but nobody discusses him nationally.

Oh, they will say a few nice things about him on ESPN2 immediately after he passes for 391 yards and five touchdowns against New Mexico on the channel but then all chatter disappears and he returns to oblivion.

That’s what happens in the power-conference era. If Rypien played for a Pac-12 team — like he could have — he would get all kinds of love for those kinds of accomplishments. But playing in a minor conference like the Mountain West is a killer.

Regardless, Rypien is giving Boise State its best quarterbacking since a guy named Kellen Moore was setting all kinds of records at the school. Trust me, Rypien can play a little.

Here is a link to the stellar Colorado State-Boise State preview — http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/gametracker/preview/NCAAF_20161015_COLOST@BOISE/no-15-boise-state-rypien-look-to-stay-hot

The Houston Cougars always seemed like a team destined to lose. The question was when.

That was answered last Saturday when the Cougars lost to Navy. That defeat removed Houston from any chance of crashing the College Football Playoff.

That saddens people because they always want to have the so-called Little Guy hanging around the playoff mix. But the reality is that conferences like the American Athletic and Conference USA and Mountain West have already been forever relegated to second-tier status.

The Cougars notched an impressive victory over Oklahoma earlier this season that propelled the playoff talk possibility and they were ranked sixth prior to the loss to Navy.

But the playoff dream was going to be snapped at some point. And since coach Tom Herman says the goal wasn’t to go undefeated — the only way Houston could be part of the CFP — then I guess he isn’t all that heartbroken.

Here is a link to the stellar Tulsa-Houston preview — http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/no-13-cougars-seek-bounce-back-effort-101116

Tony Romo is getting closer to being healthy enough to play and that means the Dallas Cowboys may soon have a quarterback dilemma.

Romo is recovering from a broken vertebra in his back and is brittle as he nears the end of his career. Youngster Dak Prescott has seized the opportunity and guided the Cowboys to a 4-1 start while setting a rookie record by starting the season with 155 attempts without an interception.

Naturally, owner Jerry Jones decides to pop off and proclaim that Romo is still the No. 1 quarterback. Sure Jerry, go back to Romo. Perhaps that will help end your team’s nice start and allow the franchise to miss the playoffs for the sixth time in seven seasons.

The Cowboys missing the playoffs is always fine with me.

Another interesting thing to watch Sunday is how Dallas rookie Ezekiel Elliott (NFL-leading 546 rushing yards) performs against the Green Bay Packers’ sturdy rushing defense. The Packers lead the NFL by allowing just 42.8 rushing yards per game and 1.99 yards per carry.

Here is a link to the stellar Cowboys-Packers preview — http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2016/10/12/cowboys-just-fine-with-prescott-at-qb-until-romo-returns0.html

The baseball postseason is kicking into high gear with just four teams remaining.

The interesting thing is all four teams have long droughts since last winning a World Series.

The Toronto Blue Jays (1993) have the shortest span of not winning a World Series (think Joe Carter’s game-winning walkoff homer off Philadelphia’s Mitch Williams). Toronto faces the Cleveland Indians, who last won the World Series in 1948 (you might have heard about that when the Cavaliers won the NBA title in June).

In the National League, the Chicago Cubs haven’t won the World Series since 1908 when Theodore Roosevelt was president. Teddy was the 26th president of this country and we are now about to decide on the 45th prez. The Cubs face the Los Angeles Dodgers, who haven’t won the World Series since 1988 (the series of Kirk Gibson’s famous walk-off blast against Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley).

I will handle the preview assignments for Games 3, 4 and 5 of the National League Championship Series. And Games 1, 2 and 7 of the American League Championship Series.

Here is a link to the stellar Blue Jays-Indians Game 1 preview — http://www.usatoday.com/sports/mlb/event/2016/410439/preview/

Blyleven makes case for Hall of Fame

The 2010 baseball Hall of Fame class will be announced on Jan. 6 and one player is taking the proactive approach to his candidacy.

Pitcher Bert Blyleven is in his 13th year of eligibility and has become increasingly frustrated that he’s not a member of the Hall of Fame. He makes some interesting points in his behalf and doesn’t dodge the negative (example — he points out he also lost the 10th most games of all-time, 250).

Blyleven won 287 games. which means he fell 13 victories short of the so-called magic number for pitchers in terms of easily being inducted. He ranks fifth in career strikeouts (3,701) and ninth in shutouts (60).

The shutouts resonate the most with me in that you usually have to pitch a full nine innings to get a shutout. Many of today’s big-money pitchers won’t even throw 60 complete games in their careers, let alone toss 60 shutouts.

Also, Blyleven may have won 300 career games if he didn’t play for some really bad Minnesota Twins teams during part of his career. And he’s right when he points out the hardest thing for a starting pitcher to control is victories.

Anyway, here is a link to Blyleven making his case for the Hall of Fame: (http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/34599423/ns/sports-baseball//)

To be elected, a player must be named on 75 percent of the ballots. Last year, Blyleven received 62.7 percent of the vote, second among people who didn’t get elected behind outfielder Andre Dawson (67.0 percent).

Competition for election will come from some candidates eligible for the first time — second baseman Roberto Alomar, shortstop Barry Larkin, first baseman Fred McGriff and designated hitter Edgar Martinez.

Coincidentally, Alomar and McGriff were once part of the same trade when the San Diego Padres sent Alomar and Joe Carter to the Toronto Blue Jays for McGriff and Tony Fernandez.

Oh yeah, Mark McGwire remains on the ballot but the baseball poster boy for steroids has about as good a chance of being elected as my brother Danny, who last played on a hardball team in 1988. Danny’s only steroid use involved Nasacort, a nasal spray that is legal when prescribed.

McGwire, of course, has never come clean about his alleged steroids use and baseball writers are working in collusion to keep him out of the Hall of Fame until he steps up to the plate about the subject.

Lee Smith, a top-notch closer, and Jack Morris, a pitching ace, also are among the holdovers on the ballot.