THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Sunday, January 11, 2015

As expected, former Idaho quarterback Chad Chalich has landed at Montana, where he has been admitted to the school, and plans to join the Grizzlies for spring practice, said his father, Mark Chalich.

Chalich will be a junior this fall, with two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Chalich redshirted at Idaho in 2012, started seven games as a redshirt freshman the following season, and started one game this past season. In December, he was granted permission by Idaho to contact three FCS schools, including Montana, about transferring.

He talked to Grizzly assistant coach Ty Gregorak, the defensive coordinator and husband of former North Idaho College volleyball coach Kandice (Kelly) Gregorak, and was admitted to Montana shortly after Christmas.

In his Vandal career, Chalich passed for 1,615 yards and seven touchdowns, with five interceptions, and rushed for one TD.

Montana's starting quarterback this past season, Jordan Johnson, was a senior.

"He's been admitted, he's definitely got a good chance to play right away, and that's what he wants to do," Mark Chalich said.

Spring semester classes begin Jan. 26.

Other Griz quarterbacks on the roster or incoming include Brady Gustafson, a redshirt junior next season; redshirt sophomore Makena Simis from Capital High in Boise; and redshirt freshman Will Weyer, an incoming true freshman recruit from Sunset High of Beaverton, Ore.

Another former FBS quarterback, Eric Prater, a walk-on freshman at Hawaii this past season, has also reportedly transferred to Montana.

Mark Chalich said Chad has yet to meet the new Montana football coach, Bob Stitt, but "that coach likes the read option, and that's right up Chad's alley," Mark said.

* Lots of talk about Boise State being "back" after beating Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl.

(Not sure where they were, but anyway ... )

The Broncos finished with nine straight victories, including a Mountain West Conference championship and the school's third Fiesta Bowl victory in as many tries since 2007.

The excitement, they say is back in Boise under first-year head coach Bryan Harsin - after that Chris Petersen fellow had the audacity to take his 92 wins in eight seasons in Boise and head for Washington.

Petersen approached deity status toward the end of his run in Boise - though some of the same people who bowed to him during his Bronco run took some measure of satisfaction in seeing his struggles in Seattle. Washington finished 8-6 after a 30-22 loss to Oklahoma State in the Cactus Bowl.

In any event, local interest in Boise State figures to increase in coming years.

Former Coeur d'Alene High tight end Chase Blakley redshirted this year. Next year, ex-Viking linebacker Drew Berger joins him on campus.

And then there's that Rypien fellow from Shadle Park, who set a few passing records and graduated high school early so he could enroll at BSU this semester and participate in spring ball with the Broncos.

I'm guessing he's not hurrying down to Boise in the middle of winter because he thinks he's going to redshirt next fall.

* One thing, though, about Boise State - they need to decide if their program is a Cinderella, or a big boy. They can't be both. They can't want to play with the big boys, then hide behind Cinderella status when it serves them.

Gonzaga has gone through the same Cinderella-to-big-boy transition, and has progressed to the stage where the Zags are more of a big name nationally, and less of a warm, fuzzy story from lil' ol' Spokane.

Boise State, which should be the bullies of the Mountain West year in and year out, can get there too - especially with the current College Football Playoff format, and even more so if the playoff expands to eight or more teams.

The way it works now, as Ohio State has shown us, you don't have to be in the top 2 to have a chance to win the national title. You just have to be invited to the playoff.

* Remember that wild play by Central Michigan at the end of the Bahamas Bowl - a long pass, followed by a series of laterals that resulted in an unlikely touchdown on the final snap of the game?

That came against former Idaho head coach Nick Holt's Western Kentucky defense.

Western Kentucky led 49-14 in the fourth quarter before Central Michigan roared back, cutting the deficit to 49-48 on that wacky play. CMU went for two and the win but came up short, and the Hilltoppers escaped with the win.

I liked the energy Holt brought to Idaho when he was head coach in 2004 and '05. He didn't win - he went 5-18 in two seasons - but then again, NOBODY has consistently won at Idaho since it moved up to NCAA Division I in 1996.

Then again, his five wins matches the total win total for the Vandals over the last four seasons.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.