Boise, ID (Sports Network) - A fight for Gem State bragging rights ensues this weekend as the sixth-ranked Boise State Broncos take on the surprising Idaho Vandals in Western Athletic Conference action.

Sporting the fourth-longest win streak in the nation, tied with both Cincinnati and Alabama at nine in a row, the Broncos have been fighting for respect since stepping onto the blue turf against Oregon in the season opener. Since losing to TCU in the postseason last year, BSU has done nothing but put tallies in the win column and still that doesn't appear to be good enough for the voters and the BCS rankings.

Last Friday, the Broncos didn't exactly dominate Louisiana Tech on the road, but the team still came up with the 45-35 victory. It was the most points allowed by BSU all season and was a huge difference from the previous two outings in which the Broncos outscored their opponents by a combined 99-16 count. Nevertheless, Boise State is still the lowest ranked of the six remaining unbeaten programs in the Football Bowl Subdivision and is currently sixth in the BCS, moving up one place from the previous week.

As for the Vandals, they are no longer the team that the rest of the WAC beats up on. In fact, Idaho has done some beating up of its own in 2009 and that has led the program to an astonishing seven wins thus far. However, since notching the all-important sixth win of the season back on October 17th versus Hawaii, the Vandals have dropped two of their last three. Last Saturday, the team was topped by Fresno State at home in the Kibbie Dome by a final of 31-21, dropping it to 4-2 in conference play.

"We gave up too many points early," Idaho coach Robb Akey claimed after the game. "That was a hole we had a hard time digging ourselves out of."

Dating back to 1971, these schools have clashed every season, with BSU taking each meeting since 1999. Last year, the Broncos, who now own a 20-17-1 edge in the series, put up a 45-10 win at the Kibbie Dome.

"What I appreciate very much and I love about this football team is that it does believe it's capable of accomplishing some things and it will compete," coach Akey noted of his team's effort in the loss to Fresno State. "I saw that and that's great with this football team."

Unfortunately, part of the problem for the Vandals was that they were trying to get back into the win column without the guy who had taken them there so many times before, quarterback Nathan Enderle. The signal-caller was reduced to a spectator on the sideline because of injury, leaving youngster Brian Reader as the leader on the field for the squad.

In the first half Reader had trouble picking his spots and was just 2-of-10 passing for 29 yards. In the second half the rest of the offense picked him up as he converted 10-of-15 for 211 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the setback.

Even though Reader and the Vandals bounced back, it was still hard for the group to offset a quick start by Fresno State and running back Ryan Mathews who raced 77 yards to the end zone on the first play from scrimmage.

Enderle is listed as questionable for this weekend, which means the Vandals would be missing one of the better quarterbacks in the nation, seeing as how he ranks second on the conference behind only BSU's Kellen Moore and 10th in the country with a pass efficiency rating of 152.29.

Should Reader be the one to get the starting nod for the Vandals, he'll need to get off to a better start because the Broncos are not the sort of team that will let an opponent hang around for too long. Getting more production out of running back DeMaundray Woolridge (651 yards, 14 touchdowns) will also be an important piece of the puzzle for Idaho, and it wouldn't hurt to have Princeton McCarty (528 yards, two TDs) handling some of the pressure as well.

As for the Broncos, scoring bushels of points might get them into the win column, but they'll need some help from the teams in front of them in the standings if they are going to shake things up in the postseason.

Although he had an interception returned for a touchdown by the Louisiana Tech defense last week, Moore simply doesn't make mistakes as the Boise State quarterback. Moore finished the meeting with the Bulldogs with 354 yards and three touchdowns through the air. It also helped that Moore was able to get Jeremy Avery into gear on the ground, as the running back generated a game- high 146 yards and scored once.

"We want to be a team that runs the ball and runs it well in all situations," commented Moore after the win. "We were able to run it well in the second half."

Receivers Austin Pettis and Titus Young again carried their weight with a combined 17 catches for 215 yards and two scores and even though the team scored on all but one of its seven red-zone opportunities, picking up yards on the ground that close to the goal line continues to be a concern for the Broncos at this stage of the season.

"When you don't run the ball like you should then it shows up down there (the red zone)" said BSU head coach Chris Petersen after the LaTech victory. "I really don't think we ran the ball well enough down there tonight and it hurt us. We're going to make that an emphasis next week and without a doubt we have got to get better there."

Granted, Boise State is far from a poor running team, averaging 181.9 ypg on the ground, it is more a case of when and where the team is having trouble gaining ground. Obviously it would make the job easier for Moore if he could count on his running backs to grind out the tough yards inside the 20-yard line, but if that's not the case the sophomore gunslinger is still talented enough to do all the right things to get this team into the win column.

At the moment there is nobody better than Moore at the quarterback position according to the stats, ranking first in the country in pass efficiency with a rating of 169.35. He may not be averaging the same yardage per game that he was a year ago when he won WAC Freshman of the Year honors, but more importantly he has already surpassed his TD total from a year ago with 27 and has a mere three interceptions to count against him in 268 attempts.