The frustration has been bubbling under the surface of the Boise State football team ever since they left Hawaii in the wee hours of Christmas Eve.

Strength coach Tim Socha stoked those feelings by posting a newspaper clipping showing a jubilant Hawaii team celebrating its undefeated season and WAC championship on the window of his office in the weight room.

Finally, later this week, the Broncos get to unleash that frustration - a motivating factor they hope will drive them back to the top of the WAC, the perch they occupied for five straight seasons.

"You walk by that (newspaper) every day in the summertime," senior tight end Chris O'Neill said. "You get this feeling that you want to go hit somebody."

The Broncos open the season Saturday at home against Idaho State, a Football Championship Subdivision team - a benign start to what will be a challenging road back to the top.

They play at Oregon and Southern Miss, two athletic teams with fast-paced offenses and intimidating home-field advantages.

They play on eight consecutive weekends to finish the season, including five road games, two sets of back-to-back road games and trips to three places that have given the Broncos fits - San Jose State, New Mexico State and Idaho.

If they survive all that, the Broncos still need to beat Fresno State - the overwhelming WAC favorite according to the coaches - on Nov. 28 at Bronco Stadium to reclaim their dominance of the WAC and possibly chase another Bowl Championship Series berth.

And they'll try to do it with an extraordinarily young team. Freshmen Kellen Moore (quarterback), Thomas Byrd (center), Nate Potter (left tackle) and Doug Martin (tailback) and sophomores Titus Young (wide receiver), Austin Pettis (wide receiver), D.J. Harper (tailback), Jeremy Avery (tailback), Kevin Sapien (tackle) and Matt Slater (tackle) are expected to start or play a significant role on offense.

The defense is young, too, with sophomores Ryan Winterswyk (end), Derrell Acrey (linebacker), Brandyn Thompson (cornerback), Jeron Johnson (safety) and Jason Robinson (safety) slated to start.

"It's going to challenge our leadership, our chemistry, our unity issues," coach Chris Petersen said, "because we've got to be good in those areas as we go through new things together. Certainly, any season brings you adversity you have to deal with. Those intangible elements are critically important to the success of our team."

The Broncos have their usual goals - they make no concessions to youth. They want to win the WAC, win a bowl game, go undefeated during the regular season for the third time in five years.

But more than anything, they want to do what they didn't do last year: finish.

The Broncos lost their last two games - the WAC title game against Hawaii and the Hawaii Bowl against East Carolina - for the first time in 14 years.

"If we finish, we win the WAC," O'Neill said. "... We need to finish at full speed through the season, petal to the metal till we're done with the bowl game."

The seniors, of course, want to go out on top.

The freshmen and sophomores, meanwhile, are still chasing their first taste of college success.

"I don't like coming out as a loser," Young said. "I came here to win championships. I didn't come here to lose them."