So long and so maddening had Brigham Young University's streak of football victories over the University of Hawai'i become by the late 1980s that an elderly fan stopped then-head coach Bob Wagner in his tracks with an urgent appeal.

"Please, beat BYU before I die," the fan implored.

It isn't known how long the fan lived, but Wagner's team shortly complied, ending BYU's streak at 10 games over 11 years in 1989.

If June Jones doesn't want to soon begin fielding the same requests, Friday night would be a good time to end Boise State's string of victories over UH as it nears BYU-like proportions.

The Broncos, too, have had UH's number which, if you're counting, now stands at six in a row. It only seems like more.

Curiously, Jones' first division I-A victory came over Boise State in 1999 but there might have been a whole lot more celebrating if we'd known the milestone quality it would take on. Once the Broncos joined the Western Athletic Conference in 2001, the series has been all theirs. Sometimes lopsidedly so, occasionally close but none of them easy to take.

Coaches have changed, quarterbacks have come and gone but Boise State's supremacy has not. Just like BYU, BSU has kept the Warriors' trophy case sparse. Not since 1999 have the Warriors won so much as a share of the WAC title, and Boise State is a key culprit with its five consecutive crowns.

Whatever it is about these blue-clad teams out of the mountains, they have found a mastery and struck a nerve like none UH has played in its major college era. No other WAC team has sold out Aloha Stadium so fast in advance. Nowhere else, perhaps, will you hear fans exhibit with such passion about the need for NCAA legislation to outlaw all-blue turf. The same zeal once focused on ending rules that permitted BYU to have 26-year-old linemen.

Never mind that the Broncos are equal opportunity abusers, doing to the rest of the WAC what they have done to UH. Usually worse. They've won 52 of 55 WAC games and 23 of the last 24. In the process, much like BYU, the Broncos have set the standard in the WAC, if not all of the non-guaranteed Bowl Championship Series world. And set it high.

It was tough, often frustrating, work for the Warriors to meet BYU's level of excellence and finally beat the Cougars. But it was worthwhile when UH finally accomplished it. Now, Boise State's success has posed the same considerable challenge, and some are no doubt dying to see if UH meets it this time.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.