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Friday, September 19, 2014.
It’s one of the best names in college football: Terrance Broadway. It’s one that national media can latch onto when they feel the need to about non-power conference quarterbacks—an easy mark. Broadway’s ability makes it easier. I like watching bowl games in December, so I’ve seen Broadway work his magic in the Ragin’ Cajuns’ New Orleans Bowl victories. And he wasn’t even 100 percent in the most recent one, returning from a broken arm to lead ULL past Tulane, 24-21. “He sees things,” offensive coordinator Jay Johnson said during fall camp. “A guy will take a little move, and (snaps his fingers) he sees it and he knows it, because he’s studied it. He does his work when he’s not on the field. He’s pretty special in that area.” Broadway will be at work parallel to an avenue by the same name tomorrow night in the homecoming tilt on the blue turf.
Broadway’s a tough cookie, and he’s the first dual-threat QB Boise State has faced this season. His passing game hasn’t been what he’s accustomed to, as he’s thrown six interceptions against four touchdowns. But Broadway has rushed for 179 yards and a TD. The Cajuns’ hope was to crack the top 25 in Broadway’s senior year, but that dream has been sideswiped by a 1-2 start. Louisiana-Lafayette will be at a crossroads tomorrow night in Albertsons Stadium.
Don’t expect Boise State to repeat the eight-sack performance it produced at UConn last week. First, Broadway is too elusive. Secondly, the Louisiana-Lafayette offensive line does a great job of protecting their most valuable asset, allowing only one sack so far this season. But an encore against the run is of the utmost importance for the Bronco defense. The Ragin’ Cajuns may have been routed 56-15 at Ole Miss last week, but their running game clicked with 193 yards. Running back Elijah McGuire has taken charge, averaging seven yards a carry. The Boise State defense has held each of its first three opponents to less than 100 yards rushing, the longest such streak to open a season in seven years. The Broncos rank second nationally in rush defense, allowing an average of 49 yards per game. Only Alabama, with a 47-yard average, has a better mark.
There’s one Boise State guy who was expected to see the end zone by now—and hasn’t. Shane Williams-Rhodes has 24 catches this season, tied for 10th in the nation in receptions per game, but he does not have a touchdown grab. He gained 39 yards on a catch last week that would have been a TD were it not for a slip on the slick surface at UConn. Williams-Rhodes’ 24 receptions have covered 183 yards, an average of only 7.6 yards per touch. That number has improved since Week 1, though, when he hauled in 14 catches for only 53 yards. For that matter, SWR hasn’t scored a rushing TD this year, either. He had two of those as a true freshman in 2012 and another one last season.
The Statesman’s Chadd Cripe reported the other night that two players had joined the Boise State program. One was former Skyview High star Jaxon Pryor, who was an All-State running back but is set to be a defensive back for the Broncos. The other, offensive lineman R.J. Thorne out of T.C. Williams High in Alexandra, VA, comes with an interesting sidebar. T.C. Williams was the school featured in the classic 2000 movie “Remember the Titans” starring Denzel Washington.
The Game of the Week in the Mountain West tomorrow is San Diego State at Oregon State. The Aztecs, who lost by just four points at North Carolina two weeks ago and are coming off a bye, have a chance in this one. And if they can beat the Beavers in Corvallis, they could take over the label of conference favorite. Also of interest tomorrow is Utah State’s game at Arkansas State. How the Aggies perform without Chuckie Keeton against an upper-echelon Sun Belt team could give some insight into their fortunes in upcoming conference games.
Idaho gets right back in the MAC tomorrow, facing a team that theoretically is better than the Western Michigan squad that won 45-33 last Saturday in the Kibbie Dome. The Bobcats are just three seasons removed from their victory over Utah State in the 2011 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Ohio, however, is 1-2 this season, coming off a 44-14 thumping at Marshall. The Bobcats don’t have the offensive firepower of WMU—they’ve scored just 34 points in three games. The timing could not be better for the Vandal defense, which is allowing 509 yards per game over the first two games and has forced just one turnover.
It’s Game 3 of the College of Idaho’s return season as the Coyotes visit Southern Oregon tomorrow. The Yotes’ 2-0 start is not only their best since 1969, it’s the best of any start-up NAIA football program in at least six years. C of I’s Mike Safford Jr. scoured the NAIA archives and found that no new team has won its first two games since 2008. Only one, Reinhardt (GA), has had a winning record—a 6-4 mark last year. Six other NAIA start-ups failed to win more than one game. In Division III, no school has begun its program with two victories since 1996. In Division I, there’s hasn’t been a 2-0 opening for a start-up program since Old Dominion in 2009. One key to the Yotes’ success is turnover margin. They’re plus-5, and quarterback Teejay Gordon has yet to throw an interception.
Did Tampa Bay miss Doug Martin last night? Maybe. But the Buccaneers were missing everybody and everything after being routed 56-14 by the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football. Martin missed his second straight game due to a knee injury suffered in the season opener against the Carolina Panthers. The former Boise State star, who has appeared in only seven games since the start of last season, did return to practice this week with the Bucs.
The Boise Hawks’ new major league parent club will be the Colorado Rockies, with the two sides revealing last night an agreement has been reached on a Player Development Contract. The Chicago Cubs have hooked up with the Eugene Emeralds. It’s not a bad thing for the Hawks—a post-trade deadline ranking of all 30 big league farm systems in the Bleacher Report puts Colorado at No. 9. “The Rockies have a sneaky good system,” wrote Mike Rosenbaum. Uh, should I mention the Cubs were No. 1?
A few other notes: Boise’s Maddie Sheils needs an awfully big day today to make the cut at the Symetra Tour Championship in Daytona Beach, FL. Sheils is tied for 104th place after shooting a first-round 77 yesterday. The Utah Jazz have filled out Idaho Stampede coach Dean Cooper’s staff with assistant coaches Andrae Patterson and Travis Walton. And after just two seasons with the Idaho Steelheads, coach Brad Ralph seems to be building a good track record of developing talent. With NHL camps opening this weekend, we find five players from Ralph’s initial Steelheads 2012 Opening Night roster taking the ice. Justin Dowling is in camp with Dallas, Kael Mouillierat is a New York Islander, Jeremie Blain is playing for Vancouver, Sam Carrick is in Toronto’s camp, and Austin Fyten has caught on with Philadelphia.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by ZAMZOW’S…nobody knows like Zamzow’s!
September 19, 1981: Idaho State comes to Bronco Stadium to face defending Division I-AA national champion Boise State and stuns the Broncos, 21-10. The Bengals surprised BSU with quarterback draws from rifle-armed but slow-footed quarterback Mike Machurek (whose backup was a guy named Dirk Koetter). ISU would roll through the rest of the 1981 schedule under coach Dave Kragthorpe and succeed the Broncos as national champs.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment Sunday nights at 10:30PM on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors five sports segments each weekday on 93.1 The Ticket. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
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