Presented by BLAZ’N DIAGNOSTICS.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014.
Did it seem like Boise State was saddled with a lot of penalties Saturday night? The Broncos were flagged eight times for 60 yards. Not good, but not outrageous. But in the “not good” department, it has been consistent. Boise State is tied for 13th in the country for most penalized team, averaging 8½ per game. It’s more the nature of the infractions, though. Most glaring against Louisiana-Lafayette was the flag on Holden Huff for lining up as an ineligible receiver, denying him a touchdown catch and taking six points off the board for the Broncos. Penalties in general? “That’s football, you’re going to have some of those,” said coach Bryan Harsin at his Monday press conference. But the self-inflicted ones? “You want to do everything you can to keep from hurting yourself,” he said. “If we don’t slow ourselves down, we’re in a rhythm.”
Listening to Grant Hedrick and Jay Ajayi after the game, it’s quite apparent what the focus will be in practice this week. “It’s frustrating because you get in a good drive and then you have a false start, a penalty, a bad snap, or something you can control,” Hedrick said. “We step on our own foot sometimes.” Ajayi seconded that emotion. “It was a lot of uncharacteristic stuff to where it was a bad snap or not lining up where we were supposed to,” said Ajayi. “It’s really just stuff that is easily fixed, and once we make those easy fixes, you’ll see us in the red zone clicking, getting touchdowns, and putting those points on the board. We will start to reach the full potential of what the offense can really do.”
There are “ors” all over the Boise State depth chart’s starting lineup this week, and many are injury-related. But among those that aren’t, Chaz Anderson has earned an “or” next to Dallas Burroughs at one wide receiver spot after making his first three career catches. Archie Lewis has been solid in replacing Rees Odhiambo the last two weeks at left tackle and has an “or” next to Mario Yakoo—if he moves back to right guard now. Lewis may have to fill in for Odhiambo one more week, though. Antoine Turner continues to progress and earns an “or” with Armand Nance at defensive tackle. And all four of the Broncos’ top linebackers, Tanner Vallejo, Blake Renaud, Ben Weaver and Tyler Gray, are interchangeable as starters on the depth chart.
Donte Deayon left the field gimpy after a pass breakup with about eight minutes left in the game versus Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday night. But Harsin says Deayon is good to go at Air Force this week. The coach was still marveling at Deayon’s third-quarter interception against the Ragin’ Cajuns, producing a stunning vertical leap to grab a ball Terrance Broadway was throwing away—then adjusting his body as he came down to keep his feet inbounds. “He’s a technician,” said Harsin of his 5-9, 152-pound junior cornerback. “He studies. He’s already one step ahead of what’s going to happen. When gametime’s on, he’s an extreme competitor, and it shows in the games.”
Other injury comments from Harsin: Matt Miller “is fine” after a jarring third-quarter hit from a ULL safety. Jeremy Ioane “will play Saturday,” Troy Ware “might not be available” against the Falcons, Cleshawn Page is still at least a week away, Mercy Maston “is feeling really good,” and the plan is to still play him this year rather than redshirt him. And Dylan Sumner-Gardner is fine after leaving the game in the fourth quarter. “I don’t even know why he came out,” grinned Harsin. Meanwhile, Connor Peters’ suspension is over, and the senior tight end “will be in the game plan” at Air Force.
Make that two Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week awards in September for Ajayi. The star junior not only rushed for 150 yards and three touchdowns and added 37 yards on five catches, KTVB’s Jay Tust found that Ajayi has retaken the national lead for most touches (121 rushes and receptions), understanding that Leon Allen of Western Kentucky has played one less game. A third of the way through the season, Ajayi already has more receptions than he did in all of 2013 (23 to 22). He is seventh in the nation in all-purpose yards with 174.5 per game.
After the weekend’s slate, we know nothing more about Mountain West football than we did before. Actually, Boise State’s 34-9 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette would have to be considered the conference’s best of the week. Fresno State’s 56-19 win over Southern Utah doesn’t tell us much about the Bulldogs’ quest to get over the hump. Utah State lost in overtime at Arkansas State but was without Chuckie Keeton. New Mexico beat New Mexico State by three and Wyoming edged Florida International by one. Shrug. San Diego State’s 28-7 loss at Oregon State was disappointing for the Mountain West—the Aztecs have some challenges on offense.
The Boise Hawks have been sold to Agon Sports and Entertainment out of Georgia, with Agon president Jeff Eiseman promising to create “new experiences at Memorial Stadium.” Said Eiseman, “We are going to be more active this off-season than I imagine the club has been in a long time and our fans will notice the difference come baseball season. I promise we’ll make you proud of the Boise Hawks and see a renewed spirit and commitment. 2015 is just the first step.” The official release notes that the Aberdeen IronBirds sold out every game over a 10-year period during Eiseman’s days with Mandalay Sports and Entertertainment. He has long been involved in minor league baseball ownership. His partners in Agon have a lengthy history in commercial real estate, which may bold well for a sellable push for a new stadium.
The Colorado Rockies meet the local media today at a press conference regarding their new affiliation with the Hawks. The Rockies have been part of the Northwest League since the year before the big league club started playing. The first game in the organization’s history was between the Bend Rockies and the Hawks in June, 1992. It was the first of a 10-game package the Hawks landed with Prime Sports Northwest (now ROOT Sports), and I did the play-by-play from Bend with former Hawks and College of Idaho radio announcer Dave Hahn. It was a big deal there that night—and a big deal in Colorado, as the telecast was beamed to a number of sports bars in Denver. And it was a heckuva game, won by the Bend Rockies 6-4 on a grand slam by a guy named Will Scalzitti in the bottom of the eighth.
More weekend recap: the Web.com Tour Championship wrapped up that circuit’s season Sunday at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, with Derek Fathauer the winner. Albertsons Boise Open champion Steve Wheatcroft, who beat Steve Alker on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff, missed the cut last Friday by two strokes. Ironically, Alker also missed the cut, one shot behind Wheatcroft. Alker finished 20th on the Web.com money list and Wheatcroft 36th, and both earned their PGA Tour cards for the 2014-15 season. As you recall, earlier this summer Wheatcroft said he started wondering what he was going to do with the rest of his life. Then he won $144,000 at Hillcrest Country Club, a life-changing event.
New L.A. Lakers coach Byron Scott announced his coaching staff for the upcoming season last week, and former Idaho Stampede general manager Clay Moser is on it. Moser has been named the Lakers head advance scout. He has done myriad things since leaving the Stampede. Moser was head coach at Treasure Valley Community College and also coached Grand Rapids of the CBA and the D-League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers. He’s been a scout previously for five different NBA organizations.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by GROUND FX…the Treasure Valley mulch experts!
September 23, 2006: Boise State gets a verbal commitment from a generously-measured 6-1, 185-pound quarterback from Prosser, WA. Kellen Moore had set the Washington state high school record with 66 touchdown passes as a junior. That fall, Moore would go on to break his own mark by throwing for 67 TDs. He had flourished at the Broncos’ football camp that summer, but Chris Petersen’s staff was still hesitant. Except for defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox, who was so sold on Moore that he told Petersen he’d give up a scholarship on his side of the ball if Boise State would take Kellen. And the rest, as they say…
(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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