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Thursday, January 1, 2015.
Brief Fiesta Bowl thoughts in advance of Friday's column. You can't put a price on Boise State's fast start in the Fiesta Bowl last night, but the finish was money. The Broncos won their third Fiesta Bowl by beating Arizona 38-30, twice building 21-point leads in the first half—then hanging on in the second half and prevailing through defensive grit. Nobody thought thought Boise State could sustain the knife-through-butter offense it unleashed in the first half. But to see the Broncos stifled the way they were after halftime was surprising. On the other hand, few believed the Boise State defense would be standing at the end when the Wildcats got their offense rolling in the second half. The Broncos made Arizona work for everything; the key was holding the ‘Cats to field goals instead of touchdowns.
Jay Ajayi went out in a blaze of glory, despite the fact it was more of a flicker in the second half. He was a beast in the first half, and you'll never be able to take that away from him. There were three patented J-Train touchdown plays: the long run (a 56-yard dash on his first touch of the game that saw Travis Averill spring him with two separate rapid-fire blocks), a classic stiff-arm (getting him into the end zone on the Statue of Liberty), and a pylon-dive (hitting the marker just before his knee hit the ground, giving the Broncos a 28-7 second-quarter lead). Ajayi finishes his final season with a school-record 1,823 rushing yards, a record 28 rushing touchdowns, and a record-tying 32 TDs overall. And a Fiesta Bowl ring.
Anu Solomon is going to be a great Pac-12 quarterback. But we would be remiss if we didn't make note of the assist he gave Boise State's cause. The Wildcat freshman missed open receivers and twice threw to guys wearing white jerseys and orange pants. Cleshawn Page's second quarter interception set up one Bronco touchdown, and Donte Deayon's pick-six in the third quarter accounted for BSU's only points of the second half. Solomon's final poor decision came on the last play of the game, when he scrambled and failed to 1) throw the ball away, or 2) get out of bounds before being sacked by Kamalei Correa, allowing the final seconds to tick off.
It's not the historic victory that the 2007 Fiesta Bowl triumph over Oklahoma was, nor the affirmation of elite status that came with the 2010 Fiesta win over TCU. But it is as satisfying an accomplishment as any in Boise State history. To take a new coaching staff and have it win over a team fairly shattered by the departure of Chris Petersen the previous December—and then watch it put Humpty Dumpty back together again after it fell off the wall in a September loss at Air Force, win nine games in a row, and finish 12-2 with Mountain West and Fiesta Bowl championships, has been something to behold. It's a huge step forward for the Bronco program.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by the POOL DOCTOR STORE…the doctor is in!
January 1, 2007: The moment it finishes, Boise State fans rightfully consider the 43-42 Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma the best college football game they’ve ever seen. Then, over the next 24 hours, it became clear that much of the rest of the nation agreed. The Broncos dominated the first half and then some, and in the third quarter, they led the Sooners by 18 points. Then the throng of 73,719 in Glendale, AZ, saw Oklahoma rally to tie the game—and then saw a Jared Zabransky interception returned for a touchdown, all in the final two minutes to give the Sooners a 35-28 lead.
On fourth-and-18 with 18 seconds left in the game, BSU came back from the dead with a 50-yard hook-and-lateral game-tying touchdown from Zabransky to Drisan James to Jerard Rabb. Then came a direct-snap halfback option pass from Vinny Perretta to Derek Schouman for a touchdown in overtime, again on fourth down, to bring the Broncos within a PAT of tying the game again. But coach Chris Petersen famously decided to go for two points and end it, and Zabransky gave Ian Johnson the behind-the-back Statue of Liberty for the winning points. Zabransky was Fiesta Bowl Offensive MVP, Marty Tadman won the game’s defensive award with his two interceptions, and the non-BCS Broncos secured a place in college football history.
(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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