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This Day In Sports…November 3, 2007:
Boise State, still on the rebound from a September loss at Washington, remains on a collision course with Hawaii for a WAC championship showdown on ESPN later in the month. The Broncos defeated San Jose State 42-7 on the blue turf for their seventh consecutive victory, and it was easier than anyone expected. The previous year, Boise State’s undefeated season was almost blown up when the Broncos had to win with a walk-off field goal in San Jose on a night when star running back Ian Johnson suffered a punctured lung.
Taylor Tharp, Boise State’s “bridge” quarterback between the graduated Jared Zabransky and the redshirting Kellen Moore, had mastered the Broncos offense by this point of the season, and offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin built game plans around him. Against the Spartans, Tharp was 28-of-35 for 259 yards with three touchdowns—two of them to Austin Pettis—and no interceptions. His completion percentage of 80 percent was, at the time, the highest-ever by a Bronco with 25 or more attempts in a game.
The Boise State defense was at its peak, holding San Jose State to 2-for-14 on third down tries. The Broncos had limited Fresno State to 1-for-13 the previous week—for a combined 3-for-27 over two weeks. On special teams, Boise State executed a cross-field lateral on a punt return, with Marty Tadman throwing back to Orlando Scandrick, who busted it for 38 yards. Tadman had a 48-yard return of his own on the next SJSU punt.
It was an interesting season in Bronco Stadium, as Boise State navigated around the construction of the Steuckle Sky Center. A temporary wooden press box was built on the west side of the stadium, one we affectionately called the “Bronco Treehouse” on KTVB’s telecasts of the games. Not only that, ESPN dictated that two Thursdays and two Sundays would be included on the home schedule. Nevertheless, Boise State’s streak of crowds of 30,000-plus extended to 11 with the San Jose State game. There would, of course, be a full house when Idaho visited to finish the regular season two weeks later.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
