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Wednesday Weekly…December 10, 2025.
Sacks are an interesting stat for Boise State this season. Last year, the Boise State defense racked up 55 sacks, the most in the country. This season, the Broncos are down to 23. Braxton Fely is Boise State’s sacks leader with only 5.5. There is a case to be made that they have sacrificed some sacks for better coverage on the back end. Pass defense numbers are better now to be sure, but without a strong pass rush, Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. can just sit back and fire in the LA Bowl Saturday night. Williams is accurate, completing 70 percent of his throws this season. The Huskies have been middle-of-the-pack in protecting their QB, allowing 29 sacks. On the other side of the ball, UW has recorded just 21 sacks this year while the Broncos have allowed 23.
IT WAS JUST 27 MONTHS AGO
What’s the difference between this SoFi Stadium date with Washington and the one in Husky Stadium two-plus years ago? On the surface, it’s obvious. No Michael Penix Jr., no Rome Odunze, and so on. No CFP championship game pedigree. Boise State is comparable to its 2023 self, a step behind on offense but a step ahead on defense. Easy prediction: it’ll be closer than 56-19. There is one common opponent, as UW beat Colorado State 38-21 and the Broncos topped the Rams 49-21. Advantage Boise State? I don’t know. The Huskies played the Rams at the beginning of the season when they were all fired up—before they knew where their season was headed. The CSU team the Broncos played a few weeks ago was a shell of the September version.
HOW ABOUT 8 YEARS AGO?
I have one way of looking at the L.A. Bowl that you might like. Maybe it’s like the Las Vegas Bowl in 2017. That’s when Boise State, coming off a Mountain West championship, surprised Oregon 38-28 (in a game that wasn’t that close). The Broncos came into that one as 7.5-point underdogs. Odds for the matchup with Washington? The Huskies are favored by 9.5 points. Washington doesn’t have a Justin Herbert at quarterback like the Ducks did back then. Of course, Boise State doesn’t have a Leighton Vander Esch, either. What it often comes down to in a game like this is, who really wants to be there? The Broncos sure do after what they’ve been through. The Huskies are anyone’s guess. They’re 8-4 two years after playing in the CFP championship game.
IT’S PORTAL TIME
The first postseason declaration for the transfer portal from a Boise State player came on Monday from offensive tackle Hall Schmidt, who started most of last year but spent most of this season injured. Daylon Metoyer appeared to win the starting job at right tackle out of fall camp, and Schmidt played sparingly in the wins over Eastern Washington and Air Force before being lost for good. Later in the day, backup linebacker Chase Martin joined him in declaring for the portal (it doesn’t official open until January 2). Meanwhile, as of this writing, we’re still waiting to hear if there’ll be an opt-outs for the L.A. Bowl against Washington this Saturday—for example, NFL Draft hopefuls and all-Mountain West guys Kage Casey and Ty Benefield.
R.J.’S WAY
Boise State and Duquesne both have 6-3 records, but the Dukes don’t have a signature win like the Broncos’ victory at Butler. As the Broncos go into game No. 10 tonight in ExtraMile Arena, things are settling in a bit. You look at RJ Keene continuing to start, and that’s where you really have to look between the lines. Keene is averaging 2.7 points per game. What? But he’s also averaging 5.3 rebounds per game. In the Butler win last Saturday, Keene went scoreless, but he pulled down eight boards. He’s also turned the ball over just two times all season. Coaches know what they see in practice and on tape, and they obviously like what they’ve seen from Keene. Let’s remember that he reached 10 rebounds in four different games last season, and he didn’t play more than 30 minutes in any of them.
YOTES RUN BACK DOWN TO WEST PALM BEACH
When we last left off with College of Idaho and Keiser University of Florida, the Coyotes were giving the Seahawks all they could handle two years ago in West Palm Beach, FL. The Yotes lost 28-21 to Keiser in the NAIA semifinals when an Andy Peters pass fell incomplete on a fourth-and-goal from the four-yard line with 27 seconds left. C of I is right back in it this Saturday—same playoff round, same place—looking for their school-record 12th victory of the season and a trip to the NAIA national championship game. What has really made the difference down the stretch is the College of Idaho rushing attack, as the Yotes have averaged more than 300 yards on the ground over the last five games.
THE 29TH FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL
This is as attractive a Famous Idaho Potato Bowl matchup as we’ve seen since Idaho’s wild 61-50 win over Colorado State nine years ago, although it does have an asterisk. Boise’s bowl has paired Utah State, which played in the first one, and Washington State in the December 22 event. This will be a Pac-12 conference game next year, but it isn’t yet. And it’s a drivable game for both fan bases (if they can break away three days before Christmas). The Aggies predictably improved markedly from beginning to end this season under new coach Bronco Mendenhall. The Cougars have the asterisk, as they are a mystery after the gut-punch news just five days ago, when coach Jimmy Rogers bolted after just one season to take Matt Campbell’s place at Iowa State.
LAP AROUND THE NFL
Well, Kellen Moore’s Saints have more wins this season than Ashton Jeanty’s Raiders. It’s just a drag in Las Vegas, as Jeanty is coming off another 30-yard game on 10 carries. But Moore is hard at it. New Orleans may be 3-10, but last Sunday’s takedown of Tampa Bay not only burst the Bucs balloon, it showed that Kellen may have his quarterback in Tyler Shough. Speaking of QBs, former Boise State star Brett Rypien will never catch a break it seems. With Daniel Jones’ Achilles injury, Rypien is the only healthy QB on the Indianapolis roster. Or was, at least. The Colts have reportedly signed 44-year-old grandpa Philip Rivers, who retired five years ago, to the practice squad. Rypien last started for the L.A. Rams in 2023. He’s appeared in 11 NFL games, throwing for four touchdowns and nine interceptions.
SURGE BY THE STEELIES
It’s still early December, but the Idaho Steelheads continue to trend up after a sweep of the Trois-Rivières Lions in Idaho Central Arena. The highlight came last Friday night when Liam Malmquist notched his first career hat trick—and the first for the Steelheads this season. Goaltender Ben Kraws was solid, earning his first two victories of the season. Everett Sheen also won his 229th game as Idaho’s coach, the most in the franchise’s 28-year history. The Steelies have now four games in a row and 10 of their last 13 and take that momentum to Wichita for three games in three days this weekend against the Thunder.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by BIG BUN DRIVE-IN…old-time goodness you can grab on the run!
December 10, 2016: Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson becomes the youngest winner in Heisman Trophy history at the age of 19. In his second year with the Cardinals, Jackson had passed for 3,543 yards and 30 touchdowns and rushed for 1,571 yards and 21 more TDs. He’d spend one more season at Louisville before declaring for the NFL Draft. Jackson wouldn’t be taken until the final pick of the first round in 2018. But it has paid off for the Baltimore Ravens, as he has become arguably the best dual-threat QB in NFL history.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
