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Wednesday Weekly: May 6, 2026.
Twenty-five years after its ascension to the upper-echelon of college football, Boise State still gets the benefit of the doubt. Paul Myerberg of USA Today has released his post-spring re-rank of all 138 teams in the FBS, and the Broncos sit at No. 23. That’s despite an early November not-to-remember and a 9-5 overall record last year. Boise State is the top-ranked Group of 6 team—by nine spots over Tulane and 11 over James Madison. But the big picture as it relates to the Power 4 is what’s intriguing. That 23 slot means that Myerberg thinks the Broncos are better going into the season than 46 teams in the Power 4, including the five teams directly below them: Iowa, TCU, Arizona State, Clemson and (ahem) Washington. That’s great, but it’s also hard to fathom in this new world.
OH, THAT OPENER AT ‘O’
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Oregon is going to have perhaps its best team ever when Boise State opens the season against the Ducks in September. Certainly better than the one the Broncos almost beat two years ago. And how will Boise State stack up? Well, it won’t have you-know-who this time, of course. The scariest part is Dane Brugler’s first mock draft for 2027 at The Athletic. Brugler has five Oregon players going in the first round. Count ‘em, five: quarterback Dante Moore at No. 3 overall, defensive tackle A’Mauri Washington at 10, tight end Jamari Johnson at 13, edge Teitum Tuioti at 24 and center Iapani Laloulu at 27. Wow. Who’s the Broncos’ top draft prospect next year? You’d have to say edge Jayden Virgin-Morgan. But not first round.
ORANGE HASHES FOR HEROES
It’s been almost 50 years since Boise State retired its first and only football jersey, Jim McMillan’s No. 12. But while no Bronco may wear Nos. 2 and 11 ever again, the university late last week announced something unique to honor Ashton Jeanty and Kellen Moore. When the blue turf is replaced at Albertsons Stadium this summer, the sideline hashmarks at the two-yard line and 11-yard line at both ends of the field will be colored orange to honor the two most legendary players in school history. The timing is right, as the need for new blue turf coincides with the 40th anniversary of the iconic playing surface, which will be celebrated at the home opener against Memphis on September 12. This will be the seventh edition of the Blue since the first sandpaper-like Astroturf version was installed in 1986.
CONFERENCE TITLE GAME = DINOSAUR?
There will be a Pac-12 championship game this coming season, but its days might be numbered. Among the four changes to the calendar proposed by the American Football Coaches Association is one that would eliminate conference title games in an effort to keep future seasons from drifting into February due to CFP expansion. The goal is to end the season by the second Monday in January, which I think is great. As for the championship games, it’s all about the best teams making the CFP now, regardless of what happens in those title games. They’re kind of irrelevant moving forward. But there’s this—if the regular season winner was already being declared the conference champion, Boise State would have captured only one of its three straight Mountain West titles.
BRONCOS REBUILDING ON THE BLOCK
Boise State basketball’s intent the past three weeks has been to restock the cupboard down low. The latest example is 6-9 Campbell University transfer Dovydas Butka from Lithuania, whose signing was announced last Friday by the Broncos. Butka averaged 13.9 points and 8.5 rebounds per game last season. He joins 6-9 forward Jerquarius Stanback from Alabama State and 6-11 center Jikany Deang out of North Dakota State College of Sciences along the front. Off-the-wall fact—Butka was Division I basketball’s third-leading Lithuanian scorer this past season. Other hoops news: assistant coach Lexus Williams, who as a player famously beat Oregon in Eugene with a halfcourt shot at the buzzer, has departed for Minnesota, where he’ll join former Colorado State coach Niko Medved. The popular Williams will be missed.
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER DATES TO FILL
The math tells us that Boise State needs one more player to fill out its men’s basketball roster. But the Broncos need a lot of games to fill out their schedule. First, they’ll have four fewer conference games in the Pac-12—16 versus the 20 they played last season in the Mountain West. Second, the NCAA approved a proposal last year to increase the maximum number of regular-season games a team could play to 32. So, here’s something else math tells us: Boise State will have to find an additional six non-conference games next season. It would make sense on many levels to schedule a couple matchups against the best of the remaining Mountain West, like the home-and-home announced last week between Utah State and New Mexico. It’s good for metrics, fan interest, and just to get that calendar filled up.
IF MARCH MADNESS EVER RETURNED…
The NCAA Tournament’s expansion to 76 teams is just a formality now. It’s tailor-made for Big Ten and SEC bottom-feeders, but I won’t get into how much fun that will be. Other than the addition First Four in 2011, this is the most noteworthy expansion of the tournament since it went to 64 teams in 1985. And the First Four will now effectively become the First 12. They’ll call it the “Opening Round.” Six games will be played in Dayton, where the First Four has always been, and other six will be at a to-be-determined location in the West. Boise is unlikely to host the first and second rounds again—it hasn’t since 2018—but wouldn’t the First 12 be a good fit for the city and ExtraMile Arena? I have no doubt that the Treasure Valley would embrace it and fill the stands, just like it always has. There’d be a lot of competition, though.
AC BOISE RIGHT BACK AT IT
As for Athletic Club Boise, they’re just getting started. The biggest home crowd yet, 7.227, turned out last Saturday night to see AC Boise edge the Chattanooga Red Wolves FC 2-1. ACB scored just three minutes into the match on a goal by Tumi Moshobane—then the ultimate game-winner came when Chattanooga suffered a dreaded “own goal” late in the first half.
AC Boise’s first seven games were on weekends—six Saturdays and one Sunday. Now, a quick turnaround, as AC Boise has trekked across the country for tonight’s match with the Charlotte Independence. The scouting report says it’s control against tempo, as ACB has been deliberate and successful, while Charlotte loves to push it up and down the pitch. Each team is averaging exactly two goals per game, but Boise has the momentum with three straight victories and a 3-1-2 record (not counting its USL Cup victory). The Independence are 1-2-2. Moshobane, by the way, faces his former club tonight. He played 16 league games for Charlotte last year.
GONNA BE QUITE A SCENE THIS SUMMER
“Banana Ball” at Albertsons Stadium this summer became a tougher ticket last weekend. The Savannah Bananas drew more than 102,000 fans for their game against the Texas Tailgaters at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field Saturday night. The Savannah Bananas won’t be in Boise July 31st and August 1st, but the Tailgaters will be (to play the Party Animals), and that’s the point. It’s all about “Banana Ball,” and in the stands it’s looking like a sequel to the 2019 Garth Brooks concerts. The two games are technically sold out—the second ticket lottery a week ago took care of that.
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May 6, 1931: A day I make a note of every year—the day the most complete player in baseball history was born. Willie Mays broke in as a 20-year-old rookie with the New York Giants in 1951, made the most famous catch in World Series history in 1954, and had the best years of his career in San Francisco after the Giants moved West. The “Say Hey Kid” ended up with 660 career home runs, currently sixth on the all-time list behind godson Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez (two of which have questionable credentials). Willie Mays would have been 95 years old today.
(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.)
