Presented by PINNACLE WINDOWS & DOORS.
Wednesday Weekly: July 1, 2026.
What’s this day feels like to those of us who’ve been around a long, long time? When Boise State beat Idaho State in 1968 in its first game against a “big” school, that was a big deal. Then came the invitation to the Big Sky in 1970, and when Boise State made the Camellia Bowl in Sacramento in 1971, that was a big deal. When the Broncos captured the 1980 Division I-AA national championship on the same field, that was a big deal. The day Boise State was invited to the Big West and Division I-A in the fall of 1994, to take effect 30 years ago today, was a big deal. Ditto for the WAC 25 years ago today—and the Mountain West 15 years ago today. Four Fiesta Bowls and a slew of top 10 seasons later, it’s still surreal. It isn’t your mama’s Pac-12, but it is a big deal.
What were the dreams of the Boise State program in the 1970s as it started winning Big Sky championships? I think it was just to play bigger schools and earn their respect. By “bigger schools,” I don’t mean Oklahoma or Oregon or Virginia Tech or Georgia. I mean Utah State, Utah, Fresno State, even San Jose State. The 28-7 upset of Utah on Sept. 6, 1980, was just as exhilarating then as the 33-30 win over Virginia Tech was on Sept. 6, 2010. Every step forward has encouraged the Broncos to take another.
WHEN A HASHMARK ISN’T ENOUGH…
…You get a statue. The big reveal during the Pac-12 Launch Party Tuesday night at Albertsons Stadium was that Kellen Moore, tied with Ashton Jeanty as the most beloved player in Boise State history, will be honored with a nine-foot bronze statue on a two-foot base outside the northeast entrance. The winningest quarterback in college football, etc. (and tack on a few more et ceteras after that), Moore may never have his No. 11 officially retired, but retiring numbers isn’t really a thing anymore. And a statue is even better. The only one out there currently is Lyle Smith, the Father of Bronco Football. Is Jeanty also worthy of a statue outside the stadium? Of course he is—the second-biggest season by a running back in FBS history and all. Will he get one at some point? Of course he will (in my opinion).
ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE FOR THE TEAM
When we talk about Boise State’s ongoing player-run practices, it’s usually about quarterbacks and wide receivers developing a rapport—and that’s definitely the case with Maddux Madsen and all the new wideouts. But these sessions are crucial in the secondary, too, as a plethora of new starters learn to mesh, especially at cornerback. Jeremiah Earby and A’Marion McCoy gave the Broncos the Mountain West’s best one-two punch over the past two years, but they’re gone. Two players already on the roster are leading the chemistry charge at corner this summer: Jayden Mickey and Sherrod Smith. Mickey, the one-time Notre Dame transfer, is a leader as he moves over from nickel. Smith was invaluable after the injury to Earby late last season. It’s about communication at that position, and Boise State is in good hands.
WHO HAS THE WHEELS?
This is an interesting list from MUTLeaks, which is billed as “data miner in the EA Sports community.” It’s the 100 fastest players for the College Football 27 video game. No. 1 on the list is Gatlin Bair, the speedster out of Burley who was once committed to Boise State and ended up at Oregon. Bair, who’s back from his LDS mission to play for the Ducks this season, has a 99 speed rating. Also in the top 100 with 94 ratings are Broncos true freshman wide receiver Terrious Favors and former Boise State running back Breezy Dubar, now at Missouri State.
RICE REELS IN A GOOD ONE
You can’t diss the credentials of Boise State’s new men’s basketball hire, Will Voigt. As the replacement for retired top Leon Rice assistant Tim Duryea, Voigt comes in as a guy who has seen it all, including the rise of BYU hoops the past two years. His stint with the Cougars included coaching the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft, AJ Dybantsa, last season. In a career that dates back almost 30 years, Voigt has logged time in the NBA and has been a head coach overseas and in the G League, most recently three years ago with the Austin Spurs. It looks like a really good choice—Voigt will have a lot of knowledge and life experiences to share with a Broncos team that is young and almost all-new.
AC BOISE ‘PLAYS UP’ AGAIN
Ready and rested, Athletic Club Boise hits the home pitch Thursday night after a 12-day layoff. And they go from one USL1 juggernaut to another. Having beaten league-leading Union Omaha in their last outing, AC Boise now gets second-place One Knoxville SC, the defending league champion. On the America 250 front, the game will begin with an A-10 flyover of the stadium. Ahead of that, the club is hosting another World Cup watch party for tonight’s US knockout round match against Bosnia-Herzegovina, benefitting the Idaho Foodbank. Then the holiday weekend wraps up Sunday with a cross-country trip to Mount Vernon, NY, where ACB will face Westchester SC, a team they walloped 4-0 in mid-April.
A MINI-SWOON TO END JUNE
The Boise Hawks hit their first big skid of the 2026 season, losing four in a row—three in a road sweep at the hands of the lowly Idaho Falls Chukars over last weekend. The Hawks shifted gears to Ogden Tuesday night, where they stopped the bleeding with a 9-7 win over the Raptors. The Pioneer League schedule-makers certainly have laid things out oddly this year. The Hawks return home this weekend for two more games against Ogden (including the 4th of July fireworks show). That means they will have faced the Raptors in 12 of their last 15 games.
THE PGA TOUR PIVOTS
We don’t know yet what it means for the Albertsons Boise Open, but it bears watching. Last week, the PGA Tour board approved a split of the tour into a “Championship Series” and “Challenger Series” in 2028. The Championship group will include the top players in the game—and that comes with promotion-and-relegation from and to the Challenger Series, which will be a second-level tour that features what they call “emerging talent,” as well as players relegated from the Championship Series the year before. That’s where the secondary PGA Tour events will be played. It sounds like a glorified Korn Ferry Tour, doesn’t it? The Korn Ferry will now be a third-tier path to the elite level of the PGA Tour, with its top 25 players earning spots in the Challenger Series. Holding our collective breath…
The Albertsons Boise Open itself is in great shape going into its 37th edition August 13-16. On Tuesday the tournament granted two sponsor exemptions to this year’s event, one to John Daly II and the other to Nampa’s Tyler Aldridge, who is reviving his game 10 years after spending two seasons on the PGA Tour. Aldridge, a former Boise State golfer, made 22 of 59 cuts and earned over $600,000. He also had one Korn Ferry victory, winning the Greater Dallas Open in 2015. Daly II’s dad, the original John Daly, played in the original Boise Open in 1990.
LOOKING FORWARD TO WINTER
The 2027 ECHL All-Star Classic to be hosted by the Idaho Steelheads on January 26-27 is taking shape. The league has announced the game format, and it’ll be fun. The ECHL has experimented with a bunch of different concepts over the years, but this season’s game gets down to the basics of hockeydom: the U.S. versus Canada. One team will be made up of American-born ECHL All-Stars—the other consisting of Canadian-born All-Stars. The appeal of the Winter Olympics in February and the 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025 was not lost on the ECHL. The first day of festivities in Idaho Central Arena will roll out the Fan Fest and the Skills Competition, featuring the fastest skater, hardest shot, accuracy challenge, stickhandling relay, premier passer and rapid shootout. Good times ahead.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by BACON BOISE…fresh breakfast and brunch every day!
July 1 in many a year: The day when new conference affiliations traditionally take effect. On this day in 1970, Boise State officially joined the NCAA and became a member of the Big Sky, a huge step just three years after competing as Boise Junior College. Thirty years ago today, a turning point as Boise State joined the Big West and Division I-A (now the FBS). Twenty-five years ago on this day, the Broncos were off to the WAC. Boise State moved to the Mountain West 15 years ago today. And today, yes, the Pac-12 era has dawned.
(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.)
