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Wednesday Weekly: October 21, 2026.
The alternate headline for Boise State’s first Pac-12 game against Washington State this week: “The Broncos Have Never Won in Pullman”. This will be the fourth time Boise State has traveled to the Wazzu side of the Palouse, and the previous results have been interesting. The first trip was in 1997, and it was 58-0, the worst loss in Broncos history. The footnote there is that it was the last time they’ve ever been shut out—they’ve scored in 373 consecutive games since, the seventh-longest active streak in the country. But I digress. In 2000, it was a heartbreaker, as Bart Hendricks and Boise State lost 42-35 to Jason Gesser and the Cougs. And in 2017 it was coulda woulda shouda, as the Broncos blew a 31-10 fourth quarter lead to fall 47-44 in triple-overtime.
ESHELMAN’S ENTRANCE AT WAZZU
Boise State is favored by 13.5 points over Washington State Saturday in Pullman. Considering the Cougars’ struggles on offense this season, are you surprised? Well, there’s a reason for that line. WSU coach Kirby Moore found his quarterback last week in the loss at Oregon State, with freshman Owen Eshelman making his first start. Eshelman threw for 289 yards and ran for 136. But the passing yards came on 49 attempts, so there was a lot of short-yardage stuff. Boise State has the benefit of dissecting a game’s worth of tape on Eshelman, something Oregon State didn’t have last week. The Cougs have six games of tape on the Broncos secondary to help scheme up an attack. Can Boise State limit the explosives against a relatively green QB?
THE BEAVERS’ ANSWER TO ASHTON JEANTY
This won’t mean anything if Boise State isn’t paying attention the next three games. But Oregon State week leading up to November 14 has the potential for a big game feel like we haven’t seen around here for a long time. And it starts with Braden Atkinson and Jesse Legree. Take Legree. He’s having a season reminiscent of a certain No. 2 for the Broncos two years ago. Legree has 46 catches for 1,040 yards and 14 touchdowns in seven games. The yards and TDs lead the nation. Legree’s receptions are only tied for 17th. So his yards per catch are huge at 24.5. Legree’s had four gains of 70 or more yards, including a 90-yard TD against Washington State last Saturday. He’s had nine 40-yard plays. Holy Corvallis, everybody.
THE ONLY SURE THING IS 12-1
The Group of 6 narrative is slowly evolving in the College Football Playoff. Whereas Boise State may have been able to afford one more loss this season and still get in, the emerging sentiment is that an undefeated James Madison would get the automatic G6 playoff bid in that case, despite a lesser strength-of-schedule. The Broncos were not helped over the weekend by the Memphis loss and Oregon’s ongoing struggles—and even Fresno State’s defeat. They’ll have to run the table to leave nothing to chance. James Madison is 7-0 and has App State, Troy, Southern Miss, UConn and Coastal Carolina left. Not exactly Murderer’s Row. Boise State has at least a Murderer’s Day: Oregon State and Braden Atkinson and Jesse Legree on the Blue November 14.
FROM HUMBLE COACHING BEGINNINGS AT C OF I
With College of Idaho cruising at 6-0 and sporting the No. 1 national ranking in the NAIA, we marvel at how far the Yotes program has come since it returned to the gridiron in 2014. And we remember that Mike Moroski’s first wide receivers coach that year was Kirby Moore, one season removed from his playing career at Boise State. Moore went on to spend two years as a grad assistant under Chris Petersen at Washington before a six-year stay at Fresno State and three seasons at Missouri. Now the Broncos prepare to see Moore on the opposite sideline wearing the head coach’s headset for Washington State Saturday. It hasn’t been smooth for Kirby, as his Cougars are off to a 1-6 start. But he has four former Broncos on his staff, and they are all supremely motivated this week.
VANDALS YES, BENGALS NO
It was déjà vu last week as the Treasure State’s other perennial power also met its match in the form of the Idaho Vandals, who answered Montana’s offense blow-for-blow and won 42-35 in Missoula. Montana State had been taken down by the Vandals earlier this month to give them their only other win. Idaho is home versus Southern Utah on Saturday. And if Idaho State didn’t have bad luck, it’d have no luck at all. For the third straight week, the Bengals were snakebitten at the end, this time by Weber State last Saturday. The 27-20 loss in Ogden left ISU at 4-3 overall and 1-3 in the Big Sky leading into a home matchup Saturday against Portland State.
HUDSON LEWIS & THE NEWS
Hudson Lewis is probably the most celebrated football player produced by Timberline High since Boise State All-America offensive tackle Nate Potter, and he got his first shot in the national spotlight Saturday in Oregon’s dramatic win over Nebraska. After Dylan Raiola tossed the winning touchdown, the Ducks went for two, with Raiola flipping to Lewis for the conversion. Lewis, a freshman, even got a shout-out from Tim Brando on Fox for his Timberline roots. The only other catches Lewis has had were in the Oregon’s 84-0 crushing of Portland State—three for 23 yards.
AND THEN THERE WERE 24 (TAKE A BREATH)
I really thought I’d be the Group of 6 “Get off my lawn!” guy when the 24-team College Football Playoff finally came to pass. But after thinking about it, I’m not. It certainly doesn’t devalue Boise State’s regular season—that’ll be as important as ever. And while there’s still only one Group of 6 spot guaranteed in the CFP beginning next year, it’s easy to see an occasional scenario in which the G6 earns its way into a second spot. It would be rare, considering the ever-widening gap between the Power 4 and everybody else, but once in a while there would be a 2024-type situation, where the Broncos finished No. 9 in the CFP rankings, and the team they beat in the Mountain West championship game, UNLV, was No. 24. Theoretically, the Rebels would have made it. Army, at No. 22, would have, too.
A NEW AG NETO THIS SEASON
Boise State men’s basketball considers itself a developmental program, and it sure looks like there’s been some development with AG Neto. The sophomore guard put up a game-high 29 points last Saturday night in the Broncos’ 109-81 exhibition win over Washington in Idaho Central Arena. (Too bad that one didn’t count.) Neto went 7-for-7 from the field, including a perfect line on four three-pointers. He was also 11-for-17 from the charity stripe in a whistle-fest that featured 67 fouls and a staggering 99 free throw attempts. Boise State appears to be onto something with its defense, forcing 18 Huskies turnovers after coercing Idaho into 22 turnovers a week earlier. One exhibition remains—against Bismarck State on October 29 in ExtraMile Arena.
DEGENHART TURNS IT LOOSE A LITTLE
Tyson Degenhart was waived last weekend by the Toronto Raptors in their final roster cutdown. But the former Boise State star got some valuable time on an NBA court the past couple of weeks, and he made the most of his final preseason appearance last Friday night, with 14 points including a pair of three-pointers against the Detroit Pistons. Degenhart added four rebounds and four assists in his 30 minutes. That had to feel good. The Broncos’ career scoring leader is expected to rejoin Toronto’s G League team, Raptors 905, for whom he played last year.
HOME PITCH IN THE PLAYOFFS?
Athletic Club Boise put a bow on its regular season home schedule last Saturday night with a 2-1 win over AV Alta FC before a record crowd of 7,254. Jesus Barea turned in a brace (two goals in the same game), scoring in the 15th and 74th minutes to give AC Boise a 2-0 lead. Alta made it interesting with a tally in the 76th minute, but ACB finished it off to move closer to clinching a home game in the USL League One Playoffs. AC Boise’s regular season finale is at Fort Wayne FC on Saturday. But they need a win. And even with a victory, Spokane Velocity FC has two games this week and could jump past Boise into fourth place with a sweep.
THE FIRST THREE WINS THAT COUNT
It was a triumphant opening weekend for the Idaho Steelheads—a three-game sweep of the expansion New Mexico Goatheads in Rio Rancho, outscoring the newbies 13-6. Now it’s the home opener, as the Steelheads begin in two-game series against the Allen Americans Friday night in Idaho Central Arena. A player to watch is Steelies rookie Jaxon Fuder, who scored a goal in his ECHL debut last Friday and has two goals and two assists to start the season. There are expectations for Fuder, as he’s on loan from the AHL’s Texas Stars and is under contract with the NHL’s Dallas Stars.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by CORSO ITALIAN STEAK…it’s about food, cocktails and vibe.
October 21, 2012: Idaho fires head coach Robb Akey two-thirds of the way through his sixth season the day after a 70-28 loss at Louisiana Tech. Akey had led the Vandals to an 8-5 season and a thrilling Humanitarian Bowl win in his third year in 2009, but Idaho faded after that. The loss in Ruston saw the Vandals allow 839 yards of total offense while clinching their 12th losing season in 13 years. It was Idaho’s 17th loss in its last 20 games and left Akey with a career record of 20-50. Offensive coordinator Jason Gesser was named interim coach.
(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.)
