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Wednesday, September 17, 2014.
Dan Goodale may never be back in the public’s good graces until he makes a game-winning field goal—and the way this season looks to shake out, he may get another chance. Goodale is unfairly remembered by many solely for his misses against TCU in 2011 and San Diego State last year as the clock ran out. But the Timberline High grad has been money so far this year, connecting on all four of his field goal attempts, with a long boot of 43 yards. Goodale has made nine straight dating back to the end of regulation against the Aztecs. “He can bang a 55-yarder,” said coach Bryan Harsin, amending that a moment later to “55-yarder, 60-yarder.” Goodale is playing like a senior, and here’s hoping he gets a chance to prove it with a game on the line. He’s only missed four field goals in his career, going 24-of-28.
Goodale has been especially effective as a kickoff artist, recording 11 touchbacks in 17 tries this season. The highlight was in the third quarter last week in Connecticut. After one touchback, the Broncos were called for an offside penalty and the ball was moved back to the 30-yard line. Goodale simply booted it out of the end zone again. Last season he handled all 90 of Boise State’s kickoffs and logged touchbacks on 37 of them.
Cornerbacks are often on an island, both on the field and in the eyes of fans. They’re usually the first guys people notice when opponents connect on a pass play, and Boise State’s corners got plenty of attention during fourth-quarter outbursts by Ole Miss and Colorado State. The natural inclination is to give the Bronco defensive line credit for helping out the much-scrutinized and injury-affected secondary for the eight sacks it contributed in the victory at UConn. But Harsin turns that around, saying the secondary played its part in creating the pressure by causing some coverage sacks. The DBs, he maintains, are making strides.
Louisiana-Lafayette is a surprising 1-2 coming into Saturday night’s homecoming game at Albertsons Stadium. The surprises would be the margin of defeat in last week’s 56-15 loss at Ole Miss and just the defeat in itself at home to Louisiana Tech two weeks ago, 48-20. The Ragin’ Cajuns were the unanimous choice to win the Sun Belt championship this year in the conference’s preseason coaches’ poll. They’ve had three straight nine-win seasons, and—for the first time in school history—played in three consecutive bowl games, winning the New Orleans Bowl all three times. Louisiana-Lafayette figures it’s time to get well.
Let’s harken back to a quote from Harsin regarding Jay Ajayi at his press conference going into fall camp. “Some games Jay may carry the ball 30 times, some games he’ll carry it 15 times,” said Harsin. Well, Ajayi had 33 rushing attempts against Colorado State and 18 at UConn, and Saturday night’s game against Louisiana-Lafayette will probably be somewhere in between. The frustration against the Huskies last Saturday will probably do the junior running back some good, renewing his resolve a quarter of the way into the 2014 season. Ajayi’s 2.2 yards per carry at Connecticut was a career-low for a game in which he had more than five carries. He’s still 20th in the nation in rushing yards per game with 114.7.
It seems like every team in the Mountain West is 2-1 right now. In fact, five of the six teams in the conference’s Mountain Division are, like Boise State, 2-1. One West Division squad, Nevada, is also 2-1. Which 2-1 record is best? You’d have to say the Wolf Pack, which was tied with Arizona 28-28 in the fourth quarter last Saturday before falling 35-28. The Pack also has a win over Washington State. Nevada has a bye this week. At the other end of the spectrum is Fresno State, the defending Mountain West champion that sits at 0-3 after allowing more than 50 points and 500 yards in each of its first three games. It’s the worst start by the Bulldogs in 16 years. They’re poised for their first victory Saturday when they host Southern Utah.
Imagine the sinking feeling in Logan when Chuckie Keeton walked out of the halftime locker room in the Wake Forest game last Saturday on crutches and out of his pads. Keeton’s left knee took one too many shots in the first half of the win over the Demon Deacons, and coach Matt Wells now says his star quarterback will be out this week at Arkansas State. USU has a bye next week before a Friday night showdown with BYU on October 3, and the Aggies are hoping upon hope they have Keeton then. Sophomore Darell Garretson, who became the interim quarterback last year during the Boise State game after Keeton was lost for the season the week before, will again be the fill-in.
Arizona State’s bye week isn’t going to do Taylor Kelly enough good to have him ready for UCLA September 25. The former Eagle High star will miss the Sun Devils’ pivotal Pac-12 South matchup with the Bruins due to the foot injury he suffered last Saturday at Colorado. ASU coach Todd Graham says he will not update Kelly’s status until after that game. Kelly, the Sun Devils’ career leader in completion percentage, has thrown for 625 yards and six touchdowns and has rushed for 168 yards and two more scores in the first three games.
Position changes in the twilight of collegiate careers don’t always work out well, but Josh McCain is thriving at Idaho after switching from quarterback to wide receiver. McCain led the Vandals in receiving in last Saturday’s loss to Western Michigan with seven catches for 128 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown. He also tops the team overall with 15 grabs for 221 yards and three TDs over the first two games. McCain came to Idaho as a quarterback last year from DeAnza College and backed up Chad Chalich, passing for 222 yards and rushing for 223. The writing was on the wall for McCain with the development of Matt Linehan, and he has found a good fit at wideout. McCain and the Vandals visit Ohio University on Saturday.
Shea McClellin faced Colin Kaepernick two times while playing for Boise State (McClellin was injured the week before the Bronco-Wolf Pack game his redshirt freshman year). The former Marsing Husky was never able to sack the Nevada quarterback. But Sunday night McClellin did it wearing different shades of blue and orange. He got his first lifetime sack of Kaepernick at a crucial fourth quarter juncture in Chicago’s 28-20 win over San Francisco Sunday night. The Bears were leading by just a point at the time, and the 49ers’ possession ended two plays later with an interception. McClellin was also lauded for his ability to keep contain on Kaepernick when the Niners were threatening to go up by two touchdowns in the first quarter, helping limit that drive to a field goal. The props were appreciated—they’ve been sparse during his NFL career.
Meridian’s Kareen Markle has made the quarterfinals of match play at the U.S. Women’s Amateur and is on the course this morning against Susan West of Tuscaloosa, AL. Markle marched through the round of 32 at the Hollywood Golf Club in Deal, NJ, yesterday.when she went 3-up with six holes to play, spurring Rachel Moreaux of San Rafael, CA, to concede. Markle then topped Louella Kanew of South Africa in the round of 16.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by ZAMZOW’S…nobody knows like Zamzow’s!
September 17, 1994, 20 years ago today: Boise State’s magical 1994 season is kick-started in the third game of the year as the Broncos upset Nevada, their only Division I-A opponent, 37-27. Offensive coordinator Al Borges emptied the playbook, scoring touchdowns on a flea-flicker and a hook-and-lateral to beat a team that had pounded BSU the year before in Reno, 38-10. Nevada would go on to a 9-2 season, and Boise State would be 13-2 after a trip to the Division I-AA national championship game.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment Sunday nights at 10:30PM on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors five sports segments each weekday on 93.1 The Ticket. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
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