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Monday, October 6, 2014.
The oddsmakers had it all figured out Saturday night, didn’t they? Boise State was favored at Nevada by 4½ points, and the Broncos won by five. Yeah, I’m sure they predicted every turn this game would take as it twisted to a 51-46 conclusion. But wait—the over/under on the game was 52 points, and the rivals combined for 97. The Bronco team that threw five interceptions at Air Force picked off four of Cody Fajardo’s throws. And the Wolf Pack defense that was leading the Mountain West by allowing just 19.2 points a game gave up half a hundred. The Broncos amassed 570 yards of total offense and went 6-for-6 in the dreaded red zone (five touchdowns and a field goal). They did it without injured star Matt Miller, who has to be as excited as anyone about the coming bye week.
Considering the situation, it was the best road performance of Hedrick's career, a week after the worst. He didn’t toss five touchdown passes like he did at Colorado State last year, nor did he throw for 382 yards as he did versus Oregon State in the Hawaii Bowl. But by even bringing up the latter, I make my point. He had to bounce back from that mess at Air Force, and his completion percentage went from 55 percent to 84, his yards per attempt from 6.3 to an impressive 11.2 as he threw for 346 yards, his touchdown passes from zip to two, and his interceptions from the infamous four to one (and the one Saturday was just a great play by the Wolf Pack’s Ian Seau).
Consistency is crucial in football, as it is in any sport. But Jay Ajayi got away with an inconsistent night in Reno. Two jaw-dropping runs accounted for 100 yards, the 26-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and the 74-yard sprint in the fourth that ended up being the longest non-scoring run in school history (topping Devan Demas' 73-yarder two weeks ago). That's 50 yards per attempt on those two carries—and 2.1 on his other 25 totes that netted just 52 yards. Nevada, as expected, keyed on Ajayi and was bent on stopping him. No matter, though. The bottom line was very Ajayi-like: 27 carries, 152 yards, 5.6 yards per carry, three TDs.
Credit to Nevada for sticking with the guy who butters the bread. After his fourth interception, the Wolf Pack did not go into a shell to nurse Fajardo’s psyche. The Pack went right back to the well on the ensuing possession when it trailed 37-21, with Fajardo throwing a 16-yard pass to Hassan Henderson, keeping for a nine-yard gain, and pulling off a read-option beauty for a 56-yard touchdown. Of course, Boise State’s answer was impressive in its own right two possessions later. The Broncos marched 80 yards, converting one of its third downs with a brilliant Hedrick scramble and capping it with Ajayi’s 26-yard TD scamper. Hedrick was 5-of-6 on the drive for 47 yards.
It's really too bad the Bronco-Wolf Pack rivalry is going on hiatus until 2017. What a send-off that game was Saturday night. On the surface, you’d say, “This is a rivalry?” Boise State has now won 14 of the last 15 games in the series. But there have been some wild times in the past eight meetings. Going back to 1999 when this Boise State run began, the first seven games saw the Broncos win all seven in routs, by an average score of 49-11. The last eight, however, have featured an average score of 41-33, including the one painful Pack win in 2010.
The first coach who previews his next game by saying "we've gotta prevent the big play" will probably be Idaho's Paul Petrino. The Vandals rolled up 523 yards of total offense to 466 for Texas State and forced four turnovers on defense, but the Bobcats' Terrence Franks ripped off scoring runs of 70, 95 and 70 yards again, leading to a 35-30 TSU win in San Marcos,. Texas State had to hold off a fourth quarter Idaho rally that ended with an interception at the Bobcats' 28-yard line with 58 seconds left. Matt Linehan threw for 347 yards but was sacked nine times. Franks rushed for a staggering 284 yards, 235 of them on those three touchdown runs. The Vandals' next shot at snapping a losing streak that has reached 12 games is this Saturday at Georgia Southern.
The College of Idaho was outgained by just 19 yards—but was outscored by 40 points in a 47-7 loss at Eastern Oregon Saturday in LaGrande. It was one of those days that was going to happen sooner or later in year No. 1 of the Coyotes' football rebirth. C of I running back Zack Garzoli did what he could, rushing for 154 yards on 25 carries. Yotes quarterback Teejay Gordon had another 100-yard rushing day and ran for a touchdown, but he passed for only 62 yards and was victimized by a pick-six. The Mountaineers scored on a second interception return near the end of the game off C of I backup QB Jake Hennessey.
Former Boise State standout Orlando Scandrick had his first interception of the season yesterday to help Dallas get past Houston in overtime, 20-17. Fellow former Bronco Tyrone Crawford started at defensive tackle and made twp stops, including one for loss. Also of note: Doug Martin had another pedestrian day on the ground, rushing for 45 yards on 14 carries in Tampa Bay’s 37-31 loss to New Orleans. Martin remains a weapon in the passing game—he had three catches for 29 yards. Austin Pettis also made three receptions for 29 yards for St. Louis in the Rams’ 34-28 loss to Philadelphia. Billy Winn had four tackles as Cleveland stunned Tennessee 29-28 after trailing 28-3. And George Iloka led Cincinnati with nine stops while the Bengals were being routed 43-17 by New England last night on Sunday Night Football.
The Idaho Steelheads open their 18th training camp today as coach Brad Ralph prepares for his third season behind the Steelheads' bench. Ralph has rounded up an impressive collection of AHL experience among his newcomers and has added an old thorn in the Steelies' side between in the pipes in goalie Olivier Roy. The team's annual "season ticket holder only" exhibition game against the Utah Grizzlies is this Friday night in Century Link Arena.
Totally off the sports path now, with memories of Paul Revere, who died Saturday at the age of 76 in Garden Valley. When I was a very young music director at KFXD, Paul Revere & The Raiders were Boise's claim to fame in the rock & roll world, and through all his world travels, he always called Boise home. When the group was about to release a new record, Revere would ride his chopper out to KFXD's old studios on Amity Road south of Meridian and bring us a test pressing. So it was in January of 1971, when it had been a couple years since the Raiders had a hit. Revere was excited about this new release, which had "Birds of a Feather" on one side and "Indian Reservation" on the other.
Revere thought "Birds of a Feather" had a chance to be a smash. He asked me to play both sides of the record on my show that night and take votes from listeners. So I did—and "Indian Reservation" was the winner by a 3-to-1 margin. The song went right onto KFXD's playlist, and it shot to No. 1 locally. Revere then embarked on a city-by-city tour with close Boise friend Mike Allen on their choppers and visited radio stations to promote "Indian Reservation," and about five months after its debut on KFXD, the song was No. 1 in the nation, the group's only million-selling single. Revere made sure KFXD was awarded a certified gold record for its efforts. He was one of the best businessmen in showbiz, parlaying Paul Revere & The Raiders’ popularity into over four more decades of crowd-pleasing entertainment—he didn’t retire until this spring.
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October 6, 2001: A sobering night in Boise State’s first year in the WAC. Rice’s option attack took apart the Bronco defense to the tune of 430 rushing yards in a 45-14 rout in Houston. And the Owls did it on a record 82 carries, getting that many because of Boise State’s inability to get out of a drive. Little did we know the loss to Rice would be one of only five the Broncos would experience in 10 years in the WAC. It was 13 days later that Boise State turned a corner in its football history with the landmark 35-30 upset of No. 8 Fresno State.
(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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