Presented by ANGELL’S BAR & GRILL RENATO.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014.
In the past month or so, Boise State has seen—and been punctured by—Marteze Waller of Fresno State, Jhurrell Presley (and Teriyon Gipson and Ridge Jones) at New Mexico, and D.J. Pumphrey of San Diego State. This week it’s just another solid Mountain West running back. Wyoming true freshman Brian Hill has rushed for 574 yards this season, all but 50 of them in the past three games since Shaun Wick broke his hand against Colorado State October 25. Hill finished that game with 121 yards on the ground. Then his coming-out party was two weeks ago when he set a Mountain West record with 387 all-purpose yards in the Cowboys’ 45-17 rout of Fresno State, including 281 rushing and 103 receiving. That earned Hill the Walter Camp Foundation National Offensive Player of the Week award.
Boise State counters, of course, with Jay Ajayi, who lost the battle but won the war last week in the meeting of the Mountain West’s top two running backs. San Diego State’s D.J. Pumphrey rushed for 147 yards and two touchdowns, but the Broncos rode Ajayi, who ran for 108 of his 134 yards and all three of his TDs in the second half of the 38-29 win. Now he has to do it on the road in a very difficult environment in Laramie. Ajayi is averaging 156 rushing yards on the blue turf and 100 away from it, and 12 of his 17 rushing touchdowns this season have come in Albertsons Stadium.
Before we let Rocky Long go for the next two seasons, let’s at least give the San Diego State coach credit for understanding what’s happened in Boise the past 15 years. In a San Diego Union-Tribune story headlined “SDSU takes note of Boise State blueprint,” writer Tod Leonard marvels at the fact that San Diego State, “with its beaches and weather and beautiful campus and respectable academics, still finds itself playing serious catch-up in both wins and recognition to a small school in a little town in a state with a population (1.6 million) just slightly larger than what San Diego’s city limits hold.”
Long sees it this way: “There are certain places that have the right mentality, the right culture, the right atmosphere and the right support. That’s hard to do. At many places, you talk about what you need to do, and everybody agrees, but you can’t do it because you don’t have the resources. At Boise, they said, ‘You’re right, let’s do it.’” Fair enough. San Diego State football’s always going to be at a disadvantage because it’s a non-power conference team in a major pro sports market. The Chargers will always bury the Aztecs. SDSU basketball thrives in sold-out Viejas Arena, partly because San Diego has no NBA franchise (and partly because Steve Fisher has a really good team). There was evidence yesterday in the 16th-ranked Aztecs’ 53-49 win over 25th-ranked Utah before 12,414 fans on a Tuesday afternoon.
Idaho State’s chances at a Big Sky championship took a hit with last week’s 44-39 loss to Montana State on the frozen tundra in Bozeman. But the fact that the Bengals are even in contention is the story of the year in Pocatello. ISU, now 7-4 after its five-game winning streak was snapped, still harbors hopes of getting into the FCS Playoffs for the first time in 31 years as it heads into the regular season finale Saturday against Weber State in Holt Arena. The Bengals drew votes totaling 153 points in the FCS Poll this week, leaving them second in line to get into the Top 25. This year there are 24 teams in the tournament, which begins Thanksgiving weekend. Eight teams get first-round byes.
The College of Idaho’s lasting impression into the offseason will be its 69-12 loss at Carroll College last Saturday, but mainly from the standpoint of emulating what the Carroll program is. The Saints rose to No. 1 in the NAIA this week. Coach Mike Moroski said yesterday on Idaho SportsTalk he broke from his norm and watched the finale. “It’s still good to tie it up,” said Moroski. “I spin it as, ‘Hey, we’re going to need to win a game in Montana someday in cold weather.’” As for the first year of the new brand of Coyotes football? “I had the time of my life,” Moroski said.
Two former Boise State stars in particular have made upward moves in the NFL as the stretch approaches. Charles Leno Jr. made enough of an impression in practice in Chicago for the Bears to find a role for the rookie offensive tackle last Sunday at Soldier Field. Leno logged his first-career NFL start, opening the game as a tight end in Chicago's six-offensive lineman set as the Bears beat the Vikings, 21-13. And Jamar Taylor’s stock appears to be rising in Miami. Taylor started at cornerback in last week’s 22-9 win over Buffalo and led the Dolphins with seven tackles. Half of Taylor’s 22 tackles on the season have come in the past two games.
Boise State’s basketball portfolio could have taken an instant gut-punch last night. But somehow the Broncos survived a spirited effort from Montana to win 72-67 in double-overtime at Taco Bell Arena. This game will be forgotten as the season goes, but Boise State had best remember it. The Broncos’ shooting was awful—just 33 percent from the floor. Anthony Drmic carried the load, though, scoring 29 points, including five of the last six BSU points. He was the only Bronco to shoot better than 50 percent (9-for-17). Ugh, that means the rest of the team made just 11 buckets in 50 minutes of floor time. What a way to go into Saturday’s game at No. 3 Wisconsin.
Boise State, down by as many as 15 points in the first half and by 10 at the intermission, kept catching up and falling behind—catching up and falling behind. Coach Leon Rice took a technical foul with the score tied 36-36 at the 12½-minute mark of the second half. Then the Broncos proceeded to miss nine of their next 10 shots over the ensuing five minutes and found themselves down again by eight. They had only a handful of leads the entire night, but they had one when the clock ran out in the second OT. Derrick Marks in particular was missing his magic last night, going 2-for-10 from the field, including a miss that would have won the game at the end of regulation.
The Idaho Stampede have made a roster move in advance of this weekend’s trip to L.A. for a pair of games against the D-Fenders. The Stampede acquired free-agent forward Jerrelle Benimon, a former standout at Georgetown and Towson who was a two-time Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year. To make room, the Stamps placed forward Jack Cooley on the inactive list due to a thumb injury he sustained in last week’s season opener.
The Idaho Steelheads are already almost a fifth of the way through the season and are pacing to top the 40-win mark—they’re currently 10-3-1. This week they have a rare Wednesday-Thursday-Saturday series against the Ontario Reign beginning tonight. Something’s gotta give, as the Steelheads lead the ECHL with a plus-17 goal differential and Ontario leads the league with a goals-against average of just 2.31 per game. Improving the power play is a Steelies focus right now, but the club’s penalty kill has come a long way since struggling early in the season. Over the past five games, the Steelheads have stopped 23 of opposition’s last 25 man-advantage opportunities.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by ZAMZOW’S…nobody knows like Zamzow’s!
November 19, 1994, 20 years ago today: In an emotional winner-take-all game for the Big Sky championship, Boise State and Idaho face off before a record crowd at Bronco Stadium. BSU jumped out to a 13-0 lead behind Tony Hilde and Ryan Ikebe—then hung on to beat the Vandals 27-24, ending Idaho’s amazing 12-game winning streak in the rivalry. It capped a 10-1 regular season under Pokey Allen and sent the Broncos into the Division I-AA Playoffs with their first league title since 1980.
(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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