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Wednesday, December 3, 2014.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s no big deal that Colorado State’s Garrett Grayson was named Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year over Boise State’s Jay Ajayi. Both guys have had outstanding seasons, although one led his team into the Mountain West championship game and the other didn’t. (And we can see conference rushing leader D.J. Pumphrey raising his hand in the back of the room.) You know Ajayi is a proud individual, though, and is proud of the role he’s played in getting the Broncos into the title game with a 10-2 record. Pro scouts aren’t going to change their grades on Ajayi. And they’ll forget all about it at the NFL Combine. But coaches say Ajayi is at his best when he “runs angry,” and you can expect that trait on the blue turf Saturday night against Fresno State.
Bryan Harsin didn’t win Mountain West Coach of the Year honors, either. That went to CSU coach Jim McElwain, who took the Rams to unprecedented heights this year. But Harsin was having to replace a legend. Oh well. Joining Ajayi on the All-Mountain West first team were three other fellow Broncos—center Marcus Henry, defensive Kamalei Correa, and safety Darian Thompson. On the all-conference second team out of Boise State were quarterback Grant Hedrick, left tackle Rees Odhiambo, linebacker Tanner Vallejo and cornerback Donte Deayon. That Hedrick finished ahead of Nevada’s Cody Fajardo in the voting speaks volumes about how far the Bronco signal-caller has come.
The MW championship game Saturday night will mark the second time Boise State has faced a team twice in the same year. Is it tough to beat a team twice in one season? In 1990 the Broncos bounced Nevada 30-14 on the blue turf when the Wolf Pack was ranked No. 1 in Division I-AA. There was a rematch four weeks later in Reno in the semifinals of the I-AA playoffs. That’s when Nevada got past Boise State 59-52 in the triple-overtime classic. The difference: the second game this year, just like the first, is at Albertsons Stadium, where the Broncos beat Fresno State 37-27 in October. By the way, the 27 points the Bulldogs scored that night were their most in Boise since their first visit 30 years ago, two seasons before the turf was blue, in a 37-21 victory.
Boise State moved from No. 23 to No. 22 last night in the new College Football Playoff rankings. No other Group of Five team is in the New Year’s Six bowl conversation anymore. It’s been quite a transformation this year. I ran this down on Sunday Sports Extra the other night. The Broncos have another 10-win season, and that’s a big deal. It’s the Broncos’ fourth in five years this decade, and their 13th in 16 seasons dating back to the beginning of the 1999 campaign. Boise State is wrapping up its 47th season as a four-year school. It has recorded 10 wins in 21 of them. That’s just under 45 percent.
Tight end Connor Peters, who was injured against Utah State, will miss the conference championship game but could return for Boise State’s bowl game. That still leaves four tight ends that have rotated in and out this season as the position has returned to relevance for the Broncos. One of them, Alec Dhaenens, had another moment in the spotlight against the Aggies. Dhaenens did his best Dan Paul impression, lining up at fullback in front of Ajayi on third-and-goal from the two-yard line. Everyone knew Ajayi was getting the ball. Then Dhaenens snuck out of the backfield and caught a touchdown pass from Grant Hedrick. Paul surprised Nevada in 2009 by scoring three TDs much the same way. Dhaenens, the redshirt freshman from Fruitland, has two catches this season for four yards—and two TDs.
Long-term project for Idaho: developing quarterback Matt Linehan, especially with Chad Chalich rumored to be headed for Montana. Linehan got off to a solid start this season, with 300-yard games in four of his first five outings. Then came the late hit he absorbed during the New Mexico State game in October. The Vandals went on to win that game behind Chalich, and when Linehan returned to the field two weeks later against Arkansas State, he wasn’t the same, throwing for only 93 yards with three interceptions. He is 91st in the nation in pass efficiency with a rating of 114.7 after completing just 58 percent of his throws for 11 touchdowns against 18 picks. The Vandals are at a quarterback crossroads going into Linehan’s sophomore year.
The Boise State basketball squad is taking a breather this week, assessing the first 20 percent of its season. The Broncos have beaten the four teams they were expected to beat, and lost to the two squads where losses were expected. Next up in the Bay Area Saturday night is Saint Mary’s, one of the West Coast Conference’s top teams year-in and year-out. Games between the Broncos and Gaels are always battles—Saint Mary’s came into Taco Bell Arena last December and stifled Boise State, 82-74. The Gaels are 5-0, although they haven’t played a road game yet.
The Idaho Stampede’s one NBA assignee is back in the Show, as the Utah Jazz have recalled Toure’ Murry. The 6-5 guard and former New York Knick has appeared in all six Stampede games, starting five of them. Murry was averaging 14 points, 5½ rebounds and five assists, and he was tied for sixth in the D-League in steals at 2.3 per game. The Stampede begin a five-game road trip Friday night against the Austin Toros.
The Idaho Steelheads will be without their leading goal-scorer when they begin a three-game series tonight against the Bakersfield Condors in CenturyLink Arena. Rookie forward Jason Bast has been loaned to Bridgeport of the AHL, and he takes 13 tallies with him. The Pacific Division is the tightest of the ECHL's four divisions, making this homestand all the more important. The Steelheads, who haven’t won in their past five games, still lead the Pacific with 24 points, but the Condors are sitting just two points behind as part of a three-way tie for second place. Bakersfield, incidentally, was the lead story on ESPN SportsCenter coming out of Monday Night Football the other night. The Condors’ annual Teddy Bear Toss last Saturday saw an unbelievable 7,358 stuffed animals thrown onto the ice after a goal by former Steelie Chase Schaber.
A couple College of Idaho nuggets: the Coyotes men’s basketball team has jumped to No. 3 in the initial regular season NAIA Division II Coaches Poll. The Yotes, now 11-1, moved up four spots from the preseason poll. And Concordia-Irvine held off a College of Idaho rally last night to win the teams’ first match of pool play at the NAIA Women’s Volleyball Championships in Sioux City, IA.
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December 3, 1994, 20 years ago today: In a driving rainstorm at Bronco Stadium, Boise State outlasts Appalachian State and future Dallas Cowboys linebacker Dexter Coakley, 17-14, in the second round of the Division I-AA playoffs. Two Tony Hilde-to-Ryan Ikebe touchdown passes and a Greg Erickson field goal got it done offensively, and the defense did the rest for the Broncos, who notched their 12th win of the season on their way 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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