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Thursday, December 4, 2014.
Everybody was asking after Boise State’s October victory over Fresno State: what in the world were the Bulldogs doing with tailback Marteze Waller? The guy looked like he was on fire, busting a 76-yard touchdown run at the end of the first quarter to tie the score 10-10. Then he sat out the next drive in favor of Josh Quezada and had only two carries the rest of the half. In the end, Waller had his season-high on the blue turf that night with 164 yards and two touchdowns. He has added 444 yards and four touchdowns since, averaging 6.3 yards per carry. Fresno State’s repeat visit in the Mountain West championship game Saturday gives us this: instead of saying Waller could be a handful for the Broncos, we already know he is a handful. Look for the Bulldogs to go to their go-to guy this time around.
The season began with Brian Burrell facing a challenge from Duke transfer Brandon Connette for the right to succeed Derek Carr at quarterback for Fresno State. Connette, who played one series against Boise State in October, is now a utility player on offense and a holder on placekicks. Burrell won the job but was very average in the first meeting between the Broncos and Bulldogs, going 13-of-25 for 127 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Redshirt freshman Zach Greenlee then replaced Burrell as the starter against Wyoming the following week and hasn’t been seen since that dreadful 45-17 loss. Burrell returned to throw seven touchdowns combined in the wins over San Jose State and Nevada. He’s been central to the story of Fresno State picking itself up, dusting itself off, and playing for a third straight Mountain West title.
Darian Thompson will probably have something to say about how Burrell’s night goes. Thompson has been around the ball since the first game he played for Boise State in 2012. The junior safety had another one of those game-affecting moments when he made his seventh interception of the season in the first quarter versus Utah State last Saturday. It was a play that stuck in USU quarterback Kent Myers’ head the rest of the night. The Bronco offense cashed in with a touchdown six plays later for a 14-0 lead.
Thompson leads the Mountain West in interceptions per game and was recognized Tuesday as a first-team all-conference selection. His seven picks are tied for No. 7 on the Boise State single-season list. He’s also in a tie for sixth in career interceptions with 14. Thompson is 10 short of the school record set by Steve Forrey during the Broncos’ first three seasons as a four-year program (1968-70). And Thompson has more than a year left. You never know. We do know he may have a future on Sundays. Thompson has draftable size at 6-2, 208 pounds.
Boise State wants to keep the momentum going as funds roll in to help senior safety Jeremy Ioane while he awaits a kidney transplant. With the YouCaring.com fundraising effort having far exceeded its $20,000 goal and the College Football Assistance Fund having added a grant of $7,500, the university will be selling “#10aneStrong” t-shirts, turning the senior safety’s uniform number into the first two letters of his last name. The shirts will be available beginning today for $15 at the bookstore in the Student Union Building, with 100 percent of the profits ($10 per shirt) going to the Jeremy Ioane Medical Fund.
Jim McElwain’s Mountain West Coach of the Year award has just about turned into a parting gift. The only thing that appears to be keeping McElwain from the Florida job is the haggling over the amount of his buyout at Colorado State, which started at $7.5 million. Gators athletic director Jeremy Foley met with McElwain at the coach’s home in Fort Collins Tuesday night (no truth to the rumors that Foley slept on the couch). They met again yesterday before the AD flew back to Gainesville and told media, “We’re not there yet.”
There’s a chance you’ll see five Boise State alums in one NFL game tonight when Dallas visits Chicago. But Cowboys rookie defensive end Demarcus Lawrence is questionable because of a rib injury he tweaked in practice this week. Not good timing, as team insiders feel Lawrence is about to get over the hump. Writes Bryan Broaddus at DallasCowboys.com: “He is playing his technique and is using his pass rush moves. There have been some snaps where he has been close on his rush, but the ball has gotten out before he arrived. I think it is about time that we see more snaps for Lawrence. Missing training camp and half the season has no doubt set him back, but there are some positive signs there on tape.” Tyrone Crawford and Orlando Scandrick are slated to be ready for the Cowboys, as are Shea McClellin and Charles Leno Jr. for the Bears.
The Idaho Steelheads let a regulation victory slip through their grasp last night, but they got it back in a shootout and beat Bakersfield 5-4 in CenturyLink Arena. A pair of third period goals by Wade MacLeod had the Steelheads seemingly in control at 4-2, but after the Condors had cut the deficit to one goal, they pulled their goalie with just over a minute left. Bakersfield’s Kellen Jones promptly knotted the score and it went to overtime. Steelheads goaltender Olivier Roy nabbed the win to break a personal four-game losing streak. Roy has the net to himself for the time being, as backup Henri Kiviaho was called up to Texas of the AHL yesterday. The Steelies and Condors resume their series tomorrow night.
On the basketball side, Boise State has a game Saturday night that should prep the Broncos for conference play, as they visit Saint Mary’s. The Gaels are scrappy, and they’ll face a Bronco in that mold in Rob Heyer. It’s been enlightening to see who coach Leon Rice has been trusting late in games beyond the usual suspects in the early stages of the 2014-15 season. The most surprising has been Heyer. “He’s become my security blanket, like Jeff Elorriaga,” Rice said on his KBOI postgame show after the win over Idaho last week. Heyer is disruptive—a trait that doesn’t show up in the box score. He’s averaging 3.3 points and 3.3 rebounds but has started two of the first six games. If Elorriaga was Boise State’s “glue guy” the last four seasons, Heyer is looking like the “new glue.”
Also of note: Idaho captured a huge victory last night in Pullman, winning the Battle of the Palouse over Washington State, 77-71. The Vandals had lost 11 straight to the Cougars. And the College of Idaho won its second match in pool play last night at the NAIA Women’s Volleyball Championships in Sioux City, IA. The Lady Yotes won in five sets over Midland of Nebraska and need a win today over Georgetown of Kentucky to stay alive. The top two teams in each of the six four-team pools advance to the single-elimination championship bracket this weekend.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by ZAMZOW’S…nobody knows like Zamzow’s!
December 4, 1988: Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders wins the Heisman Trophy just before wrapping up a record-setting season that sees him break Marcus Allen’s single-season Division I-A rushing record with 2,638 yards. Sanders also scored a record 39 touchdowns that season. Boise State’s Brock Forsey moved into second on the all-time list with his 32 TDs as a senior in 2002—he was surpassed by Wisconsin’s Montee Ball, who scored 34 touchdowns in 2011.
(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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