Presented by HARMON TRAVEL.
Monday, December 8, 2014.
How about that. Boise State is going to its third Fiesta Bowl, facing Arizona on New Year’s Eve in Glendale. The road to the New Year’s Six bowls was easier this year for Boise State than it was for the two BCS bowls. But don’t tell anyone inside the Bleymaier Football Center it was easy. In 2006 the major bowl talk started in late September, and in 2009 there was season-long anticipation of a BCS bowl. In each of those years, though, the Broncos were ranked in the top 10, and that’s where they had to be to get in. Under the new College Football Playoff structure this year, Boise State had to be the top-ranked team among the Group of Five conferences. The Broncos are No. 20 this time (CFP rankings), but for a team that many had written off after the loss to Air Force, this eight-game winning streak and ascension to the Fiesta Bowl is sayin’ something.
There are no shared championships anymore in the Mountain West. Now that there’s a title game, there can only be one, and Boise State got that “outright” monkey off its back. The 28-14 win over Fresno State Saturday night gave the Broncos their first outright conference title since 2009. The championship was Boise State’s 17th overall as a four-year school, and 14 have been outright. There were five crowns in the Big Sky days and two in the Big West—those leagues didn't have shared titles. Six of the Broncos’ eight WAC championships were outright, as they shared the title in 2005 and 2010. And now the solo championship in the Mountain West to go with the three-way crown from two years ago.
This was supposed to be the game that Jay Ajayi "ran angry." But Fresno State did a solid job of slowing down the J-Train, holding him to 70 net yards, all in the first half. He averaged only 3.2 yards per carry and still sits 24 yards away from reaching Ian Johnson's Boise State single-season rushing record. What we ended up seeing was Grant Hedrick "running happy." The senior quarterback was a headache for the Bulldogs, rushing for 81 yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries while earning championship game Offensive MVP honors. Both TDs were dandies, the first one featuring the fake of the year on an option for a 20-yard score, and the second coming when Hedrick read a Fresno State blitz and simply ran a keeper around the right side for a 21-yard touchdown.
The game was not without its warts on defense, including some big plays in the passing game and a whopping 11 third down conversions allowed. The saving grace for Boise State was the phenomenal job its defense did against the run. Fresno State rushed for 186 yards and 5.5 yards per carry in the first meeting between these teams in October—and only 70 yards and 1.7 per carry Saturday night. The Broncos keyed on Bulldog running back Marteze Waller, and it worked. Waller's the guy who rushed for 164 yards and had that 76-yard touchdown run in October, averaging 9.1 yards per carry. He had just 23 yards on 15 carries Saturday, 1.5 yards per tote. Fresno State’s longest run of the night was 11 yards—and that was a scramble by quarterback Brian Burrell.
There were three defensive moments in particular—plus one special teams play—that kept Fresno State at bay. The most obvious was Tanner Vallejo’s 63-yard interception return for a touchdown that gave Boise State a 14-0 lead. Vallejo likes that kind of stuff; he had a 31-yard fumble return for a TD at UConn in September. The two other interceptions were also key. Donte Deayon stopped a Bulldog drive with a pick in the end zone in the first quarter, and Beau Martin’s interception on Fresno State’s last possession was eminently fitting for a senior defensive end who began his career as a walk-on. The special teams hammer came on the second-quarter field goal block by Armand Nance when the Bulldogs were urgently trying to keep up.
The worst fear came to pass in the stands Saturday night. With the difficulty that comes with trying to re-sell a stadium from scratch was the concern that Albertsons Stadium would be way, way below capacity for the Mountain West championship game. And it was, with official attendance coming in at 26,101 (there were 35,008 for the October matchup between Boise State and Fresno State). With news that the Big 12 is suddenly going to consider expansion again, it's enough to make you groan. Not a good impression. But a great expectation was realized as well. The fans who were there really brought it. They were in the stands for a reason, and the atmosphere—start to finish—was as good as any you'll find surrounding the blue turf.
Somewhere yesterday there was probably a headline that read, "Broncos headed for Famous Idaho Potato Bowl." It didn't fool anyone here. The Western Michigan Broncos have a date on the blue turf against Air Force in the 18th edition of Boise's bowl game on Saturday, December 20. This is an intriguing matchup. These are two teams that will bring passion, having produced landmark turnarounds this season. The Falcons went 9-3, highlighted by a September win over the hometown Broncos and the winning of the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy, after struggling through a 2-10 campaign a year ago. Western Michigan comes in at 8-4 after going 1-11 last season. One of these Broncos' wins was a 45-33 decision at Idaho that saw freshman Jarvion Franklin rush for 211 yards on his way to MAC Offensive Player of the Year honors.
A record seven Mountain West teams are headed to bowl games. Four of the seven, including Air Force, will be done after the first day of bowl season. December 20 kicks off with the New Orleans Bowl between Nevada and Louisiana-Lafayette, which recovered from its 34-9 loss to Boise State in September to go 8-4. Then comes the New Mexico Bowl between Utah State and UTEP. Overlapping the Famous Idaho Bowl is the Las Vegas Bowl, which features the second-best matchup involving Mountain West representatives when Colorado State goes against former conference colleague Utah. San Diego State stays home for the Poinsettia Bowl this year against Navy on December 23, and Fresno State, getting a waiver for its 6-7 record because it played in the Mountain West title game, faces Rice at the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve.
Saint Mary's went into Saturday night's hoops tilt against Boise State with a 33-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents. There would not be a 34th, as the Broncos shot 59 percent to slice their way past the Gaels 82-71 in McKeon Pavilion. Boise State was repaying the favor—Saint Mary’s had come into Taco Bell Arena last December and ended the Broncos’ 26-game home streak versus non-conference foes. Saturday’s contest was one of those in which Derrick Marks had his game going, scoring 22 points and pulling downs seven rebounds. It was a solid and much-needed road win, moving Boise State to 5-2 on the season. The Broncos are back home to host Adams State tomorrow night.
There have been gobs of points scored in Idaho Stampede games so far this season. The Stampede saw their foes score more in a pair of weekend road losses. Friday night there was a 125-102 defeat at the hands of the Austin Spurs (formerly the Toros). Then the Stamps allowed a staggering 79 first-half points Saturday night in a 135-123 defeat at Rio Grande Valley. Idaho had three players reach the 25-point plateau against the Vipers: Kevin Murphy (30), Joel Wright (26), and Jerrelle Benimon (25).
The weekend was topsy-turvy for the Idaho Steelheads in CenturyLink Arena. The Steelheads were cruising with a 5-1 lead over Bakersfield Friday night before having to hold on for a 5-4 victory. The big guns for Idaho were Alex Belzile and Wade McLeod, who potted two goals apiece while Olivier Roy was picking up his 10th win of the season. Saturday night it was the Condors’ turn to build a 5-1 cushion. They did that in the third period and made it stand until the final horn. The Steelheads had outscored their opponents 28-15 in the third period before two Bakersfield tallies. The Steelies stay home this week, hosting the rival Alaska Aces Friday and Saturday.
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December 8, 1990: One of the classic games in Boise State football history is played in the semi-finals of the Division I-AA playoffs. The Broncos had a rematch with Nevada, a team they beat in Boise four weeks earlier. BSU recovered from a horrible first half when Duane Halliday came off the bench to throw for a career-high 382 yards. The Broncos caught the Wolf Pack in the third quarter—then found themselves trailing 45-38 with less than a minute left when Halliday was momentarily shaken up and original starter Mike Virden came in to throw a game-tying touchdown pass. Nevada would end up winning in triple overtime, 59-52.
(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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