Presented by ANGELL’S BAR & GRILL RENATO.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014.
Will the other Group of Five conferences be pulling for Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, Conference USA in particular? The have-nots have to stick together, right? Well, one reason Marshall's strength of schedule was so scrutinized this season was the perceived weakness of its Conference USA opponents. C-USA would like to be seen as the nation’s top Group of Five league, and it has made its point during the bowl season by going 4-1, including Rice’s 30-6 waxing of Fresno State in the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve. The Thundering Herd trampled Northern Illinois 52-23 in the Boca Raton Bowl, and Louisiana Tech drubbed Illinois 35-18 in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Conference USA looks for its members to command a little more respect next year, and the Mountain West looks to Boise State tomorrow to maintain its credibility.
This is the first time Boise State has been a Johnny-come-lately in a high-profile bowl game. The Broncos were front-and-center nationally during their undefeated regular seasons in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009. This year they didn’t even debut in the AP and Coaches Polls until November 23 and made the College Football Playoff rankings two days later. The road to the Fiesta Bowl could not have been more challenging for Boise State after the loss at Air Force at the end of September. There was no margin for error. The Mountain West championship was everything for the Broncos. They would not have qualified for this moment without it.
It’s probably not lost on you that Boise State returned an interception for a touchdown in each of its two previous Fiesta Bowls—one by Marty Tadman against Oklahoma and one by Brandyn Thompson versus TCU. The pick-six has been part of the Broncos’ repertoire this season as well, with the defense recording four such TDs. Arizona’s Anu Solomon has thrown only seven interceptions this year—he had not had one returned for a TD.
Sometimes you pick up different perspectives from players’ hometown newspapers. For Boise State quarterback Grant Hedrick that publication is the Statesman-Journal in Salem, near his hometown of Independence. Reporter Bill Poehler asked Hedrick about this year’s offense under new coach Bryan Harsin. Hedrick said while the Broncos embraced it, they didn’t immediately get it. Hedrick said there were a number of differences, including terminology and personnel changes. "I don't think we got a good grasp of it really until we started playing games," Hedrick said. "Once we got through that first couple weeks of the season, we started figuring things out a little bit. It definitely did take a while, a lot longer than I thought it would." They’ve got it now, but it’ll still have to be as good as it’s been all season tomorrow against Arizona.
Boise State good reason to play for, in effect, a fallen comrade tomorrow. The Broncos have witnessed the ordeal of senior safety Jeremy Ioane as he battles kidney disease. His one tackle on Senior Night after he had carried out the hammer against Utah State will stay with his teammates for a long time. And the community has rallied to support Ioane’s massive medical bills to come. BSU coach Bryan Harsin has confirmed that Ioane will not be able to play in the Fiesta Bowl. Fellow safety Dillon Lukehart, the junior from Eagle, will also be held out, so the Broncos will be thin at that position. And it was known that defensive end Mat Boesen would be suspended for this game—now he’s been dismissed from the team according to Harsin.
KTIK’s Christmas Eve replay of the KBOI 2007 Fiesta Bowl broadcast reminded me of something I had forgotten. Senior punter Kyle Stringer was an unsung standout in Boise State’s win over Oklahoma. Stringer continually put the Sooners in a field position disadvantage during that historic night. He averaged a steady 41.6 yards per boot—it was only that low because he pooched a couple trying to get them inside the OU 20-yard-line. The Broncos need a good game from Sean Wale against Arizona tomorrow. The sophomore punter has averaged 41 yards per kick and has been inconsistent this season. Wale was plagued by wobbly pop-ups early in the season but has hit more long, booming spirals of late.
Here’s an interesting perspective on tomorrow’s game from ESPN.com’s Kevin Gemmell: “It seems counterintuitive—silly even—to refer to a bowl game as a trap game. Especially a high-profile bowl like the Fiesta Bowl, one of the newly rebranded New Year’s Six. But that might be the case when the No. 10 Arizona Wildcats and the No. 20 Boise State Broncos square off at University of Phoenix Stadium. Question is, which team is walking into the trap? ‘When you win as many games as they do, including some really big games, I don’t know if you can consider them an underdog,’ said Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez. ‘Heck, we’re probably more of an underdog than they are. When was the last time Arizona was in a Big-Six game? We’re probably more of a surprise than they are.’” That’s Rich-Rod doing his best Lou Holtz.
Doug Martin’s stock in Tampa Bay, which had plummeted all season due to injuries and spotty performances, has finally risen going into the offseason. The former Boise State star had has best game of season in Sunday’s finale, a 23-20 loss to New Orleans, rushing for 108 yards on 19 carries. And there’s this footnote: Martin led the Buccaneers in jersey sales in 2014. Elsewhere, the Atlanta Journal-Constiution reports that as soon as the Falcons announced the firing of coach Mike Smith yesterday, offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter packed up his belongings and left the building. The former Boise State coach is still under contract and could be retained by the new coach (that happens more in the NFL than it does in college football), but Koetter obviously isn’t too hopeful of that.
It’s prime time now for the Boise State men’s basketball squad, which opens Mountain West play tomorrow in a most thankless way. The Broncos face undefeated and 24th-ranked Colorado State in Fort Collins. The auditions are over, and the players you see on the floor tomorrow are the ones coach Leon Rice is going to roll with. James Webb III’s audition started Thanksgiving weekend when he came off the bench in the second half at North Carolina State. Webb helped the Broncos close to within a point of the Wolfpack with a minute and a half left, posting the first of seven straight double-figure games after scoring nary a point before then. The streak was broken a week ago against Loyola-Chicago—Webb led the Broncos with nine points in the 48-45 loss in Las Vegas.
This may be the theme all winter long—the Idaho Steelheads in a weekly battle for the top spot in the ECHL’s Pacific Division. The Steelheads travel to Colorado this Friday and Saturday for a pair of games against the Eagles. Colorado had won three straight until falling 3-2 last night to the Utah Grizzlies. The Eagles are three points behind the Steelies for the division lead.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by HANDYMAN CONNECTION…trusted home improvements.
December 30, 1999, 15 years ago today: Boise State plays its first Division I-A bowl game ever—at home in Bronco Stadium—beating Louisville 34-31 in the Humanitarian Bowl before over 29,000 fans. Redshirt freshman tailback Brock Forsey was the MVP with 269 all-purpose yards, and quarterback Bart Hendricks got serious national notice for the first time after throwing for 335 yards and a touchdown and scoring another TD on the ground. The Broncos rolled up 533 yards overall, while the BSU defense came up big—helped by an 80-yard interception return for a touchdown by Shaunard Harts. Boise State finished the season 10-3.
(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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