Presented by BBSI.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015.
What used to be the four BCS bowl games became the New Year’s Six this season with the addition of the Peach and Cotton Bowls. Or, should we say, the New Year’s Big Two and the New Year’s Little Four. Boise State’s Fiesta Bowl win last week did not get the national buzz—before or after the memorable three-plus hours in Glendale—as the previous victories over Oklahoma and TCU. ESPN was totally wrapped up in the College Football Playoffs and the matchups in the Rose and Sugar Bowls despite being the network that telecast the other four games. And ESPN wasn’t alone. Pages 27 through 63 in Sports Illustrated's year-end double-issue profiled the two playoff semifinals. Then came a feature on New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram. There was not a word about the other four New Year's Six bowl games.
So the only way to get that national cache is to make the playoffs. TCU, Michigan State and Georgia Tech are in the same boat after their New Year’s Six bowl wins. It would seem a far-fetched notion for Boise State—at least until the field is expanded to eight teams. But irrepressible Bronco coach Bryan Harsin wants to shoot for the moon regardless. “We consider ourselves a team that would like to have an opportunity like every other team,” said Harsin after the Fiesta Bowl. “To be in games like this and to win it, I hope that continues to show that when we do go out there and take care of our business and we put ourselves in position, win every single game, they’re deciding where to put us here and there, let’s put Boise State there and find out what they’re all about. Down the road, we take care of our business, do our jobs, why not?”
Matt Miller is back in Boise after kicking back at home in Montana following the Fiesta Bowl. He has signed with an agent—the Novo Agency’s Jeff Sperbeck, the uncle of wide receiver Thomas Sperbeck, who Miller mentored at Boise State after his season-ending injury at Air Force (and before, for that matter). Jeff Sperbeck said yesterday on Idaho SportsTalk that Matt has a couple appointments in town today to deal with his ankle injury in advance of the NFL Combine. If Miller is invited to the Combine, the plan would be to not participate in drills but to go through the other testing and interviews. He would theoretically be ready for full-speed drills for Boise State’s Pro Day in March.
Sperbeck compares Miller’s draft situation to that of Eric Decker, the current Jets and former Denver wide receiver who suffered a foot injury his senior year at Minnesota. Decker was drafted in the third round in 2010 when he could have gone higher. Not that Miller is a third-rounder, but his draft stock will be similarly affected by injury. After football, might there be coaching in Miller’s future instead of ranching? After all, he was wearing a headset rather than his jersey on the sidelines in Glendale. “There's a possibility,” Miller said in an interview last week in the Great Falls Tribune while home in Montana. “But I believe my main goal is to get in the cattle industry one day. That's my other passion in life. Either coaching or cows. Either one and I'd be pretty happy.”
Let’s look at the Mountain West bowl season this way. The West Division was 0-3, and the Mountain Division was 3-1. But that doesn’t mask the fact that it was a sorry bowl performance overall for the Mountain West until New Year’s Eve rolled around. The two biggest egg-layers were Nevada, with its 19-3 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette in the New Orleans Bowl, and Fresno State, with its 31-6 defeat to Rice in the Hawaii Bowl. The conference will trumpet this, though: it’s now 4-1 in BCS/New Year’s Six games. Utah beat Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl and Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, TCU beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, and Boise State added its Fiesta Bowl win last Wednesday. The league’s only loss was when TCU fell to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl two seasons before the Broncos joined the Mountain West.
It’s no surprise that Boise State will be without Jay Ajayi when it opens the 2015 season against Washington in September. Likewise, it’s no surprise that the Huskies will be without Shaq Thompson when they come to the blue turf. Thompson, the star linebacker who also played running back this year for Washington and won the Paul Hornung Award as the nation's most versatile player, announced yesterday he’s declaring for the NFL Draft. He’s projected as a first-round pick. Thompson’s final game for UW was no picnic, as coach Chris Petersen’s Huskies struggled mightily last Friday in the Cactus Bowl, falling behind 24-0 at halftime before losing 30-22.
Dirk Koetter, currently under contract as offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons even though coach Mike Smith has been fired, interviewed over the weekend for the same position with Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers are intrigued by Koetter, whose offense hung 56 points on them in late September. Koetter may have other options though. Two of the hottest head coaching candidates in the NFL, Seattle defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and San Francisco defensive line coach Jim Tomsula, are said to be high on the one-time Boise State coach, and one of them could take Koetter along wherever he lands.
Remember when the Mountain West was No. 2 in men’s basketball conference RPI two seasons ago? Now it’s looking more and more like a one-bid league in the NCAA Tournament, especially after all the upsets last week. The problem starts with Colorado State, which fell out of the Top 25 after its loss at New Mexico, leaving the Mountain West out of the polls. The Lobos are a shadow of their former selves right now. San Diego State dropped from No. 24 in the RPI to No. 44 after being shocked at Fresno State Saturday. Following an opening week sweep at the hands of CSU and Utah State, Boise State’s RPI dropped from No. 37 to No. 59 this week, teetering on the edge of the NCAA Tournament bubble.
Accentuating the positive at a time when the negative is consuming the Idaho Stampede, Jerrelle Benimon has been on a roll and has become the team’s most reliable player. The 6-8 forward out of Towson has recorded double-doubles in 11 of his 16 games this season, including each of his past four. And he’s shooting almost 64 percent from the field. You can see Benimon at work again tonight and tomorrow night versus the Oklahoma City Blue in CenturyLink Arena. The Stampede will try to snap a 13-game losing streak.
The Idaho Steelheads made Sports Illustrated's 2014 "Lowlight Reel," thanks to an episode last season they'd rather forget. Under the heading "Microscrew" comes this: "Two fans at an Idaho Steelheads minor league hockey game noticed that the $7 large beer cups and the $4 regular beer cups at CenturyLink Arena held the same amount." I'm sure this season's liquid measurements are finding that all is fair and equitable. You can check it this Friday and Saturday when the Steelheads host the Alaska Ambers, er, Aces at CenturyLink Arena.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by the POOL DOCTOR STORE…the doctor is in!
January 6, 1995, 20 years ago today: With Atlanta’s 112-90 win over Washington, Hawks coach Lenny Wilkens becomes the NBA’s all-time leader in regular season victories. His 939th win topped the mark set by Boston’s Red Auerbach. Late in the game, with the Hawks safely in command, Wilkens paid tribute to a legendary Auerbach tradition and lit up a victory cigar.
(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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