Presented by MAZ-TECH AUTOMOTIVE.
Friday, December 11, 2015.
At some point, Boise State has to win a game like the one tomorrow night against Oregon. The Broncos are 6-4, with all of the victories expected ones (and the win Wednesday night much closer than it was supposed to be). Three of the four losses were expected as well—two to Arizona and one to Michigan State. The defeat on opening night at Montana was not good. A telling result as we look ahead to the Mountain West was Fresno State’s game at Arizona Wednesday night. Sure, the Bulldogs lost by 13 points. But they led the Wildcats by three at halftime. Boise State lost there by 12. And tomorrow night’s contest against Oregon provides the Broncos with a Mountain West measuring stick. The Ducks topped Fresno State just 78-73 in Eugene 10 days ago, while UNLV beat Oregon 80-69 last Saturday at the Las Vegas Invitational.
This is Oregon’s first visit to Boise State for a major sporting event since the memorable 2009 game on the blue turf. That was on “LeGarrette Blount punches Byron Hout” night, when the Broncos held the Ducks to 152 yards and won 19-8 before a then-record crowd (and still probably the loudest throng in Albertsons Stadium history). Boise State hoops coach Leon Rice was still an assistant at Gonzaga at the time, but he knows all about that game and would love to have that atmosphere re-created in Taco Bell Arena tomorrow night. “They are a really good team,” said Rice of Oregon. “We need to get this place sold out. We need to get Bronco Nation to come out and hate the Ducks as much as they do. They can help us win the game.” (He wasn’t serious about the “hate” thing.) It’s looking like attendance will be around 10,000.
It’s also the first time Boise State has hosted a ranked non-conference opponent in eight years, since a 2007 contest against BYU that the Broncos won 73-70. So what do the Ducks bring? Tyler Dorsey’s presence or absence could have an impact on this game. Dorsey leads Oregon with 14.4 points per game, but he missed the Ducks’ win over Navy Monday night with a sprained knee. His status for tomorrow night’s trip to Boise is unknown this morning. Without Dorsey, Oregon may be forced to go with a six-man rotation. Boise State hasn’t gotten the boost out of its bench it expected so far, so stamina issues in the second half could come into play for both teams.
Boise State star forward James Webb III hasn’t hit full stride yet. Tomorrow night would be a heckuva time to do it. Webb recorded his fourth double-double of the season in Wednesday night’s squeaker over Loyola Marymount. But he started the game 3-for-9 from the field before going on a 7-0 run by himself in a 90-second span late in the second half. Webb capped it by burying a corner three-pointer to give Boise State a 62-59 lead with 3:10 left. Up to that point, he had missed his previous six three-point tries, including his first four attempts Wednesday. Against Division I opponents, Webb had missed 13 consecutive shots from beyond the arc. Consistency would be a very cool thing right now.
Northern Illinois, Boise State’s opponent in the Poinsettia Bowl, has never played the Broncos before. But NIU does have some experience with the blue turf. The Huskies pummeled Fresno State 40-17 five years ago in what is now the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. It was Pat Hill’s final bowl game with the Bulldogs. Northern Illinois then defeated Arkansas State 38-20 in the GoDaddy.com Bowl the following season before making it to the 2013 Orange Bowl. NIU fell 31-10 to the Seminoles and has lost two more bowl games since. It’s a motivated bunch.
Boise State safety Darian Thompson was named an All-America honorable mention by Sports Illustrated yesterday, and the story brought out another sidebar for the Broncos’ Poinsettia Bowl test on December 23. Thompson, who holds the Mountain West career record for interceptions with 19, leads the Broncos this season with five picks. He’s tied for 17th in the FBS, four behind national leader Shawun Lurry of…Northern Illinois. Lurry’s nine interceptions have covered a whopping 273 yards, including a 64-yard pick-six in the MAC championship game last week against Bowling Green. File away No. 19 for the Huskies.
The biggest game in the NFL this weekend is the AFC North showdown between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Sunday afternoon, and it looks like Bengals starting safety George Iloka is going to miss it. The former Boise State star has been sitting out practice against this week with a groin injury after being inactive for last Sunday’s 37-3 win over Cleveland, and it’s not looking good. Iloka has been solid this season, his fourth in the NFL, logging 32 tackles and an interception with four pass deflections.
Yesterday somebody showed me a tweeted photo of Richard Petty in Boise, and I wondered, “What was he doing in town?” Turns out he may have been tying together loose ends with a prominent Boise race car driver. According to Motorsports.com, “After a lengthy process, Richard Petty Motorsports has selected NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Brian Scott as the new driver of its No. 9 Fords in the Sprint Cup Series.” Motorsports reports the Richard Petty team has scheduled a “driver announcement” this morning at its shop in Mooresville, NC. Scott has competed fulltime in the Xfinity Series the past six seasons, the last three with Richard Childress Racing. In 208 starts, Scott has 20 top-five and 77 top-10 finishes and has won five poles. His best finish in the series standings was fourth in 2014.
The Tulsa Oilers broke open a scoreless game with three goals in the second period last night, and the Idaho Steelheads were again in a hole they couldn’t escape. The Oilers went on to a 4-2 win in the first game ever between the two clubs. Philippe Desrosiers took his turn between the pipes for the Steelheads and fell to 3-6-2 on the season. The Steelies face Tulsa again tonight before returning to Allen, TX, Sunday afternoon.
The Idaho Stampede face a relatively familiar foe at CenturyLink Arena tonight and tomorrow night in the form of the Bakersfield Jam. And there’s a relatively familiar face, that of former Nevada standout Deonte Burton, who has started seven of 10 games for the Jam and is averaging 10.8 points. Familiar to everybody who watches basketball is new Stampede guard Tyus Jones, the former Duke star who made his D-League debut with 27 points in Wednesday night’s 102-96 loss to Texas. The Minnesota Timberwolves assigned him to Idaho, and he’s not treating it as a demotion. “You’ve gotta look at it as a positive,” Jones said yesterday on Idaho SportsTalk. And besides: “Never been to Idaho—so that’s something I can mark off my bucket list now.”
This Day In Sports…brought to you by ZAMZOW’S…nobody knows like Zamzows.
December 11, 2010, five years ago today: Boise State’s Kellen Moore finishes fourth in Heisman Trophy voting at ceremonies in New York, the highest honor yet for the school’s most decorated player. Moore joined Auburn’s Cam Newton, the runaway Heisman winner, Stanford’s Andrew Luck, and Oregon’s LaMichael James on ESPN’s nationally-televised program. Moore was, needless to say, the Broncos’ first-ever Heisman Trophy finalist. Earlier that day, the Football Writers Association of America named Moore its first-team All-America quarterback, passing over Newton and the ongoing play-for-pay controversy surrounding the Auburn superstar.
(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.)
Scott Slant sponsor sites:
<P
BBSI
