Presented by BACON BOISE.
Wednesday Weekly: July 15, 2026.
Good on Boise State for doing its own football Media Day on Wednesday next week. Until then, it’s Fake Pac-12 Media Days here, since there isn’t a real thing this year. Phil Steele uses a lot of exclamation points in his 371-page college football preview (that’s just who he is). For example, the Broncos “look like the best team in the Pac-12 and will be a prime G6 Playoff contender this year!” But Phil lays out the stark numbers that surrounded the Boise State offense last season. The Broncos averaged 42.2 points in their nine wins, and (infamously) 7.6 in their five losses. That translates into a decent 29.9 points per game overall, and Steele feels they can top that this year. But the chances of doing that in the opener at Oregon are slim—the early line has Boise State as a 24½-point underdog.
STEELE ON OFFENSE & DEFENSE
I know a lot of people are wondering about Boise State quarterback Maddux Madsen after his lukewarm 2025, but Steele isn’t one of them. He likes the Broncos QB room, writing “if Madsen stays healthy, he will have his best year, and (Max Cutforth) now has experience.” What doesn’t he like? Half of the secondary after that unit lost all four starters. “They are solid at cornerback but have questions at safety,” Steele says. He predicts the starters at safety to be Derek Ganter Jr. and Kyle Hall Jr., the JC transfer from College of San Mateo. I always like Steele’s projections, because he spends a lot of time researching directly with coaches—including Spencer Danielson.
STEELE ON AZTECS & BULLDOGS
The two Mountain West teams that beat Boise State last year, Fresno State and San Diego State, have joined the Pac-12, too, and they’re picked second and third behind the Broncos in Steele’s magazine. Takeaways on those two teams: stability for the Bulldogs, as they lost the third-fewest players to the portal in the FBS and only had to bring in 10 transfers; and challenges on defense for the Aztecs. I’ll let Steele speak to that one: “This year, they have just two returning starters and look weaker at all three levels (on that side of the ball), plus they lose their defensive coordinator. The SDSU defense will take a clear step back in 2026.”
WHY IT CAN’T BE FOR THE LOBOS
Everyone wonders what the next Pac-12 expansion school will be, with the conference saying it’ll be very deliberate and patient in how they go about that. I’ve always said New Mexico would have been a good choice if it hadn’t been so bad at football for so long. Football still drives the train, and the Lobos’ success last year under Jason Eck didn’t come soon enough. Here’s the problem with New Mexico. Despite everything that Eck accomplished last season—the 9-4 record, the six-game winning streak to end the regular season, the 58 percent increase in attendance, the overtime loss to Minnesota in the bowl game—the former Idaho coach was pitching Lobos season tickets last week, bemoaning the fact that they’ve only sold “about 5,000.” The Mountain West will have to suffice.
BRONCO BENEFICIARIES
KTIK’s Prater & The Ballgame have confirmed four Boise State players as benefitting from the NCAA’s new “five years to play five” rule, and it’s good news on each count. They’ll all have an extra season of eligibility in 2027 if they want it—and unless the NFL unexpectedly comes calling, they’ll probably want it in today’s NIL world. Edge Max Stege, the ever-developing German, Australian punter Oscar Doyle, who transferred from Weber State last year and had a solid 2025, left tackle Tyler Ethridge, the transfer from CSU Pueblo, and wide receiver Akeem “Nitro” Wright, the new JC arrival from DeAnza College, are all fourth-year seniors. In the cases of Ethridge and Wright, they’ll be that much better after assimilating into the Broncos program for a year.
NEVER SAY NEVER?
Word leaked last Thursday and the NCAA made it official Friday: it’ll be Wichita State hosting the other half of the NCAA Tournament’s new “First 12” in 2027 and 2028. Boise State had submitted a bid for the two-day, six-game extravaganza. But despite the fact that Boise has significantly better national air access, Wichita was picked because it’s “Middle America” and centrally-located. It’s also a good basketball town—the Shockers don’t have football, so it’s all about hoops. Boise State notes it’s just a two-year contract. They’ll be baaaaaaahck. Boise would totally embrace this event, given the support for the Big Dance here dating back to 1983. There are 1.900 hotel rooms in Boise, almost 50 percent more when the NCAA Tournament last visited in 2018, so that’s not a problem. (And what’ll it be in 2029?)
FINGERS CROSSED FOR DEGGIE
Things are not trending up for former Boise State star Tyson Degenhart at NBA Summer League. Degenhart played 10 minutes in the Toronto Raptors’ Summer League opener against the Boston Celtics last Friday, more than he played in five total games in Summer League last July (six minutes). Degenhart was 1-for-6 from the field and 0-for-3 from three-point range, and it was clear there was work to do. Toronto came right back and played again last Saturday—he played another 10 minutes in that game and went 0-for-2. Then Game 3 for the Raptors was Monday, a 94-93 win over the Indiana Pacers, and he got the dreaded “DNP,” as in “Did not play – Coach’s Decision. Ouch. Toronto’s next game is against the Miami Heat on Thursday.
NO CUP, BUT PLENTY OF MOMENTUM
AC Boise won everything but the formula in the USL Cup after blanking Sacramento Republic FC 2-0 last Saturday night on the home pitch. Because the Spokane Velocity beat the Oakland Roots 3-1, AC Boise has been eliminated from the tournament. Too bad, because they went unbeaten against three USL Championship level teams. With the USL Cup no longer in play, ACB has some wiggle room on its schedule, and they’ve filled a gap in August in a very cool way: with its first international friendly on August 12, hosting Sporting FC from Costa Rica. Boise, meanwhile, has its first two-game winning streak since mid-May as it readies for another match on the home pitch Friday night against the Portland Hearts of Pine on CBS Sports Network (that’s Portland, Maine, FYI).
ALL-STAR TIES
Former College of Idaho pitcher Riley O’Brien was a rootable guy Tuesday night, as he appeared in his first All-Star game and acquitted himself well. O’Brien threw a scoreless third inning for the National League, allowing one hit and striking out one (the AL was victorious 4-0). He has had a breakout season with the St. Louis Cardinals and is second in the NL in saves with 24, one behind San Diego star Mason Miller. O’Brien has a 3.43 ERA in 39 appearances in this, his fifth big league season.
There are still some former Boise Hawks in the majors (left over from the old MLB affiliation days), and the most prominent is Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber. The Phillies slugger, after finishing as the runnerup in the Home Run Derby Monday night, led off for the NL in the All-Star Game and went 0-for-2. Schwarber leads the majors currently with 32 home runs. Another Hawks alum suited up for the NL, Milwaukee’s Willson Contreras, who actually spent two full seasons in Boise. Contreras went 0-for-1 in the game and lost in the semifinals of the Derby.
THE HAWKS VS. THE NOMADS
The current Boise Hawks are playing what the Pioneer League calls their “barnstorming” team, the RedPocket Mobiles. It’s a club without a home, playing all 96 of their games this season on the road, and they’re at Memorial Stadium for a six-game series this week. The Mobiles are in last place with a 12-37 record, but that didn’t stop them from throwing a scare into the Hawks Tuesday night. Boise trailed 2-0 going into the bottom of ninth before rallying for a 3-2 victory. It was good medicine for the reeling Hawks, who have won only twice in their last 15 games.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by PINNACLE WINDOWS & DOORS and BOISE PREMIER BLINDS.
July 15, 2018: In the highest-scoring World Cup final in 50 years, France wins its second championship with a 4-2 win over Croatia, the second-smallest country ever to make a World Cup title match. The six goals scored were as many as in the previous four World Cup finales combined. The Croatians were victimized by an own-goal and a French conversion on a penalty kick. The game wrapped up a World Cup full of upsets and drama. The tournament, which did not include the United States, was remarkably well-run by its Russian hosts.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
