Presented by COMMERCIAL TIRE.
This Day In Sports…August 31, 1996, 30 years ago today:
Boise State and Idaho make their debuts in Division I-A, now the FBS. The Broncos fell at home to Central Michigan 42-21 while coach Pokey Allen was away in Vancouver, BC, undergoing alternative cancer treatment. There was no hint of the incredible Boise State run that would begin a few years later. The Vandals, meanwhile, led a solid Wyoming team into the fourth quarter before falling 40-38 at Laramie. Ryan Fien, a transfer quarterback from UCLA, broke Ken Hobart’s Idaho single-game passing record in his debut with 543 yards.
Ryan Ikebe scored Boise State’s first touchdown as a I-A school, pulling in a nine-yard pass from Tony Hilde in the second quarter to tie the Chippewas 7-7 in the second quarter. Hilde and Ikebe also connected on a 55-yard TD strike in the third quarter to even the game 21-21. But turnovers would take their toll—four lost fumbles ultimately did the Broncos in. Idaho led Wyoming 21-6 in the second quarter and 31-19 in the third after three of Fien’s four TD passes. But the Cowboys controlled the fourth period and escaped with the win.
Boise State and Idaho had made the move up from the Big Sky together, joining the Big West. With Allen battling cancer, the Broncos’ season would unravel, ending in a 2-10 record, by far the worst in school history (and one of only five losing seasons ever). Pokey, with his days numbered, returned to lead Boise State in its final two games of the season. One was an emotional 33-32 win at New Mexico State; the other a 64-19 loss to Idaho in the last game he would ever coach. Allen passed away on December 30, 1996. The Vandals finished 6-5 with this stat line from Fien: 3,674 passing yards and 27 touchdowns—but an FBS-leading 21 interceptions.
The Broncos and Vandals would compete in the Big West through the 2000 season, with Idaho winning the 1998 conference title and Boise State starting its golden era with championships in 1999 and 2000. The next four years saw the Broncos in the WAC and the Vandals in the Sun Belt before UI finally gained its WAC membership in 2005. They were conference rivals once again—until Boise State jumped to the Mountain West following the 2010 season, and they haven’t played football since. The hiatus will have reached 21 years before the two schools’ scheduled rivalry revival on Sept. 6, 2031.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
