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Wednesday Weekly: September 23, 2026.
Boise State has had Saturday’s game circled for weeks. Western Michigan has had it circled for months. For 20 years, WMU has been “the other Broncos”, and they’re tired of it. They watched the Boise State Broncos win a Fiesta Bowl, and then another, and then another. And they watched Boise State appear in a fourth Fiesta Bowl two seasons ago in the College Football Playoff. Western has made one New Year’s Six Bowl, the Cotton Bowl at the end of the 2016 season, falling to Wisconsin 24-16 in P.J. Fleck’s final season as coach. Those other Broncos are in their fourth season under coach Lance Taylor and are the defending MAC champions. They want to be the Broncos, and they feel their time is now.
DON’T MOST PEOPLE FEEL THIS WAY?
I didn’t think Spencer Danielson’s props to Western Michigan were worth national headlines, but there it was Tuesday on the ESPN.com homepage. The Boise State coach called WMU “an undefeated football team, period. End of story.” Danielson’s referring, of course, to Western Michigan’s 2-1 record, which he (and legions of others around the country) says should be 3-0 after the other Broncos fell at Michigan when officials put one second back on the clock to give the Wolverines a second Hail Mary chance in the Big House. Lost in all that is what Western really did that night, dominating on defense and controlling the clock offensively (something Boise State likes to do). WMU had one drive that covered almost 14 minutes, a 20-play marathon that ended in a field goal.
TWO SETS OF BRONCOS BUNCHED AT THE TOP
Almost everywhere you look, Boise State and Western Michigan are the two top-ranked Group of 6 teams in the country, and there’s not much separation going into the big to-do in Kalamazoo. When you count down “others receiving votes”, Boise State’s Broncos are No. 31, and Western Michigan’s Broncos are No. 33. In the Coaches Poll, Boise State is No. 35, and Western Michigan is No. 39. The asterisk here is in Chris Vannini’s weekly re-rank of all 138 FBS teams, where Boise State gets the No. 22 spot, while Western Michigan is No. 25. However, Tulsa, the team that beat Oklahoma State, which is the team that beat Oregon, is all the way up at No. 19 on The Athletic’s list. We’ll check out the Golden Hurricane’s game at Arkansas out of the corner of our eyes Saturday.
STILL A WIDE-OPEN RACE
It’s hard to say that Boise State is a clear frontrunner for the Group of 6 spot in the College Football Playoff after its 38-24 win over South Dakota last Saturday. Anything can happen moving forward. There are issues that could bite the Broncos, not the least of which is explosive plays allowed in the passing game. They’re allowing a whopping 17.6 yards per completion this season. But after the Western Michigan game this week, how tricky will the Pac-12 be? For example, Boise State was favored by 24.5 points over the Coyotes and won by 14. Oregon State was a 52-17 victor over Montana—favored by 17.5 points and winning by 35. Shouldn’t South Dakota and the Grizzlies be considered peers in the FCS? It’s a long season.
BOISE STATE’S SPAGHETTI WESTERN
Clint Eastwood would have loved Boise State’s win over South Dakota—“The Good, The Bad & The Ugly”. The good was the relentlessness of the Broncos running game, with Dylan Riley atoning for a first-quarter fumble with his game-sealing 83-yard touchdown run. The bad was the 243 passing yards allowed on just 12 completions. And the ugly was Cam Bates “what are you doing?” fumble on the fourth-quarter punt that led to some unnecessary drama at the end. The injury situation could have been ugly, but right now there is no indication that Sire Gaines and Jayden Virgin-Morgan won’t play this week. In the fourth quarter, Gaines left after landing awkwardly on his arm, and Virgin-Morgan, who came off in obvious pain after a sack on South Dakota’s final drive.
DEFENSIVE SEMANTICS
I think everyone’s been careful to term Boise State’s problems so far this season as “pass defense” as opposed to “the secondary”. That issue was laid bare against South Dakota, as Austyn Modrzewski pitched a tent in the pocket and was able to wait long enough for his receivers to come free. The Broncos had just four quarterback hurries and two sacks from the front seven. CBS Sports Network ran a graphic during the game showing Boise State leading the nation in allowing plays of 25-plus yards, as well as 30-plus, 40-plus and 50-plus. That will not get a team to the College Football Playoff. But the season is only three weeks old. The Broncos swear it can be fixed. It’s gotta start with the latest “Group 6 Game of the Year”.
JONESING FOR MORE JONES
Two words after the South Dakota game: Rasean Jones. The true freshman out of Rocky Mountain continues to drop jaws. He had eight receptions for 95 yards Saturday night, stirring memories of Khalil Shakir. It’s the type of catches Jones makes that stops you in your tracks. He had three of his grabs on the last drive of the first quarter. One of them he made while on the ground on a third-and-five. Then he pulled in a nine-yard touchdown from Maddux Madsen on the next play, his first career TD catch to go with his rushing score the week before. Jones is Boise State’s far-and-away leading receiver with 15 receptions for 332 yards.
CHECKING THE BRONCOS’ ID
The Boise State offensive identity is emerging after three games: a run-centric attack with game management at the quarterback position. Will that be enough to win at Western Michigan? Discuss. The Broncos are tied for 29th in the country in rushing at 225 yards per game. They’ll take that. They’re 94th out of 138 teams in passing at 201 yards per game. The lack of a consistent vertical passing game is obvious, but we’re through three games now, and Maddux Madsen has thrown for six touchdowns without an interception and is making good decisions. Madsen sometimes gets booed when he throws the ball away to save a play. But again, no picks. I think it’s noticeable how much more quickly Madsen is delivering the ball this season. But maybe that’s just me.
BATTLE OF THE HASHMARKS
If you want to put a local spin on it Sunday, it’s the Battle of the Hashmarks when the New Orleans Saints host the Las Vegas Raiders. It’s the two-yard line versus the 11-yard line (referring, of course, to the new sideline hashes at Albertsons Stadium). And who’d a thunk this would be such a compelling early-season matchup? Coach Kellen Moore has the Saints playing at a high level after narrowly missing a win at Detroit and then going into Baltimore and upsetting the Ravens. Quarterback Tyler Shough has been a revelation, and the revelation is that he has a head coach that’s pretty good with QBs. The Raiders are 2-0 after toppling the L.A. Chargers last Sunday. The Chargers keyed on Ashton Jeanty and held him to 48 yards on 21 carries after he had his way with Miami in the season opener.
SCOPING THE GEM STATE
Idaho State tries to get the well-rested engine revved up again after a bye when it travels to Southern Utah on Saturday. It’s the Big Sky opener for the 3-0 Bengals, 14th-ranked in the FBS and off to their best start in 21 years. Things are equally upbeat for College of Idaho, which is back at Simplot Stadium Saturday after logging their third straight rout to open the season—59-14 at Montana State-Northern. The Yotes host Montana Tech Saturday at noon. Idaho, meanwhile has a bye week as it sorts things out after an 0-4 start. The 41-39 loss to Abilene Christian last Saturday in the Kibbie Dome was the Vandals’ seventh in a row dating back to last season.
HOME STRETCH LOOKS GOOD FOR AC BOISE
I don’t hear the phrase “magic number” when it comes to USL League One and the playoffs, but Athletic Club Boise probably has one now. AC Boise is unbeaten in its last seven games after last Sunday’s 2-2 draw with the Spokane Velocity. It is one that got away, though, as ACB was ahead 2-0 at the half. Boise is back on the road Saturday night, all the way down at the Gulf, as it takes on Corpus Christi FC, which is fighting to stay in playoff contention. The two teams played on AC Boise’s home pitch on August 1, producing the only nil-nil draw of the season.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by OPTIMIST YOUTH FOOTBALL…serving the community for 77 years!
September 23, 2018: Tiger Woods picks a grand stage to win his first PGA Tour event in more than five years. Woods won the Tour Championship in Atlanta by two shots, spurring thousands of fans to engulf him and chant his name as he walked up the 18th fairway. At one point after multiple back surgeries he had wondered if he would ever play competitively again, but he finally collected his elusive 80th career victory. TV ratings for the Tour Championship increased 206 percent over a Tiger-less field the year before. The win would push Woods back into the top 15 in the world after a ranking of 1,199th less than a year earlier.
(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.)
