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Monday Special…December 9, 2024.

I don’t know if there’s ever been a more perfect storm for Boise State. A 12-1 season capped by a second straight Mountain West championship—followed by the final College Football Playoff seedings yesterday. Would the committee jump Arizona State over Boise State? Even with Clemson beating SMU in the ACC championship, it would have mattered, as a third-seeded ASU would have bowl preference over a fourth-seeded Boise State in the quarterfinals. But there were the Broncos on the three line, and they’re headed back to Glendale for their fourth Fiesta Bowl. And this one is bigger than the previous three. They’ll face the winner of the first-round game between SMU and Penn State. Boise State will probably be an underdog against either one, but that’s really not a bad draw.

MAKING PLAYS ON A FOGGY NIGHT

With the No. 3 seed and the Fiesta Bowl in the books, let’s talk about the game that got them there—the 21-7 win over UNLV Friday night in the Mountain West championship game. There were two 75-yard sprints that made the difference. One was obviously from Ashton Jeanty, the touchdown right before halftime which may have been the most electrifying moment I’ve ever seen in Albertsons Stadium’s 55-season history. The other was from Seyi Oladipo. If he was lined up at safety 11 yards off the line of scrimmage, well, he had to sprint 75 yards to catch Rebels running back Kylin James at the Boise State five-yard line in the third quarter. After first-and-goal from there, UNLV failed to score after a delay of game penalty, two runs for zero net yards and two incompletions. The importance of that sequence cannot be overstated.

IMPROVED AGAINST THE PASS

Underappreciated coming out of the title game is the job Boise State’s pass defense did against the second-team All-Mountain West quarterback, UNLV’s Hajj-Malik Williams. The Broncos sacked him six times and held him to 13-for-28 passing for only 110 yards. Just one completion traveled more than 20, and Rebels star wide receiver Ricky White III was limited to four catches for only 21 yards. Jeremiah Earby, who had dazzled during spring ball with a bundle of interceptions in practice, finally got his first real one. Earby, the transfer from Cal, put a bow on a stellar first half, making a pick two snaps after Jeanty’s 75-yard touchdown dash.

BRONCO NATION & THE WALL OF SOUND

The “two Cs” were in Boise State’s favor from the get-go Friday night: the cold and the crowd. The 25-degree temperature at kickoff, with fog hovering just above Albertsons Stadium, had to get in UNLV’s head a little bit. And the crowd came to play. At 36,663, it was the largest throng ever to watch a Mountain West championship game—and easily the loudest. The Rebels had not played in an environment like that this season. From the moment the game started, fans were committed to the blue turf tradition of noise on every defensive down, but this time it was up a notch on the decibel meter. UNLV had a few of the requisite false starts as a result. It was an amazing scene—right through the storming of the field (bigger than any before it) and the disappearance of the goal posts into the Boise River.

EXPECTING A FORMAT CHANGE IN ‘26

There was a lot of yappin’ Sunday about the new CFP rules this year for the 12-team playoff. The “top four conference champions” clause allowed the ninth- and 12^th-ranked teams on the CFP list (Boise State and Arizona State, respectively) to receive two of the four first-round byes. Obviously it placed a premium on winning league titles, which we naturally feel is a good thing out here. But almost every non-champion Power 4 coach interviewed on ESPN mentioned a need to change that stipulation. The SEC especially wants to blow things up after Alabama was left out Sunday. Fair or not, you can expect that to happen after next season when the guidelines are rewritten. Hopefully the Group of 5 will still have a guaranteed seat at the table. Moral of the story: enjoy the ride the next 25 days.

NEW GOALPOSTS, REPEAT MATCHUP

The biggest story out of the gate for the 28^th Famous Idaho Potato Bowl on December 23 is finding goalposts for the north end zone of Albertsons Stadium after the previous set went in the river Friday night. But we do know the matchup, as Fresno State will line up against Northern Illinois on the blue turf. The Bulldogs, at 6-6, will try to avoid a losing season, and they’ll have to do it without quarterback Mikey Keene, who is in the transfer portal. Interim coach Tim Skipper will coach his final game, as Fresno State has hired former North Dakota State coach and USC linebackers coach Matt Entz. The Huskies ended the regular season at 7-5 after their much-celebrated 16-14 upset of Notre Dame in Week 2. Northern Illinois beat Fresno State 40-17 in the 2010 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

IT DIDN’T TAKE ODOM LONG…

UNLV coach Barry Odom talked about UNLV’s bright football future after Friday night’s loss on the blue turf. But he won’t be a part of it. Odom is already headed for Purdue to take over the struggling Boilermakers program after the firing of Ryan Walters. Odom as 19-8 with the Rebels, who now go into the L.A. Bowl against Cal without him. Elsewhere, Bronco Mendenhall’s rebuild project at New Mexico lasted just one season, as he is headed back to the state of Utah to take over the Utah State program. It must be a more comfortable spot for him, in terms of both locale and conference (the future Pac-12). Mendenhall coached BYU for 17 seasons and spent six more at Virginia.

VANDALS TO THE QUARTERS

Do the math on Jack Layne’s passing performance in Idaho’s 34-13 thumping of Lehigh in the second round of the FCS Playoffs Saturday night in the Kibbie Dome. Layne was 16-of-22 for 318 yards and three touchdowns, averaging a shade under 20 yards per completion. He had scoring throws of 67 yards to Jordan Dwyer and 42 yards to Mark Hamper. That was one efficient night. The defensive highlight was a 76-yard pick-six by Zach Johnson. Idaho now seeks to avenge the biggest blemish on its resume in the FCS quarterfinals—the Vandals return this Saturday to Bozeman, scene of their 38-7 loss to Montana State in October.

TWENTY MINUTES OF AGONY

It was truly amazing that Boise State lost this game by five points. Against Washington State Saturday in Idaho Central Arena, the Broncos played their worst half of basketball since their stunning 46-39 home loss to Cal State Bakersfield three years ago. The Cougars led 44-24 at halftime and extended their lead to 24 points when Boise State missed its first six shots of the second half.  Then the light finally went on, and the Broncos clawed their way back to get within four points in the final minute before falling 74-69. Andrew Meadow and Tyson Degenhart were fantastic in the second half, but the first 20 minutes were horrible. A loss is a loss.

TWO DEFEATS IN TROIS-RIVIÈRES

The Idaho Steelheads won one of three games on their long road trip to Quebec. The Steelheads were looking to get the series win Saturday at Trois-Rivières after splitting the first two games. But the Lions blasted out to a 3-0 less than 5½ minutes into the game. Talk about a hole. The Steelheads actually came back to tie the game midway through the second period.  Trois-Rivières quickly regained control of the game, though, and won 6-3. As good as goalie Ben Kraws has been for the Steelies this season, coach Everett Sheen pulled him in favor of Bryan Thompson after he had yielded his fifth goal.  

This Day In Sports…brought to you by HIGH DESERT HARLEY-DAVIDSON…let’s ride!

December 9, 2018: The Miami Dolphins execute the longest game-winning play with no time on the clock since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 to beat the New England Patriots 34-33. The Dolphins called it “Boise.” Kenyan Drake finished off an amazing 69-yard hook-and-lateral reminiscent of Boise State’s “Circus” play that tied the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma with seven seconds left. Only this one featured two laterals, not one, and Drake had to do a lot more weaving than the Broncos’ Jerard Rabb. The Miami miracle overshadowed Patriots great Tom Brady, who broke Peyton Manning’s NFL record with his 580^th career touchdown pass (playoffs included).

(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.)

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