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This Day In Sports…January 7, 2010, 15 years ago today:
Boise State’s “Decade of Dominance” is capped with a final ranking of No. 4 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll following a 14-0 season. It remains the best finish in school history. Alabama was crowned 2009 national champion after beating runner-up Texas in the BCS title game earlier that night. The Longhorns, Florida and Boise State were tightly-bunched in the second, third and fourth spots in the rankings, with the Broncos only four points behind the Gators in the AP Poll. And there was a big gap between Boise State and fifth-ranked Rose Bowl champion Ohio State.
A measure of the respect the Broncos had attained back then could be seen in TCU’s final ranking. Despite having fallen 17-10 to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, the Horned Frogs were No. 6 in both polls. On Broncos team laden with future NFL talent, sophomore quarterback Kellen Moore was the cream of the crop. Moore threw for 3,536 yards and 39 touchdowns as a junior, but his most impressive stat was interceptions—or lack of them. Kellen tossed only three while setting the all-time NCAA mark for lowest interception percentage in a season at .0069. Moore threw just three interceptions in 431 attempts.
Most of the attention, however, was already focused on what might happen the following season when the 2010s decade dawned, as the Broncos were set to return all but one starter from their Fiesta Bowl championship team. That 2010 squad is considered the best in Boise State history despite its 12-1 record (thanks to the heartbreaking overtime loss at Nevada toward the end of the year). The Broncos were utterly dominant following a 33-30 victory over No. 7 Virginia Tech to open the season on Labor Day.
The Broncos’ record during the 2000s? To this day it looks like a series of typos, but it’s the truth. The Broncos went 112-17 overall from 2000-09, including a 73-4 mark in conference play and a 69-2 performance on the blue turf. The Broncos took home eight league championships, with eight 10-win seasons. Dirk Koetter was head coach the first year, with the other nine split between Dan Hawkins and Chris Petersen. There will never be another long-term run like that one.
(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.)
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