BOISE, Idaho — Wednesday Weekly…November 13, 2024.
Let’s talk about Ashton Jeanty and what he gives Boise State when the chips are down. The Broncos were living on the edge late in the win against Nevada last week, and Jeanty came through with 11 carries for 85 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter. The final 15 minutes were similar at UNLV a few weeks ago, and Jeanty fought through the pounding he took to secure two crucial first downs in the eight-minute drive that ended the game. Sitting him in the final quarter has become a moot point, and it will remain so Saturday at San Jose State, as Boise State is likely to be in a shootout with the Spartans. It’s about the Broncos winning games right now—not about getting Jeanty his yards as he battles Colorado’s Travis Hunter for Heisman Trophy contention. But he's getting them anyway, and every one counts.
AWARDS AND MORE AWARDS
Who else could the Mountain West have given its Offensive Player of the Week nod than Jeanty? And for the fourth time this season, he has been named the Doak Walker National Running Back of the Week. Jeanty’s 209 rushing yards against Nevada were again the top FBS performance of the week. He now has three games of 200-plus yards and three or more touchdowns this season, the second-highest number of such performances in the FBS in the past 28 years. Jeanty is also one of 16 semifinalists for the 88th Maxwell Award that goes to the collegiate football player of the year.
UPDATE ON THE CHASE
Now to the count and the amount for Jeanty. He has 1,734 rushing yards for the season after just nine games. That’s only 89 yards away from Jay Ajayi’s 2014 single-season school record and 268 from his preseason goal of 2,000. Jeanty is also just 98 yards away from 4,000 for his career, and he’s 573 away from Cedric Minter’s Boise State career record of 4,475 yards. It’s likely that Jeanty has five games left. Minter’s record is one we thought would never be broken, because anybody good enough to break it would be gone to the NFL after three years. Well, Jeanty is poised to surpass it—in three years.
BRONCOS STILL IN G5 POLE POSITION
It was predictable Tuesday night. Boise State dropped one spot in the new College Football Playoff rankings, from No. 12 to No. 13. You can probably point to the Broncos’ seven-point win over USA Today’s 110th-ranked team in the country. Good ol’ strength-of-schedule. San Jose State, which awaits Boise State Saturday night, is 66th on the USA Today list. But Boise State is still the top-ranked Group of 5 team by a comfortable margin. If the Broncos win out, they’re in. Two other Group of 5 schools are in the CFP top 25 now: No. 24 Army and No. 25 Tulane. The Black Knights still have to face No. 8 Notre Dame a week from Saturday at Yankee Stadium. Tulane has Navy and Memphis left. The lowest-ranked Power 4 conference leader is now Miami of the ACC at No. 9, four spots ahead of the Broncos.
Despite a sloppy win over Nevada, there are still believers in the Broncos as a top 12 team out there. Longtime sports columnist John Canzano, formerly of the Oregonian, covered BYU’s Holy War win over Utah Saturday night with the bizarre ending. Now Canzano probably wrote this before dissecting the Broncos’ win, but here’s what he said at his “Baldfaced Truth” website: “The Big 12 isn’t a great league. Mountain West leader Boise State (8-1) is better than BYU (9-0). The Broncos’ only loss came on the road at Oregon on a last-second field goal. That defeat still looks better than any of BYU’s victories. And don’t get me started—the Ducks would beat the Cougars by 30.” Yikes. (BYU actually jumped to No. 6 Tuesday night.)
YOU KNOW WHAT SATURDAY’S GAME IS…
Some people hate the phrase “trap game.” But I’m here to bring it up going into Saturday’s Boise State clash at San Jose State. It can be an eerie place for the Broncos. In 2004 and 2006 they went down there undefeated, winning one game in overtime and the other on a walk-off field goal. Not relevant now? Well, San Jose State led on the blue turf last year 27-7 in the second quarter before Boise State rallied. And this Spartans team is good, featuring one of the nation’s best receivers, Nick Nash. SJSU coach Paul Niumatalolo threw stuff around in the locker room before last week’s game at Oregon State, and the Spartans responded with a 24-13 win. And then: “We know who’s coming to town next week, and that’s going to be an exciting game and we’re going to be ready for them,” he said after the game.
MADSEN’S GAME ON THE MEND
Maddux Madsen joked a few weeks ago that Boise State offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter says he sometimes wants to hug him and sometimes wants to punch him in the nose. You’d think the latter was the case after the Broncos’ 28-21 win over Nevada. Madsen went from the best game of his career the week prior to the worst, going 9-for-20 for just 119 yards and one touchdown against one interception (that counted). I think a lot of the credit needs to go to Wolf Pack defensive coordinator Kane Ioane, who was on the Boise State staff last year when Madsen emerged and has a clear view of his strengths and weaknesses. The Broncos don’t need Madsen to be like he was against San Diego State every time out down the stretch. They just need him to split the difference between that and his performance versus the Wolf Pack.
BRONCOS HIT THE RESET BUTTON
There are no more votes for Boise State in the college basketball AP Poll, but with a win over Clemson Sunday in ExtraMile Arena, who knows? The healing from the disappointing 84-73 loss last Saturday night at San Francisco began Tuesday night with a 100-65 victory over Corban of the NAIA—Boise State put six players in double figures. The Broncos’ momentum from the blowout of Oakland last week had been sapped at USF. The Broncos’ problems that night started with the boards, where they were out-rebounded by seven. The other issue was the Dons’ hot hand. They doomed Boise State with a 16-0 run midway through the second half. The Broncos got 25 points from Tyson Degenhart, but not much else offensively.
There’s really no measuring stick yet for Clemson, which dispatched Eastern Kentucky Tuesday night 75-62 to improve to 3-0. The Tigers beat the Broncos 85-68 last year at home, and Boise State’s leading scorer that night (Chibuzo Agbo with 18 points) is gone now. Clemson went on to the Elite Eight last March, when they finally fell to Alabama. It’s just going to be cool to have Clemson in town. The Tigers will be the first power conference team to play the Broncos in Boise since Oregon six years ago.
STEELIES UNPACK THEIR BAGS
The Idaho Steelheads’ cross-country six-game road trip is over, and they’re back in familiar surroundings tonight against a familiar foe. The Steelheads open a three-game divisional series tonight in Idaho Central Arena versus the Rapid City Rush. The return of goaltender Ben Kraws from the AHL’s Texas Stars made a difference for the Steelies as they took two of three games in Savannah. Last Sunday, Kraws clocked 48 saves, the most by any ECHL goalie in a game this season.He is 4-1 with a 2.61 goals against average, and those four wins are tied for first in the ECHL. Offensively, Idaho is still scoring at its accustomed rate—the Steelheads’ 40 goals tied for first in the league.
IDAHO: A LOT TO PLAY FOR
Idaho has been eliminated from Big Sky championship contention, but the FCS Playoffs are still very much in view going into the Senior Day game Saturday at the Kibbie Dome. The opponent is Weber State, which has been struggling through a four-game losing streak. The Vandals, meanwhile, are 7-3 on the season and have won three straight games for the second time this year. Idaho expects to build on its offensive balance, as the Vandals had it going on the ground last week. DeShaun Buchanan rushed for 212 yards and two touchdowns in a 39-30 win over Portland State in Hillsboro. Redshirt freshman Jack Wagner was back at quarterback. Wagner didn’t have to throw much but was good when he did (11-of-17 for 205 yards and a touchdown).
MULTI-SPORTS MIX IN THE 2C
It's a two-pronged week in Canyon County this week. In hoops Tuesday night, the annual United Heritage Mayors Cup tipped off at Northwest Nazarene’s Johnson Sports Center. And it was a classic, with the Nighthawks outlasting College of Idaho 69-66 in overtime. There’ll be a lot of juice at the rematch in Caldwell on November 26. Then Saturday, with the NAIA Playoffs all but out of the picture, the football Yotes will play their Senior Day game against Southern Oregon at Simplot Stadium. Leading the senior parade is quarterback Andy Peters, the Timberline High grad who will be finishing a record-breaking four-year career. It’s a rematch of a September game that saw SOU beat the Coyotes 45-27 (that one was a non-conference game—this one is a Frontier Conference tilt).
THIS DAY IN SPORTS…November 13, 2004, 20 years ago today:
Another San Jose State scare—it’s “Breakfast With The Broncos,” as the Boise State-SJSU game becomes a late addition to the ESPN2 lineup and kicks off at 10 a.m. Mountain time, 9 a.m. Pacific. The Broncos and Spartans took up much of the network’s midday airwaves, going two overtimes before Boise State survived 56-49. The star of the day was sophomore safety Gerald Alexander, who blocked a San Jose State field goal attempt with 1:11 left in regulation that could have won the game for the Spartans and ruined the Broncos’ undefeated regular season.
(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.)
