BOISE, Idaho — Wednesday Weekly: November 1, 2023.
One thing to consider when you look at the stunning turnaround of Boise State’s defense in the 32-7 win over Wyoming: The Broncos were making plays. The best example was Ty Benefield’s leaping interception (the first pick of his career) in the first quarter. That type of thing has not been happening for that unit this season—in fact, it was only Boise State’s fifth interception of the year. But Benefield went up and got it. It was also the Broncos’ best tackling game of the season. I can only count one egregious miss. The tackles themselves were spread around. Andrew Simpson led the team with only six, but he made them sideline-to-sideline. Half of them went for a loss, including a sack.
NO LONGER SCRAPING THE BOTTOM
What a difference a week makes. Reciting Boise State’s defensive stats this fall had become a broken record, and it wasn’t fun. Let’s see what happened after the Broncos held Wyoming to a mere 112 yards last Saturday. They had been giving up 428 yards per game, now it’s 389. (It’s a moral victory to be under 400.) Passing yards allowed per game has been 304, now it’s 277. Points allowed per game had been 30, and that’s down to 27. All of those new numbers sound SO much better. And a nod to rushing defense. That’s one area that had been decent—Boise State had been yielding 124 yards per game, 41st in the country. After holding the Cowboys to 27 yards on the ground, the average is now 112 per game, 25th in the nation.
FACING THE MUSIC IN FRESNO
The Boise State defense came a long way last week. But the moment of truth is on the horizon. The Fresno State offense will be a different animal Saturday night in what is now called Valley Children’s Stadium. The Bulldogs boast the No. 3 passing offense in the Mountain West at 297 yards per game. No Jake Haener? No problem, as Mikey Keene has shined since transferring in from UCF. Keene is second in the conference is pass efficiency. He's thrown 19 touchdowns against six interceptions. Fresno State is winning with defense, though. The ‘Dogs have the second-ranked Mountain West defense behind Air Force. Don’t forget that road shutout of Arizona State, for example. And the three third-quarter turnovers they forced against UNLV that were the difference in the game.
THE LOWS WERE NOT TOO LOW
It was all about response last Saturday for Boise State. Not just to the intense disappointment of the meltdown at Colorado State two weeks before. But during the game, too. The Broncos came out with renewed resolve, scoring on their first drive on Taylen Green’s 49-yard strike to Eric McAlister and lettin’ it fly on a two-point conversion. Benefield’s interception a couple of possessions later had Albertsons Stadium rockin’. But three plays after that you had Green’s fumble at the Cowboys’ nine-yard line, and—after the defense got a stop—there was Steph Cobbs’ muffed punt at the Broncos’ 19. One Wyoming snap, and suddenly it was 8-7. All the momentum had been sapped. Would déjà vu set in? Nope. We’ve wondered what could have been a lot this season. This time it was that the Broncos defense could have had a shutout.
THE MCALISTER & MADSEN EFFECT
Boise State nabbed two of the four Mountain West honors on Monday: McAlister is conference Offensive Player of the Week, and quarterback Maddux Madsen is Freshman of the Week. It was a natural for McAlister, who made seven catches for 160 yards and a touchdown in the 32-7 win over Wyoming on Saturday. Six of his seven catches gained a first down or scored a touchdown, and all seven receptions were for 12 yards or longer. Madsen was 12-of-15 for 147 yards and a touchdown and completed his final 10 passes of the game. He was 4-of-6 on third down, including the six-yard strike that gave Prince Strachan his first career TD. Madsen also rushed five times for 24 yards. As good as Green is, it’s hard to dispute the impact Madsen is having right now.
GEORGE IS GAINING STEAM AGAIN
Nobody expected George Holani to get 20 carries for Boise State in his first game in eight weeks. Certainly not the coaching staff. Holani, perhaps a little rusty, had seven carries for 19 yards in the first half last week while Ashton Jeanty was doing his thing. But Jeanty was in street clothes in the second half, and Holani ran it 13 times for 56 yards to finish it out in the Broncos’ 32-7 win over Wyoming. Breezy Dubar ran well, and in fact, scored his first career touchdown late in the second quarter. But how big was it that Holani was available, and healthy, and very good? Boise State won at Fresno State two years ago with a big game from Holani. The Broncos would like to have Ashton Jeanty back, though, after his first-half injury against Wyoming. That is still to be determined.
MOVING ‘UP’ TO JACKSONVILLE? YES…
Have you noticed that some of the NFL power rankings this week have the Jacksonville Jaguars up to No. 2? The Jags are buyers, and they traded yesterday for former Boise State star Ezra Cleveland. The fourth-year offensive lineman, a second-round NFL Draft pick in 2020, leaves the Minnesota Vikings, whose paradigm may have changed following the season-ending injury to quarterback Kirk Cousins. Jacksonville coach Doug Pederson was on the Pat McAfee Show (of all places) Tuesday and called Cleveland “a starting-type offensive guard.” Pederson is eager to “get him caught up and get him in the room.” Meanwhile, former Boise State safety Tyreque Jones has been signed to the Indianapolis Colts practice squad. Jones worked out for the Colts on Monday.
A BIG VANDAL WIN, AND AN EXHALE
It doesn’t get much bigger than what happened to Idaho last Saturday in the Kibbie Dome. Not only did the No. 9 Vandals take down No. 2 Montana State, but they did it in dramatic fashion in the fourth quarter. And who better to do it? Gevani McCoy hit UI career touchdown receptions leader Hayden Hatten with a 12-yard touchdown pass with 2:47 left to provide the eventual winning points. The Vandals don’t want to think they can exhale, but they’re probably able to as they size up their road trip Saturday to Northern Colorado. The Bears are, ahem, 0-8. Idaho has moved into a first-place tie with the Bobcats and Montana in the Big Sky standings at 4-1 with three games left to play.
PETERS IS IN A GOOD PLACE
Three years ago, walk-on Andy Peters trotted onto the blue turf against BYU after Boise State ran out of quarterbacks. That was not what he envisioned out of his college career—coming as it did in a virtually empty Albertsons Stadium due to COVID. College of Idaho has been a great fit for the Timberline High grad. Peters threw five touchdown passes in the Coyotes’ 42-38 win over Eastern Oregon last Saturday and reached 25 for the season, smashing the C of I school record. He also picked up his third 100-yard rushing game of the season, and he ended up with his fourth Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Week honor. Peters and the Yotes have their second bye week of the fall before going to Southern Oregon next week for the regular season finale.
STEELIES APPEAR TO BE SETTLING IN
The Idaho Steelheads dropped their first game of 2023-24 almost two weeks ago, which was a shock after what happened last year. The Steelheads were 0-1 after a record-smashing 58-11-3 season. But since then, the Steelies have been what we’re accustomed to. They swept the Utah Grizzlies on the road last weekend to improve to 3-1. Mark Rassell is the new face to watch for now. The 26-year-old center has scored in three straight games, including two goals in last Saturday’s win in West Valley City. This week the Steelheads play their first three-game series of the season, hosting Wichita beginning tonight in Idaho Central Arena.
MERRITT MOVES ON TO MEXICO
Troy Merritt is in Mexico this week—he tees off tomorrow morning in the Worldwide Technology Championship at Los Cabos. Merritt has made the cut in all three of the PGA Tour fall events he’s entered, including Top 10 finishes at the Fortinet Championship and Sanderson Farms Championship. The former Boise State star has earned just under $1.3 million in 2023.
THIS DAY IN SPORTS…November 1, 2003, 20 years ago today:
Arkansas outlasts Kentucky 71-63 in seven overtimes, equaling the record the Razorbacks already held for the longest game in NCAA history—and setting the mark for highest-scoring Division I-A game since official records began in 1937. That I-A scoring standard would be broken four years later by Boise State’s 69-67 quadruple-overtime victory over Nevada. The current record was set in 2018 in Texas A&M’s 74-72 win over LSU in seven OTs. Incidentally, Arkansas’ coach that night, Houston Nutt, had one overtime game in his one season with Boise State, the 30-23 win over Idaho in the 1997 season finale at the Kibbie Dome.
(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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