BOISE, Idaho — Wednesday Weekly…September 18, 2024.
There’s a Boise State game this Saturday night. That turns out to be news, as Portland State has decided its roster will be healthy enough for the visit to the blue turf. The Vikings said in a press release that they’ve been dealing with their whooping cough outbreak through “a five-day course of antibiotics.” Players and staff who have completed the protocol can make the trip. There’s also a kickoff time for the showdown against Washington State on September 28. The Broncos and Cougars will kick off at 8 p.m. Get used to Pac-12 After Dark. It’s going to be a thing around here.
GROUP OF 5 DISTRACTIONS
It feels like Boise State, after all that Ashton Jeanty-driven publicity the first two weeks of the season, is a little off-the-radar following a bye week. Jeanty is still second in the nation with his 459 rushing yards despite playing one fewer game than the rest of the top five. But it was hard for the Broncos to sit idle while UNLV was getting all the Mountain West props by taking down Kansas—and Memphis was frustrating Florida State.
The Rebels are, in fact, ranked No. 25 now in the Coaches Poll. And Northern Illinois, following its upset of Notre Dame 10 days ago, is up to No. 23 in AP. Then there’s the matter of Toledo’s stunning rout of Mississippi State. So there’s plenty of competition for the Group of 5’s spot in the College Football Playoff. The good news is: the Group of 5 has never received as much attention as it is this year, thanks to the CFP. Boise State will return to the radar Saturday night.
IT'S PLUG ‘N PLAY ON THE O-LINE
On Monday, Boise State coach Spencer Danielson didn’t say that center Mason Randolph and right guard Roger Carreon are lost for the season, but nobody’s expecting either guy to be back anytime soon. Danielson did say that Randolph and Carreon will miss the Portland State game. Depth rules for the Broncos, though. Zach Holmes (at center) and Tyler Keinath (at guard) more than held their own in the loss at Oregon. They seem to enjoy blocking for Ashton Jeanty. Holmes transferred from Oregon State and Keinath from Western Illinois—both last year. And both are juniors.
A SHAKIR SIBLING ON THE BLUE
Did you know? There are two Portland State Vikings on the Senior Bowl watch list: cornerback Tyreese Shakir and quarterback Dante Chachere. And yes, Tyreese is Khalil Shakir’s little brother. He doesn’t wear No. 2—he’s No. 5. Tyresse has 12 tackles and two pass breakups so far this season. Last year, the younger Shakir logged 53 tackles, one interception and a forced fumble. Meanwhile, you know that Boise State is the last of all 134 FBS teams to play a home game this year. Safe to say Portland State holds the same distinction in the FCS. As a result of the whooping cough cancellation last week, the Vikings will now play four consecutive road games to open the season. They go to Chattanooga next week and won’t play at home until October 5 against UC Davis.
NO GO ON BASKETBALL-ONLY?
Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes was a popular guy before the Beavers game against Oregon last Saturday. A gaggle of reporters quizzed him on details of the Pac-12 rebuild after Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State and Colorado State accepted invitations last Thursday. One word stuck out to me: “Yes.” The Athletic’s Chris Vannini asked Barnes if football is a requirement for future members: “Yes,” he replied. Barnes might not speak for the conference, but if that’s true, it removes one of the more tantalizing Pac-12 possibilities. What if, many of us wondered, the league invited Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s as non-football members? The two West Coast Conference hoops powerhouses would add a lot to what would be a strong basketball league and are an obvious geographical fit.
THREE TIME ZONES ARE PLENTY
Barnes insisted last Saturday that the Pac-12 will move quickly to fill out its membership. One question is time zones. The Pac-12 already has two, Pacific and Mountain. In my opinion, additions in the Central time zone would be great, but the Eastern time zone is not necessary. If the reborn league could convince Memphis, Tulane and/or UTSA to depart the American Athletic Conference, the Pac-12 would have a lot of TV appeal. But going as far as South Florida or East Carolina just makes it a smaller version of the geographical mess that is the ACC. The other immediate issue: what about UNLV? The perception is that the Rebels are joined at the hip with Nevada, and the Pac-12 doesn’t want the Wolf Pack. But the two were in separate conferences from 1968-1991 and 1996-2011.
THE LOST OPPORTUNITY
More ammunition making George Kliavkoff the fall guy in the demise of the original Pac-12. Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News reports that in the spring of 2023 the former commissioner was presented with a backup option in the event Oregon and Washington left for the Big Ten and the Four Corners schools bolted to the Big 12. Invite the top football schools from the Mountain West, pair them with WSU and OSU, then convince Cal and Stanford to stay put.” Also, the Bears and Cardinal would have received larger shares of conference revenues. The Bay Area schools could have garnered more than they’ll receive for the first seven years of their term in the ACC ($11 million each, approximately). But Kliavkoff never considered it, sources told Wilner; nor did he request a fully formed proposal. What could have been.
VANDALS ARE ROLLING, YOTES REGROUPING
It's hard to think of many FCS teams better than Idaho right now. All the Vandals did last week was take the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year and send them out of the Kibbie Dome on their collective ear, routing Albany 41-13. Idaho’s Jordyn Dwyer and Nate Thomas scored two touchdowns each, with Dwyer doing it through air and Thomas on the ground. A similar fate probably awaits Abilene Christian on Saturday, road game or no road game. College of Idaho’s dynamic is different after absorbing a 42-25 loss at Montana Western last week. The Yotes were pierced by numerous big plays on defense. They’re away again on Saturday with a contest at Southern Oregon.
PENROD TURNS A NEW PAGE ON HISTORY
When MLB “relegated” the Boise Hawks after the 2019 season, forcing the franchise to go independent, we wondered if “former Hawks in the majors” would no longer be a thing. Well, Zach Penrod has become the first one-time Boise player to make the bigs in the independent era. And Penrod is a Columbia High and Northwest Nazarene alum to boot. Penrod was called up by the Boston Red Sox last weekend and made his debut with a hitless, two-strikeout eighth inning in Yankee Stadium last Saturday in a 7-1 win. Even better, Penrod’s wife and nine-day old baby girl were in the stands to see it. He threw another 2/3 of an inning Sunday versus the Yanks without giving up a hit. Penrod made 14 appearances for the Hawks in 2021.
THIS DAY IN SPORTS…September 18, 2003:
Michelle Wie makes history at the Albertson’s Boise Open, becoming the first female amateur to tee off in a PGA-sanctioned tournament. And Wie wasn’t just any amateur—she was a 13-year-old ninth-grader who drew huge galleries to Hillcrest Country Club and coast-to-coast attention to Boise. But she didn’t make it to the weekend, doomed by a first round 78 and finishing second-to-last in the Nationwide Tour event. She is now Michelle Wie West, and she’s about to turn 35. She stepped away from the LPGA Tour in the summer of 2023 and is now busy as a mom in San Francisco.
(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.)
