BOISE, Idaho — Wednesday Weekly…May 22, 2024.
Are you among those who think Boise State has assembled its best wide receivers room in history? You’ve got 2022’s leading receiver, Latrell Caples, returning from his torn Achilles tendon last summer—along with emerging deep threats Austin Bolt and Prince Strachan and the untapped but reliable Chase Penry, plus transfers Cam Camper from Indiana and Chris Marshall from (at one time) Texas A&M and Ole Miss. Good group, for sure.
But allow me to present to you the consensus best team in school history from 2010. That includes wide receivers. Austin Pettis was third down (and touchdown) magic. Titus Young was a classic home run threat. Tyler Shoemaker was the dependable possession receiver. Pettis holds the school record for career TD catches with 39, Young is second in career receiving yards with 3,063, and Shoemaker broke the school single-season TD receptions record in 2011 with 16. Tough to top that crew. But the 2024 receivers may have the edge in depth. It’s easy to see the Broncos go six-deep at wideout. The fourth-leading wide receiver in 2010 was Geraldo Boldewijn with only 11 grabs.
LET’S REVISIT THIS LATER
Bill Bender of Sporting News has ranked all 134 FBS head coaches. Boise State’s Spencer Danielson is No. 81. So let’s dissect that, shall we? It’s not totally unfair, as Danielson has coached all of four games in his career. And the only Mountain West coaches ahead of him are Air Force’s Troy Calhoun, New Mexico’s Bronco Mendenhall and Fresno State’s Jeff Tedford. And he’s ahead of guys like UNLV’s Barry Odom and Colorado State’s Jay Norvell. With that said, many prognosticators have the Broncos at or near the top of the Group of 5 (and College Football Playoff candidacy). Let’s see where Danielson is a year from now. I’d venture to say if more national writers did their homework on him, he’d be higher. By the way, Nevada’s Jeff Choate is dead last at No. 134. Now that is unfair.
36,000 IS A TEMPORARY TARGET
Boise State updated its 2024 football season ticket number Monday. Suffice to say that things are going well. Before Memorial Day, the Broncos check in at 17,841 season tickets sold, already more than last year’s total. That’s also the most since 2018. This will be the last season the Broncos have a chance to reach 36,000 in average attendance for the foreseeable future. Albertsons Stadium’s current capacity is 36,363, but when the North End Zone is reconfigured for premium seating, the total will drop by about 1,570 seats. That will be in 2026, but we’re assuming a chunk of the NEZ will be closed off for construction in 2025. So opportunity knocks.
ISN’T THAT THE UCF GUY?
The calm before the calm. That’s what we can call it, as we are 101 days away from Boise State’s 2024 season. Jumping to this fun fact: the Broncos defense opened against Dillon Gabriel at UCF in 2021 in Andy Avalos’ first game. Now, with Spencer Danielson as coach, they face Gabriel two games into this new season at Oregon. Gabriel spent the last two years at Oklahoma, throwing for 7,828 yards and 55 touchdowns against 12 interceptions. That’s enough to make him the heir-apparent to Bo Nix for the Ducks in their first year in the Big Ten (and Gabriel’s sixth in college football), and I’m not seeing anyone expecting a drop-off. He is very much in the hunt for the Heisman Trophy, with FanDuel ranking him third in Heisman odds. As an aside, Ashton Jeanty isn’t even on FanDuel’s list.
9-3? OR 8-4? OR…
The over/under win numbers from FanDuel are out for the 2024 season, and Boise State leads the Mountain West at 8.5. Keep in mind these are regular-season only, so those who bet have to decide on 9-3 or better, or 8-4 or worse. The Broncos were 7-5 last year before winning the conference championship game and losing the L.A. Bowl. Two teams are at 7.5: Fresno State and UNLV. At 6.5 are Colorado State and Wyoming. At the other end are Nevada at just 2.5, and—despite the splashy name that comes with new coach Bronco Mendenhall, New Mexico is at the bottom of the conference at only 1.5. And here’s life in the Big 12 for BYU. FanDuel has the Cougars with an over/under of 4.5 wins—5-7 or better, or 4-8 or worse.
PLAYING PERCENTAGES WITH OSU, WSU
Here I go referencing Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News again. But the guy has credence, and here are his odds on what happens to Washington State and Oregon State in two years. “WSU and OSU join the current ACC: infinitesimal. They join the current Big 12: 1 percent. Join a reconfigured Big 12 (if the ACC implodes): 5 percent. Rebuild the Pac-12 with Stanford and Cal: 12 percent. Rebuild the Pac-12 with the Mountain West exclusively: 31 percent. Rebuild the Pac-12 with an assortment of Group of Five schools: 51 percent. There’s one scenario not listed above but worth mentioning: The Cougars and Beavers join the Mountain West. It’s unlikely, because dissolving the Pac-12 would mean relinquishing tens of millions of dollars in NCAA Tournament revenue. But it can’t be discounted altogether.”
TYSON IS WARMIN’ UP
Boise State produced a video of Tyson Degenhart making a pitch (pun intended) to throw out the first pitch at a Seattle Mariners game. Degenhart talked about his parents going to a Mariners game during their honeymoon in 1996, and the fact he has the ticket stubs. He recalls the time in eighth grade he got to go out on the field for batting practice and kept a ball from that day. And, Degenhart said, he has a piece of the Kingdome. Well, it worked. Degenhart revealed Saturday that he’s been chosen to deliver the first pitch on August 10 at T-Mobile Park when Seattle hosts the New York Mets. That’s the Boise State Alumni Association’s annual “Night At The Mariners.” Tyson’s opportunity doesn’t happen if he’s not a first-team All-Mountain West pick and first-team Academic All-American—and a great all-around dude.
MERRITT: REFRESHED AND PROBABLY REJUVENATED
After watching the drama (both on and off the course) at the PGA Championship from afar last week, Troy Merritt is back on the trail for the Charles Schwab Challenge, which tees off Thursday morning in Fort Worth. Merritt will try to pick where he left off—a tie for ninth at the Byron Nelson three weeks ago and a tie for 40th two weeks back at the Myrtle Beach Classic. The soon-to-be Boise State Athletic Hall of Famer remains No. 132 in FedExCup standings.
HAWKS KNOCK OUT JACKALOPES
The Boise Hawks went into the Pioneer League’s unique knockout round in their home opener at Memorial Stadium last night. That’s how they settle ties after nine innings, and the Hawks won the mini-home run derby to beat the Grand Junction Jackalopes 6-5. Starting pitcher Brayden Spears, who was part of the short-lived revival of baseball at Boise State four years ago, threw the first five innings and left with a 5-3 lead. Boise’s first home run of the year (pre-knockout round) came from first baseman Micah Yomamine in the third inning. The Hawks ended 2023 with a four-game winning streak to notch a winning season at 49-47. So hey, they’ve won five in a row.
THE LATEST ‘PRIDE OF PAYETTE’
Sting Ray Robb is in a whole ‘nother world now as he goes into his second Indianapolis 500 this Sunday at the Brickyard. The 22-year-old Robb, born in Boise and calling Payette home, got into last year’s Indy through Last Chance Qualifying and was in the last row. Robb’s race ended with a turn into the wall midway through the race. This year he’s driving the No. 41 Dallara-Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Enterprises, and he said on Idaho SportsTalk yesterday that qualifying was “a breeze,” comparatively speaking. Robb will be in Row 8 in the 23rd overall position. “Just through my experience, knowledge and confidence the past year, there’s a big difference,” Robb said. A refresher on Sting Ray’s back story—that is indeed his real name. His parents are Chevrolet fans, and they named him after the car. It certainly works now.
THIS DAY IN SPORTS…May 22, 2004, 20 years ago today:
Capping an unlikely but spectacular run through the ECHL Playoffs, the Idaho Steelheads win it all in their first season in the league, taking the Kelly Cup four games-to-one with a 5-2 win over the Florida Everblades before a raucous standing-room-only crowd in the Bank Of America Centre. The Steelheads were on the brink of elimination in the first round against Las Vegas—then future NHL goalie Dan Ellis returned from the Utah Grizzlies (then in the AHL) and put together a remarkable 13-3 record with three shutouts to earn Kelly Cup Playoff MVP honors.
(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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