BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…December 16, 2017, five years ago today:
Boise State, a 7½-point underdog, thumps Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl 38-28 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. The Broncos ambushed the Ducks, playing their first game under new coach Mario Cristobal, by forcing four first-half turnovers and outgaining Oregon 294-77 before the intermission. Brett Rypien threw for 362 yards, and Cedrick Wilson had 10 receptions for 221 yards, the most ever by a Bronco in an FBS bowl game.
The Boise State offense threw the kitchen sink at the Ducks, including the Nutcracker Suite on the first touchdown of the game. Ryan Wolpin, Alec Dhaenens, John Bates and Matt Pistone lined up in a diamond on the right. On a signal from Rypien, all four did a 360-degree pirouette, Rypien tossed to Wolpin, and he ran into the end zone behind the other three. But the biggest exclamation point on offense was Cedrick Wilson, who was playing on two tender ankles. Wilson hauled in a handful of difficult catches, including a 41-yarder on third down in the fourth quarter, keeping alive an 86-yard touchdown drive that put the game away.
Wilson was the bowl’s Offensive MVP, and Leighton Vander Esch took defensive honors in what would be his final game as a Bronco. The star linebacker turned it into a personal audition for NFL scouts, as he pestered Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert all day. Vander Esch posted 12 tackles, three of them for loss with one sack of Herbert. He also forced a fumble that was recovered by Jabril Frazier. That one game may have sealed Vander Esch’s status as a first-round NFL Draft picked the following spring.
The other defensive star was true freshman Kekaula Kaniho. A year earlier at Kahuku High School in Hawaii, Kaniho had ended his senior year with pick-sixes in five straight games, so he looked right at home when he stepped in front of a Herbert throw in the second quarter and returned it 53 yards for a touchdown, his second defensive TD of the season.
It was a 10-point game only because of two blooper touchdowns in the final minute of the first half, one on an 86-yard fumble return and the other on a 100-yard pick-six. Boise State was headed for paydirt on both drives. You can make a case that 52-14 would have been a more realistic final score. The Broncos improved to 3-0 versus the Ducks and 4-0 all-time in the Las Vegas Bowl. It was the culmination of a championship season that saw the Broncos recover from a 2-2 start and finish 11-3. Boise State and Oregon are next scheduled to meet on September 14, 2024, in Eugene.
(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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