BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…January 4, 2010:
Just like three years earlier, sixth-ranked Boise State is an underdog going into the Fiesta Bowl. Unlike the Broncos’ original Fiesta Bowl experience, the legendary 43-42 overtime win over Oklahoma, this one would be a defensive battle. In the first meeting of unbeatens in a BCS bowl outside of the championship game, Boise State beat fourth-ranked TCU 17-10. A fourth quarter fake punt, with Kyle Brotzman passing 29 yards to Fiesta Bowl Offensive MVP Kyle Efaw, set up Doug Martin’s game-winning touchdown. Broncos cornerback Brandyn Thompson was the game’s Defensive MVP with two interceptions, one returned 51 yards for a touchdown.
It was Boise State defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox who deserved a game ball. Wilcox took a unit that had allowed 275 rushing yards to the Horned Frogs in the 2008 Poinsettia Bowl and redesigned it for this very special occasion. TCU quarterback Andy Dalton was confused from the get-go by Wilcox’s 4-1-6 look. Add in the constant shifting and stunting on the Broncos defensive line, and you had only the second 14-0 season in college football’s modern history. It would be Wilcox’s final game at Boise State—the next stop for the current Cal coach would be the D-coordinator’s post at Tennessee.
It was perhaps the strangest road to a Defensive Player of the Game award ever in a BCS bowl game. Thompson got the game off to a rousing start with his pick-six 3½ minutes into the game. But that didn’t stop Dalton from going after him over and over. The defining moment came in the fourth quarter when—after the Horned Frogs had been pinned on their own two-yard-line—they nicked Thompson on consecutive completions totaling 47 yards to get out to the 49. Then, Thompson’s second pick of the night stopped the drive cold. He also tipped a pass that was intercepted by Winston Venable to clinch it in the final seconds.
The team and the coach (Chris Petersen) that many in the national media characterized as the trick play specialists only used one in this Fiesta Bowl. Brotzman replicated a fake punt he had executed earlier in the season, this time hitting a wide-open Efaw. It was at a critical point of the game in the fourth quarter, when neither team was able to seize momentum. That was only part of Efaw’s night, though. The sophomore from Capital High made a big catch on the next play, setting up the winning touchdown by Doug Martin. Efaw had four receptions for 75 yards in the game.
The Boise State offense, led by Kellen Moore, had an uncharacteristically unsung night. Sure, the Broncos gained only 317 total yards. But they knew it was going to be a tough go against the nation’s No. 1 defense. The bottom line at the end: one excusable fumble lost, no interceptions by Moore, and no sacks of Moore by TCU superstar Jerry Hughes, nor anybody else. Kellen was a pedestrian 23-of-39 for 211 yards as he morphed from game-changer to game manager, and it worked out just fine.
(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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