BOISE, Idaho — This Day In Sports…November 18, 2016:
On Boise State’s Senior Night, junior running back Jeremy McNichols becomes the first Bronco ever to log three 200-yard rushing games in the same season in a 42-25 win over UNLV. McNichols ran for 206 yards and a career-high four touchdowns, his nation’s-best 23rd consecutive game with a TD, as he widened his lead as the leading scorer in the country at the time with 26 touchdowns. It would be McNichols’ final appearance on the blue turf—he would forego his senior year to enter the NFL Draft. The win was the Broncos’ 10th of the season, marking the 14th time in 18 years they had reached double-digits.
The McWeapon was the McPlan against the Rebels—McNichols ran it 12 times in the first quarter alone and 20 in the first half. McNichols was his typical tough-to-tackle self. After the game, UNLV safety Troy Hawthorne was asked to compare J-Mac to San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey and Wyoming’s Brian Hill. “Those three running backs are all great and the best in our conference, but personally I think McNichols was harder to get down than the other two,” said Hawthorne. “That’s just my experience, I don’t know about (my teammates).” Probably applied to his teammates, too. McNichols’ final career Albertsons Stadium carry was a dazzling 31-yard TD run.
There must have been some Senior Night yips going around, though, because Boise State started the game inauspiciously. Thomas Sperbeck uncharacteristically lost a fumble 34 seconds into the game, Tyler Horton dropped an interception in the end zone on the ensuing drive that would have prevented a UNLV field goal, and McNichols fumbled at the goal line at the other end (recovered by the Broncos’ John Molchon).
Things did settle down, though. The fact that Boise State was able to score 42 points on 380 yards of total offense tells you there was some field position help, and it came from special teams. Junior Cedrick Wilson delivered a punt return everyone had been waiting for—a 73-yarder that set up a six-yard touchdown drive. Wilson also produced a 44-yard kickoff return, and the Broncos scored on that drive, too.
McNichols was originally a wide receiver at Boise State. He signed in 2014 after decommitting from Utah and was on track to redshirt that first year. But when Matt Miller suffered a career-ending injury in Game 4 at Air Force, McNichols was activated. It quickly became apparent that his value was going to be at running back, and he’d go on to rack up 3,205 rushing yards in three years, currently ninth in Boise State history. His 1,709 yards in 2016 are fourth all-time behind No. 3 Ian Johnson, No. 2 Jay Ajayi, and the new No. 1 (as of Saturday night), Ashton Jeanty.
(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.)
