BOISE, Idaho — This Day In Sports…October 22, 1977:
In a showdown between the top two teams in the Big Sky, Boise State beats Northern Arizona, 26-13, at Bronco Stadium. That was the night freshman tailback Terry Zahner became the first Bronco ever to rush for 200 yards in a game, going for 205 against the Lumberjacks. It was Boise State’s 10th season as a four-year program, but during the first eight, the Broncos were coached by Tony Knap, who employed a wide-open passing attack. His running backs (“halfbacks”) were receivers as much as rushers—the offense just wasn’t built to create a 200-yard game on the ground.
Knap left for UNLV in 1976 and was replaced by Jim Criner, who liked to run the ball. Criner’s first full recruiting class in 1977 included two dazzling true freshmen tailbacks, Cedric Minter (out of Borah High) and Zahner. The duo took turn dominating opponents with the help of another true frosh, fullback David Hughes, who would go on to a productive NFL career in the 1980s. Amazingly, Minter would break Zahner’s new record that same season when he ran for 210 yards against Cal Poly in Boise State’s home finale.
Zahner’s career was slowed by injuries, but he played all four years at Boise State alongside Minter and Hughes. That trio, along with quarterback Joe Aliotti, would be tabbed as the “Four Horsemen” during the Broncos’1980 Division I-AA national championship season. Minter recorded four 200-yard games in his career, including a school-record 261 against Northern Michigan in 1978. That’s the 46-year-old single-game mark Ashton Jeanty broke during the season opener August 31 at Georgia Southern.
Jeanty’s first career 200-yard game, like Zahner’s, went for 205 last year at San Diego State. With his 217-yard effort at Hawaii 10 days ago, Jeanty topped Minter’s 44-year-old Broncos record for career 200-yard games with his fifth. To this day, Minter is Boise State’s all-time leading rusher with 4,475 yards, a number we’re now keeping an eye on as Jeanty roars through the 2024 season. It has suddenly become a controversial stat, but that’s a subject for another day. Jeanty is currently 1,060 yards away from breaking it.
(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.)
