BOISE, Idaho — This Day In Sports…October 29, 2004, 20 years ago today:
In a record fourth regular season appearance on ESPN from Bronco Stadium, Boise State destroys Hawaii, 69-3, for its 19thstraight victory (and 13th straight on the ESPN family of networks). Boise State also kept Warriors quarterback Timmy Chang, now the UH head coach, from breaking college football’s career passing yardage record, intercepting him four times and leaving him 14 yards short. The biggest Bronco highlight was a school-record 85-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jared Zabransky.
The game started innocently—Hawaii actually led 3-0 with two minutes left in the first quarter. Then the dam broke, and in the third quarter, the Broncos put up 38 points. It was the complete game that Boise State sensed was coming, as the Broncos got a sterling effort from their defense (there were five picks overall). As a team, the Warriors had an abysmal pass efficiency rating of 64.9. And the offense relentlessly exploited Hawaii’s weaknesses with 425 yards on the ground, the most by the team in 25 years.
Hawaii coach June Jones didn’t have his greatest coaching night, but he did make one solid decision. He lifted Chang when the Warriors got the ball back with 54 seconds left in the game. How hollow would it have been had Chang broken the career passing record in a situation like that? That allowed him to set the mark in Hawaii’s next game—at home against Louisiana Tech—where they could stop the game and give the moment the attention it deserved. Chang finished with 17,072 yards. He held the record until 2011, when he was passed by Houston’s Case Keenum. This month, Oregon’s (and Oklahoma’s and UCF’s) Dillon Gabriel moved past Chang into the No. 2 spot on the list.
The buzz created by the blowout of Hawaii resulted in one of the more unique game situations in school history. Boise State had a bye the following week—then ESPN would jockey things around to fit the Broncos into the schedule on November 13 at San Jose State, opening a slot for them at 9 a.m. Pacific time (10 a.m. Mountain). It was the first “Breakfast With The Broncos” game, and it would go into the early afternoon before Boise State outlasted the Spartans 56-49 in double-overtime.
(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.)
