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.
This Day In Sports: Bear hangs up the houndstooth hat
December 15, 1982, 40 years ago today: Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant announces his retirement from football. Bryant, who spent 38 years as a head coach, retired as the winningest coach in college football history at the time—323 wins with the Crimson Tide, Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Maryland.
Scott Slant Wednesday Weekly: The guys who never get enough credit
Bob Behler and I were doing some math yesterday based on the fact that the Frisco Bowl against North Texas will mark John Ojukwu’s 51st career start for Boise State. We both believe that to be a record for a Broncos offensive lineman.
This Day In Sports: Shedding some light on the Steroids Era
December 13, 2007, 15 years ago today: Twenty months in the making and 409 pages long, the Mitchell Report is released with its findings on the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball.
This Day In Sports: The Dubs’ historic streak of dubs
December 12, 2015: The longest winning streak to start any season by any team in major American professional sports history ends with the Golden State Warriors’ 108-95 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
This Day In Sports: Merlin Olsen, the Aggies & the Gotham Bowl
December 9, 1961: In one of college football’s forgotten bowl games, Baylor upsets No. 10 Utah State 24-9 in the first Gotham Bowl in New York. The Aggies were led by future Pro Football Hall of Famer Merlin Olsen, but he obviously couldn’t draw a crowd all by himself—only 15,123 fans showed up at the […]
This Day In Sports: Back when he was ‘Johnny Football’
December 8, 2012, 10 years ago today: Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel becomes the first freshman ever to win the Heisman Trophy after a remarkable season in which he also became the first freshman to throw for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000.
Scott Slant Wednesday Weekly: Rubber match of sorts against North Texas
What’s the Scott Slant without a little history going into the Frisco Bowl next week? The Boise State-North Texas series is even at three wins apiece, but the teams haven’t played in 22 years. There are some interesting backstories, though.
This Day In Sports: Couldn’t the Broncos have played someone else?
December 6, 2009: Boise State makes history by becoming the first non-BCS school ever to get an at-large berth in a BCS bowl, accepting an invitation to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The sixth-ranked Broncos’ opponent would be fourth-ranked TCU, the team that beat them out for the automatic BCS berth that goes to non-BCS teams.
This Day In Sports: Division I-AA playoff run, the sequel
December 5, 1981: In its first trip ever to the Deep South, Boise State beats Jackson State, 19-7, in the first round of the Division I-AA playoffs.