Scott Slant Wednesday Weekly: Broncos are too far off the bubble

A year ago, bracketology was a weekly topic around Bronco Nation, as Boise State mostly stayed above the bubble and in the field of 68 for the NCAA Tournament.But with an 8-4 record going into the final non-conference game of the season Friday night against Utah Valley, there’s not a lot of bracketology discussion right now. The Broncos’ losses have been to Clemson, Virginia Tech, Butler and Washington State. None of them are bad losses, but on the other hand, none of them were wins. Boise State hoops has gone through some November-December adversity before—like last year, with the losses to South Dakota State and Charlotte. And two years ago, with the infamous train wreck against Cal State Bakersfield. And the Broncos made the NCAA Tournament each season. So they’ve been here before.

STILL GETTING THE PIECES IN PLACE

The game against Utah Valley marks Boise State’s last dress rehearsal before Mountain West play begins next week. And the Broncos go into it as a consensus No. 6 right now in the conference pecking order. It’s not so much that Boise State has been bad, but the schools above it have been really good—five teams with just one loss and one with two defeats. Still, you wonder about relative strengths of schedule. We can wait a week on that one. The task at hand is to continue the jelling process—Roddie Anderson III, Cam Martin, O’Mar Stanley, and Andrew Meadow synching up with Tyson Degenhart, Max Rice, Chibuzo Agbo and Jace Whiting. Meanwhile, Utah Valley comes into Friday night’s game at 6-6. The Wolverines’ best win was over Weber State.

DELAYED ENTRY INTO THE 1,000-POINT CLUB

Things did not work out for Boise State in Spokane last Thursday, when the Broncos fell 66-61 to Washington State. The storyline was Degenhart and Rice both sitting at exactly 980 career points, just 20 points shy of becoming the 33rd and 34th Broncos to score 1,000. The Cougars were determined to make it difficult for Boise State’s scoring leaders, and make the other Broncos beat them. Stanley almost did with his career-high 23 points, but Degenhart and Rice scored 12 and six points, respectively, and combined to go 5-of-25 from the field. The consolation prize would be for both of them to get to 1,000 Friday night in front of the home crowd in ExtraMile Arena.

THE STABILITY FACTOR

Boise State athletic director Jeramiah Dickey makes it very clear that he didn’t hire Spencer Danielson just so the Broncos could save the 2024 recruiting class—and the coaching staff. But that’s been the early effect of the Danielson era. Not only did he and his assistants sign all 16 of their existing commitments (plus two) on Early Signing Day, they also remained a staff. One by one, it fell into place, from coordinators Bush Hamdan and the promoted Erik Chinander to James Montgomery, Matt Miller, Jabril Frazier, Tim Keane, Nate Potter and Demario Warren. The one who had been under the most scrutiny was Warren, who oversees cornerbacks and special teams. Now it’s just the corners. Danielson also snagged respected Ball State defensive coordinator Tyler Stockton as his safeties coach. There’s just one hire to go.

ALL HAIL HOLANI

In this, my last Scott Slant column of 2023, I’d like to reflect on George Holani’s career at Boise State. We thought that maybe right now Holani would still be deciding between the Broncos and a shot at the NFL in 2024—until NCAA rules told him it was over. The final count: 3,596 rushing yards, 4,479 all-purpose yards and 34 total touchdowns. Not only did he end on a high note with 138 yards against UCLA in the LA Bowl, including the 66-yard touchdown on the final carry of his career, his 183 yards from scrimmage were the most in a bowl game this year until Georgia State’s Freddie Brock eclipsed it in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl last Saturday.

But for me, it’s Holani’s collegiate debut that won’t be forgotten. It was at Florida State way back in 2019. Holani had played so well in fall camp that coach Bryan Harsin decided to play him as a true freshman. In Tallahassee, the Broncos threw him into the fire, wagering that the moment wouldn’t be too big for George. It wasn’t. Holani had 14 carries for 70 yards and two catches for 33 yards, and he narrowly missed a fourth-quarter touchdown in Boise State’s 36-31 victory over the Seminoles. He did not disappoint.

TRANSFER PORTAL BLUES, THE FLIP-SIDE

There will be transfer portal exits of some kind for Boise State, but the Broncos have largely escaped it so far. This was interesting from Chris Vannini’s Group of 5 Mailbag on Christmas Day at the Athletic: “My colleague Max Olson just recently dug into the numbers. Of the 186 scholarship Group of 5-to-Power 5 transfers in 2023, 72 percent saw fewer snaps for their new team and 37 percent didn’t start a game this season. There were a fair number of success stories as well, but these numbers should be a flashing red light about the risks. Is it better to move up if you could get less playing time? As Western Kentucky wide receiver Malachi Corley put it last year when explaining why he didn’t transfer, is it better to be a spoke in the wheel or to be the wheel?” At Boise State, Ashton Jeanty is the wheel, and it will pay off.

AGGIES DEFENSE DONE IN

There’s one area of focus for Utah State in the offseason, and coach Blake Anderson wasn’t shy about it after the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl last Saturday. “I think in general just defensively we struggled all season,” said Anderson after the 45-22 loss to Georgia State on the blue turf. “It’s not something that we talk about a lot, but clearly it’s obvious we struggled.” Indeed, as the Panthers racked up 643 yards of total offense, including 386 on the ground. Two players, running back Freddie Brock and quarterback Darren Grainger, accounted for all of the rushing yards. Brock’s 276-yard day on the ground ranks second in FIPB history. Georgia State’s short-sleeved coach, Shawn Elliott, basked in the traditional French fry bath at the end.

VANDALS ARE IN A GOOD PLACE

You may have seen that last Friday marked the seventh anniversary of Idaho’s third and final appearance in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. It resulted in the Vandals’ 61-50 victory over Colorado State in the third highest-scoring bowl game in history—and the highest-scoring second half. At the time, it had been decided that Idaho would move to the FCS and the Big Sky in 2018, and man was there an outcry, especially after that game. But during this year’s Vandals run to the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs, I couldn’t help but think this is what the change was supposed to do. It took a while, but coach Jason Eck has done the trick. Through the regular season and into the postseason, the Kibbie Dome was rockin’ like never before. It’s been a big win up north.

STEELIES END 2023 IN TEXAS

The Idaho Steelheads finish the calendar year on the road with three games in three days, Friday, Saturday and New Year’s Eve against the Allen Americans. The Steelheads would love to take the ECHL’s best record into 2024—that’s where they are now at 21-5-1 (43 points). Idaho also has the league’s top offense, and it’s keyed by Wade Murphy and Mark Rassell. Murphy leads the ECHL in scoring with 38 points, and Rassell, who had two tallies in last Saturday’s 6-1 win at Utah, is tops in the league with 20 goals. The Steelheads have two more players in the top 10 in ECHL scoring: Ty Pelton-Byce and captain A.J. White.

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December 27, 1998, 25 years ago today: A high point in the NFL career of Capital High grad Jake Plummer’s, as Chris Jacke hits a 52-yard field goal on the final play of the game to give Arizona a 16-13 win over San Diego at Sun Devil Stadium. The victory clinched the Cardinals’ first playoff berth since moving to Phoenix from St. Louis in 1988—and their first overall in 16 years. The following week, Plummer would lead the Cards to their first playoff win in half a century with a victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

(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.)

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