Boise State @ Reno

Here is something I never thought would happen… Boise State, for a change, refused to bow to ESPN’s wishes to move a game!

Here is the story. Boise State is at Reno Saturday, November 25th, Thanksgiving weekend. ESPN, in their desire to fill time, requested to move the game to Friday night. Well, Boise State usually brings 5,000-7,000 fans to Reno. Being a holiday weekend, and only a few weeks notice, it would be tough for some of those people trying to juggle family events for the holiday and still make it to the game. Hotels and airline nightmares.

Instead, Gene Blaymeier chose to side with the fans, rather than get the additional TV exposure. In order to up the ante, ESPN threatened to not televise this weekend’s game with San Jose State. Which, of course, seems to border on blackmail to me, but what do I know? Instead of buckling, Blaymeier simply said, “fine”.

Bravo, Gene. Well done. I love playing on ESPN as much as the next guy, but at some point you have to draw the line.

Read a good account here.

In other Boise State news, this is interesting. ESPN.com has a couple analysts predicting which teams will be in which bowls. Granted, this is simply all gross speculation, and we really shouldn’t read anything into it, but still. It is fun to read about.

Read it here.

You’ll notice the 2 matchups they have for Boise State (whom both are assuming will be in the BCS in the Fiesta Bowl. First, a matchup with defending national champion Texas Longhorns. Wow, what a game that would be. We would probably be beaten, but on any given day, you never know.

The other matchup is even more intriguing. Boise State vs. Notre Dame. How cool would that be!? Unbelievable! I’ve watched a lot of Notre Dame this year, and I think the matchup would be very very good. They have a great passing game and our pass defense has been challenged this year. Their defense is a little suspect and our offense is very efficient. Boy, I can’t tell you how bad I would like all of the pieces to come together to make that game happen…

Here’s to dreaming.