In The World…

Yesterday , Ryan Clady became Boise State’s all time highest NFL draft pick. He was taken at twelve by the Denver Broncos. He doesn’t change colors or mascots when going to the pros. I think he will do really well in Denver, because their scheme fits his strength. <football geek speak>They run a zone-blocking scheme which requires some more athleticism than just a straight line up and play smashmouth </football geek speak>.  I wasn’t able to watch a large chunk of the first day of the draft for a reason that I will have to tell you more about later.

Clady will always have a place in Boise State lore. You may remember a little play called “statue left”, aka. the game winning 2 point conversion in overtime in the Fiesta Bowl vs Oklahoma. His block helped seal the left end of the line (along with current Buffalo Bill Derek Schouman) to allow Ian Johnson to scamper across the goal line.

I’m going to be perfectly honest. As good as Clady was for us, I still don’t think he was the best offensive linemen that Boise State has ever had. I can recall numerous times where he was whistled for a drive killing penalty or him missing his guy and giving up a sack. I can’t back this up with numbers, but I trust my own eyes.

Still the best OL I have seen here is Daryn Colledge. Now a starter with the Green Bay Packers he graduated 3 years ago. I think he flew a bit under the radar because Boise State was not as well known then as they are now in this post-Fiesta Bowl universe.

Daryn was a 4 year starter for us. He owns both the consecutive games played and consecutive games started records at BSU, with 52 straight. We went 45-7 in his years here. One of his biggest wins was in that Hawaii game where he blocked 2 fourth quarter kicks, both returned by Orlando Scandrick and directly gave us the win.

Whenever he was matched up against a defensive end who had a lot of hype, he destroyed them. Specifically Bill Swancutt of Oregon State and Mathias Kiwanuka of Boston College. Neither of them did ANYTHING against Colledge.

When one is comparing offensive linemen, there is really very little hard data to go on. They don’t acrue many stats. I don’t think you can even use draft place as a guage either. So much goes into where a player is taken in the NFL. They don’t draft for how good a player is, they draft to how they project their game will translate to the pros. Which are not the same thing.

Then again, I’m just a fan, not an NFL scout. As a fan watching the games, I never had the confidence in Clady that I had in Colledge. So, in my book, Colledge will always be the best left tackle to ever come through the school.

All that being said, this is still a great thing for both Clady and Boise State. Having a player drafted in the top 12 is huge. It shows every single recruit that if you’re good, you can play at Boise State and still be drafted high. You don’t have to go to a Pac-10 school. You will play on national TV 5 or 6 times a year here. You will get seen.

Speaking of Orlando Scandrick, I just saw him get picked at place 143 going to the Dallas Cowboys.

In other ex-Bronco news, Chris Carr made news recently that might have been missed by some of you. He is the defensive back/kick returner who has been with the Oakland Raiders for the past 3 years as an undrafted free agent. He recently signed a contract with the Tennessee Titans for $2 million for 2 years. That is awesome. Despite being with the Raiders only 3 years he is their all-time kick return yardage leader. That is pretty impressive. Congrats, Chris.

It’s a good time to be a Bronco.

We had our first snow casualty this past weekend.

The 3 year old canopy that is on our back patio. The snow had built up and built up over the past few weeks. All you locals know how much it has been snowing. Well, the design of the canopy was that it was a 4 cornered structure with a canvas top. But, with a lot of snow, the canvas has sagged. There are eyelets to let the water out, but unfortunately, they’ve been frozen over for months. So, even when the sun did periodically poke out, it would melt the top of the snow/ice caught in the canvas, but it wouldn’t ever go anywhere since the holes were frozen over. Thus, it just refroze and built up more.

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Which is the halftime score of the Hawaii Bowl. Boise State is on the losing end.  Ouch.

I’ve seen the Broncos play like this before.  It makes me sick to my stomach.  They played like this against Washington.  They played like this against Nevada.  Uninspired.  Confused. Pathetic.

Tharp is more confused than the first time he started.  Running around and panicy.  I think having Childs sitting at home suspended hurts him a LOT.  I mean, he is either not finding open guys, or is throwing it up for grabs. Horrible. The receivers are dropping balls and worse, fumbling.  Ian obviously isn’t the same since he tweaked his ankle in practice this week. Avery limped off the field just before half.

The defense is missing tackles left and right. Which isn’t good when you are also missing assignments.

Unless they pull their heads out of their collective asses, we are in big trouble.

Honestly, it looks to me like the team went to Hawaii for a vacation… not to win a football game.  They are not focused.  They are not sharp.  Unless things turn around, we’re gonna lose bad.

Bah Humbug.

Sometimes, I really hate sports. I do.

Why? Because one damn game can ruin my whole day.

I wish it didn’t affect me so much. But, there is nothing I can do. I’m just going to be salty for a while.

Happy friggin birthday to me.

*sigh*

No, the question is not what the final score of the Boise State v. Hawaii football game on Friday.

Instead the real question is “What was the halftime score of the Boise State vs Montana Tech basketball game?”

In fact, the game was so out of hand, we actually left at the half.  I haven’t left a BSU game at half in a long time.  But, we were bored and were both feeling that we would rather chill out on the couch in our jammies.  So, that’s what we did.

Now, I’m as big a fan of one sided blowouts as the next guy… probably more… but in basketball it’s just not fun.  I will take 60 to nothing every single football game, especially conference games.  But basketball?  Meh.

Besides, there were very few people there.  The cheerleaders, and I’m assuming a bunch of fans, are in Hawaii for the big game.  The atmosphere was kinda dead.  As was the opponent.  By the way, the final score was 107-53.

Anyway, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I can’t wait.  Great meal.  Hangin out with the fams.  Watchin some football.  Sounds like a great day to me.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

This Friday is the “Big Game” in the WAC as the top two teams, Boise State and Hawaii face off on the island for all the marbles.

I’ve had a feeling about this Boise State football season that has been banging around in my head for the past few weeks.  I have been unable to put my finger on just what it was.  Maybe it was because I was so busy and didn’t have time to think.  Maybe its because the very thought of it was distasteful to me as a fan, and I felt less of myself for even harboring the possibility.  I’m torn.  I’ve agonized personally but, I’ve spent some time deep in thought and I have came to a realization…

I would prefer Boise State to NOT play in a BCS game this year.

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Today was the day. Rivalry game. Boise State University vs. University of Idaho.

Let’s just say it was interesting. For those of you who don’t know, I am a gigantic Boise State Bronco fan (and an alumnus), Jess is a life long Idaho Vandal (an alumnus). This is the first game day since we have moved in together.

Like I said, it was interesting.

This whole week has been very easy. Neither of us discussed the game much. We have both been so busy lately, we just haven’t had the time to gently jab each other about this upcoming weekend. I guess part of that is that the teams are so unevenly balanced at the moment. I try not to rub it in too much, specifically because I still remember when BSU sucked, and its not fun. So, we’ve been remarkably civil to each other.

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On Saturday morning I actually wrote the following words about the San Jose v. Hawaii game:

There was one positive side effect of this game for me. I honestly think that Boise State will not have much of a problem with Hawaii when they meet. I don’t even care that it’s on the islands. Hawaii will not have played a team that is even CLOSE to Boise State in terms of quality. Our defense is down right scary right now. I think the Warriors are in for a surprise with what team shows up November 23rd. Boise State certainly isn’t the same team that lost at Washington. Our strengths, quality running game and stout defense, are the exact ingredients in the recipe on how to handle Hawaii.

Allow me to just say, um… yeah… forget all that.

If you haven’t heard, you can read about what happened in the wildest game I have seen in Bronco Stadium, probably ever. I’m going to give you a slightly less balanced view.

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This weekend I’m bachin it (as in bachelor) since Jess is up at Idaho for homecoming. I ordered a pizza and plopped down on the couch after a rather crazy week at work to watch a little football and relax.

To begin, I wasn’t all that interested in the San Jose State vs Hawaii game on TV. But, since it was the only football on for the evening I flipped around the dial, stopping occasionally on the game. Hawaii jumped out to a 14 point lead early in the game, and since I can’t stand watching Hawaii, I figured that game was done.

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So, for the second time in the past two years (and the first of 2 straight times this season) Boise State is playing on Sunday. Usually the phrase “playing on Sunday” is a euphemism reserved for guys making it to the NFL which play their games on Sundays. But in our increasingly football obsessed culture, even the NFL plays not only Sunday, but Sunday nights, Monday nights and later in the season, Thursdays and even some Saturdays.

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