Tuesday, December 5, 2006.

Chris Petersen tells the story of a quick trip 65 miles down I-84 to recruit a small-town star athlete. He wanted to watch this kid’s basketball game, but Pete arrived late in the first quarter, and the guy already had four fouls. The then-Boise State offensive coordinator knew right then his defensive colleagues would want this hard-nosed Glenns Ferry Pilot named Korey Hall. Still, offering a Division I-A scholarship to a player from a 2A school in Idaho took some courage, even if Hall was state Player of the Year in that division. All has come to fruition in Korey’s prodigious four-year college career, as he is 2006 WAC Defensive Player of the Year.

First-team All-WAC honors naturally go with it, the third straight year Hall has hauled in that hardware. He’s second all-time in WAC career tackles with 388 going into the Fiesta Bowl, but his role as a sneaky pass defender has been central to his legacy. Hall has six interceptions this season and 11 for his career—not to forget the three picks he had (one for a touchdown) in the landmark win over Oregon State in 2004. It’s the first Defensive Player of the Year honor for a Bronco since Quintin Mikell won the WAC award in 2002.

You could feel this one coming: Hawaii’s Colt Brennan was named WAC Offensive Player of the Year yesterday over BSU’s Ian Johnson. I didn’t believe this would happen, though: the Warriors’ June Jones over the Broncos’ Chris Petersen for WAC Coach of the Year. Petersen had to put together a staff almost from scratch last winter, and here he is going 12-0 and taking his team to a BCS bowl, only the second coach from a non-BCS conference to do it. Funny thing, Petersen was named Region 4 Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association. That’s basically the West Coast. But no sense in expending a lot of energy on the WAC vote.

Six other BSU players were named first-team All-WAC yesterday, including Johnson, wide receiver Legedu Naanee, tight end Derek Schouman, offensive tackle Ryan Clady, defensive tackle Andrew Browning, and kicker Anthony Montgomery. There’ll always be qualms with an all-conference team. Locally it would be about only one Bronco O-lineman on the first team and just two from the BSU defense as first-teamers? But c’est la vie.

Making the rounds on postseason proselytizing: Scout.com ranks the Fiesta Bowl as the fourth-best of this season’s bowl parade. It seems that everyone has a warning to Oklahoma this week: “Remember, these aren't playoffs. If you're not in the BCS Championship, you're playing in a glorified exhibition game. While you might not be ecstatic to have a team like Boise State get into one of the big money games, it's one of only two unbeaten teams and has earned its stripes after an amazing run of wins over the last eight years. This might be among the most important games of the last few years to possibly change perceptions about how good the non-BCS conference teams are.” Ah, the weight of the mid-major world on the Broncos’ shoulders.

We haven’t done the post-mortem yet for Dan Hawkins and his uncomfortable first year at Colorado. The former Boise State coach has remained his positive, creative, yet realistic self through all the hard knocks this fall, telling the Rocky Mountain News, "I'm one of those guys where you can't put makeup over a pimple. When you're 2-10, you're 2-10. I think you face up to that and you own up to that.” Hawkins refers to the beginning of the current BSU run, saying Dirk Koetter had the Broncos in great shape by year three. Despite Koetter coming in and healing a team that had one coach die and another bolt after one year, Hawk has a tougher task with the Buffs. But it’s onward and upward. Hawkins points to a scene from “Monty Python”, where the warrior has lost his limbs, but yells at his attacker, "Come back here.” Says Hawk, “That's me.” Nothing but a flesh wound.

One of Hawkins’ coaching fraternity friends, Jack Bicknell, was cut loose by Louisiana Tech yesterday. The Bulldog program probably needs some new blood, but it’s not going to find anyone a lot better than Bicknell, who’s the only coach to win an outright WAC title other than Hawkins or Petersen since 2000. La-Tech has poor fan support and a tight budget, its facilities need a lot of work, and it’s way down the college football totem pole in the Deep South. The interesting job opening is Stanford, which took Walt Harris two years ago when I firmly believe it should have done a hard-press for Hawk. The Cardinal has been a disaster under Harris while a sparkling new Stanford Stadium was being built—he was 6-17. Hawkins could have recruited the type of player they need there, is a Northern California guy, and would relate well in the Bay Area.

Ran into Ryan Dinwiddie yesterday. Boise State’s career passing leader says he’s agreed to terms with the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League. Dinwiddie went to Winnipeg of the CFL in August but played in only one game, the season finale October 28. He went 11-for-24 for 107 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. In Arizona, Dinwiddie is slated to back up one of the AFL’s greats, 13-year veteran Sherdrick Bonner. Dinwiddie plans to watch the Broncos in the Fiesta Bowl—then stick around the Valley of the Sun to get settled in preparation for the Rattlers’ training camp at the end of January.

In WAC basketball, Nevada is like somebody else we know in the conference in football. The Wolf Pack is it. After a 77-71 win over Cal at the Pete Newell Challenge in San Jose Sunday, the Pack has jumped back up to no. 20 in the AP Poll and 19 in the Coaches Poll. That’s the most impressive win yet for a Nevada team that is 7-0 and has come up victorious in three straight road games. The Wolf Pack has rival UNLV at home Saturday. The only other WAC team receiving votes in the poll is Fresno State, also 7-0. As for Boise State, the Broncos are muddling along at 2-4 and host Montana State tomorrow night.

While the Idaho Stampede gears up for a reunion tonight with its old CBA buddies, the Dakota Wizards, we check in on the surprise NBA rookie off last season’s Stampede squad. The renowned sparkplug, Matt Freije, made the Atlanta Hawks roster and is a sometime contributor. Hawks commentator Steve Smith, in Boise last week for his induction into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame, said Freije played really well in an 11-minute stint last Tuesday that saw him score six points with three rebounds in a one-point loss at Washington. Smith says Freije is bringing the same frenetic energy to the court that he did for the Stampede last winter. Interesting game last Friday, though, as the 6-10 forward out of Vanderbilt got 22 minutes but went 0-for-6 from the floor.

This Day In Sports…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. Future Pittsburgh Steeler and former Boise High star Rick Woods set a BSU post-season record for longest interception return—a 73-yarder that set up the clinching points. That mark would stand until Shaunard Harts broke it with an 80-yard pick for a touchdown versus Louisville in the 1999 Humanitarian Bowl. And that standard was eclipsed by Andy Avalos with his 92-yard rumble against the same team in the 2004 Liberty Bowl.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment Sunday nights at 10:30PM on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors five sports segments each weekday on ESPN Radio 1350 KTIK.)

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