Friday, December 29, 2006.

The final rush of Tostitos Fiesta Bowl prep is upon us. So what will the atmosphere be like New Year’s Day? This will be the third or fourth-largest crowd ever to watch a Boise State game, topping 73,000. Another day at the office for Oklahoma, which gets over 10,000 more than that at home—every time out. The top three audiences of all-time to see BSU: 92,746 at Georgia in 2005, 83,019 at South Carolina in 2001, and 73,209 at Wisconsin in 1997. But this will be different. Instead of entirely hostile voices in the stands, BSU will have an unreal 20,000-plus Bronco fans backing them in Glendale. And the locals among the throng at University of Phoenix Stadium should pull for the underdog. After all, it’s a team from the West, and it has a handful of Arizona guys on the roster.

That’s a possibility not lost on the Sooners. “Boise State will have the backing of anyone not wearing crimson and cream,” noted John Helsley of the Daily Oklahoman. Added OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson: "I think everybody kind of likes the underdog-type teams or the unheard of guy when you're neutral. Especially when games get close. Everybody’s pulling like, ‘Hey, they’ve got a chance to win this game.’”

In the days before Boise State’s game at Georgia in 2005, then-coach Dan Hawkins said, “Be careful of judging a warrior by his armament.” The Bronco warriors dropped a couple shields that day, but the same theory applies at the Fiesta Bowl. BSU doesn’t have the laundry list of NFL prospects Oklahoma does, but it has an amazing knack for playing together. It’s the team thing. They’re confident in what they do, and they want to make history. Like Merle Webb of Hickory High said in “Hoosiers” just before tipoff against Central for the state championship: “Let’s win this one for all the small schools that never got the chance to get here.”

Then you have Preacher Purl before the big game: “And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen.” Yep, that’s what you’ve got. The non-BCS upstart versus the tradition of seven national championships, four Heisman Trophy winners and 141 All-Americans—and a football budget four times that of Boise State’s. The room for error Monday? Slim and none, just like David’s.

Pat Forde of ESPN.com pretty much sums up Joe National Media’s take on the Fiesta Bowl. Writes Forde: “The important information: Yes, Virginia, there is a second unbeaten team out there. It's the Broncos, who play their first BCS game against one of the all-time blue bloods of the sport. On the field, Adrian Peterson vs. Ian Johnson is even better than McFadden vs. Hill. In fact, it's the marquee RB matchup of bowl season. The useless information: Actually, this isn't quite so useless. The average weight of the Boise State defensive starters is 36 pounds less per man than the average Oklahoma offensive starter. And they're going to stop Peterson? The pick: Oklahoma 41, Boise State 29.”

Nevada will have to get its running game going in the MPC Computers Bowl New Year’s Eve lest it suffer the same fate as Thanksgiving weekend. The Wolf Pack couldn’t run on Boise State in its 38-7 loss, and that rendered quarterback Jeff Rowe totally ineffective (6-for-15 for 35 yards). Now, after watching endless tape on Miami, Rowe says, “I know we've never faced a team with team speed like this.'' That’s where Robert Hubbard needs to come in. The senior running back didn’t finish the way he wanted to against BSU—he had 105 yards, but 48 of them were on a late fourth quarter run that ended when Bronco cornerback Kyle Wilson stole the ball from him. Hubbard would like to end the season the way he did last year, when he rushed for 126 yards and three touchdowns in the Wolf Pack’s Sheraton Hawaii Bowl win over Central Florida.

Kudos to MPC Computers Bowl organizers who have about 25,000 tickets sold for the game. They’re not getting a lot of help from the two participants. The lack of Hurricanes fans is understandable, but how about Nevada selling only 300 or so tickets to this thing? I know it’s a minor bowl, but it’s a bowl—and it’s only 400 miles away. It’s the same perplexing problem the Pack has had at home in a market about the same size as Boise. Nevada’s a good team that’s played exciting football the past two seasons…and it can’t draw flies. I still think local fans will get behind ‘em Sunday, ala the Fresno State deal two years ago.

Nevada fans are a little distracted by their 24th-ranked basketball team, which routed Maine last night, 89-69. The Wolf Pack has a marquee game tomorrow night against Gonzaga at Seattle’s Key Arena. The Zags will have something of a homecourt advantage there, but it’s a house of great memories for the Pack. Nevada had the two biggest days of its athletic history at Key when it upset Michigan State and Gonzaga in the 2004 NCAA Tournament.

The Boise State hoops squad has one more chance to dig in before the WAC season starts next week (in a most difficult way, I might add—home against Utah State and on the road at Nevada). So the Broncos would like to get something going tomorrow afternoon against Idaho State, a team they lost to by nine points last year in Pocatello. It’s a rare women-men doubleheader, with the Lady Broncos starting the day at 1PM versus ISU. They’re getting a little intriguing—coach Gordy Presnell has them at 8-4 with road wins at Oregon and UNLV. BSU also has had two of the last three WAC Players of the Week, Tasha Harris and Michelle Hessing.

The Idaho Steelheads reverted back last night, and that’s a good thing. The Steelheads rallied with three third period goals to get past Bakersfield 5-3 and slow third December skid. D’Arcy McConvey had two of the Steelies’ markers as he reverts back as well—to the form that had him lead the team in scoring last season. It’s was McConvey’s third two-goal night in only 10 games since coming back from injury. The Steelheads host the Condors again tonight and tomorrow night in Qwest Arena. They play while Boise’s other minor league winter pastime is away. The Idaho Stampede is in Texas for games against Fort Worth tonight and Austin tomorrow night.

I haven’t seen this local tie-in referenced anywhere, but Oklahoma star Adrian Peterson is the son of Nelson Peterson, who played basketball at Idaho State and still shares the Bengal record for three-pointers in a game with eight against Nevada in 1985. He led ISU in scoring that season with 603 points, the seventh-best mark in school history. Adrian was born in Palestine, TX, shortly after the season ended, but the story goes south from there. Beginning in 1999, Nelson Peterson spent almost seven years in federal prison for money laundering in connection with drug sales. He was transferred to an Oklahoma City halfway house this summer, then was released in October. The first time he saw Adrian play for the Sooners was the Iowa State game, the one in which the junior running back broke his collarbone.

One last thing—bear with me while I meander to a little perspective here. I saw my first college football game when I was seven. It was in 1958, California versus Oregon, with the Bears winning in Berkeley, 23-6. That season Cal went to the Rose Bowl, ultimately falling 38-12 to Iowa on New Year’s Day, 1959. These days, Cal has a pretty good thing going, right? It annihilated Texas A&M last night in the Holiday Bowl. Well, the Bears have not been to a BCS bowl since that day. No Rose, or anything else…for 48 years. So win or lose Monday, there must forever be an appreciation for the magnitude of what Boise State has accomplished.

This Day In Sports…December 29, 1997:

The first Humanitarian Bowl is played before 16,000 fans in Bronco Stadium—Cincinnati beating Utah State, 35-19. The Bearcats virtually bid their way into the game out of Conference USA with ticket guarantees and the promise of a future trip of their nationally-ranked basketball team to the BSU Pavilion. The Aggies, meanwhile, were being coached for the final time by John L. Smith, who had taken the head coaching job at Louisville.

(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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