Tuesday, October 16, 2007.

Four field goals in a rivalry game would often earn a kicker WAC Player of the Week honors. But the way Boise State’s Kyle Brotzman did it Sunday night was worth a ton more than the parchment the special teams award is made of. Let’s compare what Brotzman had to accomplish versus Anthony Montgomery’s pressure kick that won the San Jose State game last November. At the end of regulation, Brotzman has to make the kick, or the Broncos lose. Same with another field goal and one of the two extra points in the overtimes. He misses, and his team loses right there. Montgomery’s boot against the Spartans was money, but had he missed, there was the comfort of another chance in overtime. Brotzman has developed ice in his veins—he’s now 8-for-9 in field goals this season, with his only miss coming on a blocked attempt at Washington.

BSU had a second WAC Player of the Week, as Ian Johnson earns the offensive award after his 256 yards of all-purpose offense. There was a story about Ian in the Sunday New York Times, with Pete Thamel writing about the Broncos’ return to the shadows after the loss at Washington. “Boise State’s disappearance shows just how precarious life outside college football’s six major conferences can be,” wrote Thamel. But Johnson’s life will still never be the same for Ian and Chrissy after the Fiesta Bowl. “I wouldn’t say that it’s back to normal,” Johnson said in the article. “I would say that this is our new normal.” And he is a marked man. “In the loss to Washington, Johnson said a Huskies defender grunted to him, ‘You’re not going to get 50 yards of rushing.’”

We’ve heard bits and pieces of Johnson’s future this year, and Thamel summarizes it: “Johnson will probably return to Boise next year for his senior season and one final run at a BCS game. (Chris) Petersen notes that Johnson, at 5 feet 10 inches and less than 200 pounds, ‘isn’t Darren McFadden,’ a reference to Arkansas’s 6-2, 205-pound running back who is a top NFL prospect. That seems fine with Johnson, who plans on settling in Boise after graduation and who said that he would not pursue an NFL career unless he had a secure contract.

“The life of bouncing around NFL practice squads is not as appealing to him as a stable life for his family. Even if he makes the NFL, Johnson said he planned on keeping a place in Boise. It is the perfect place for the legend of his eccentricities to grow, as well as an ideal setting for his family.” The “eccentricities” reference is regarding his arrival at BSU: with matching clothes, his penchant for crocheting, and four pet snakes. By the way, on Sunday night Ian became the fifth Bronco in history to go over 3,000 yards in career rushing.

As you might imagine, BSU’s defensive numbers turned inside out after the harrowing escape against Nevada. The Wolf Pack’s 639 yards of offense and 67 points had this effect: the Broncos’ total yards allowed number went from 231 per game to 299. Rushing yards yielded zoomed from 68 to 122. Their points allowed per game went from 12 to 21. The consolation prize: BSU’s total offense jumped from 474 to 499, and its average points climbed from 37 to 42.

Maybe the Bronco win Sunday night means a game for the ages 17 years ago in Reno has come full circle. It was the semi-finals of the Division I-AA Playoffs, and BSU and Nevada went to an exhausting three overtimes on that December day before the Wolf Pack prevailed, 59-52. That was an exhilarating win for Wolf Pack coach Chris Ault. As bitter as the loss was Sunday night for Ault, he’s been around the block enough to appreciate it. “It was a great game,” Ault said. “Boise’s a great team. I just love this atmosphere. I enjoyed it. They’ve won I don’t know how many games on the blue turf. They find a way to get the job done.”

Buster Bronco had a place in Sunday night’s epic game, and Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier didn’t like it. Buster stole the Nevada school flag, took it over in front of the BSU student section, and stomped on it a few times. Bleymaier says when he saw it, he immediately had his staff retrieve the flag and return it to the Wolf Pack’s cheersquad. And he says BSU will formally apologize to the University of Nevada.

As the mid-majors have fallen by the wayside one-by-one, Hawai‘i (7-0) and Boise State (5-1) are the only two non-BCS teams left in the nation to have less than two losses. Other notes out of the WAC: BSU did not nominate anyone for conference Defensive Player of the Week. Not surprising considering the events of Sunday night, but remarkable nonetheless. The WAC now holds the highest-scoring game in Division I-A history—and the highest-scoring regulation game ever in I-A. The latter record was set in 2004 when San Jose State beat Rice, 70-63. And less than 4,000 tickets remain for the Boise State-Hawaii game Thanksgiving weekend at 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium. The Warriors have 15,000 or more seats left for each of their other remaining home dates with Fresno State, New Mexico State and Washington.

The player with the longest NFL career of any former Boise State Bronco, Kimo von Oelhoffen, is still going after 14 years. The end may be near, though. Von Oelhoffen remains on Philadelphia’s roster, but he’s strictly a backup—and a seldom-used one at that. The Eagles planned to rotate him in more at defensive tackle, but they’ve been so pleasantly surprised by their young guys, Brodrik Buntley and Mike Patterson, that Kimo is back- burner. Von Oelhoffen played in the Eagles’ first three games without logging a tackle, and he’s been inactive the past two weeks. He’s one of only two BSU grads with Super Bowl rings, getting his with the Steelers. Von Oelhoffen started his career with Cincinnati and most recently played for the Jets. Kimo goes back so far that he played for Skip Hall at Boise State in 1992 and for Pokey Allen in 1993.

One of the Idaho Steelheads’ catalysts in the run to the Kelly Cup championship last spring is back in the fold. Forward John Lammers has been assigned to the Steelies from the Iowa Stars and will undoubtedly make the cut to suit up for Opening Night Friday against Victoria. In the 2007 Kelly Cup Playoffs, Lammers scored seven goals and 19 points, including two tallies and one assist in the Steelheads’ decisive Game 5 win over Dayton that clinched the championship. Idaho also gets 21-year-old rookie forward Aaron Gagnon from the Stars.

This Day In Sports…October 16, 1962:

Second baseman Bobby Richardson catches Willie McCovey’s wicked line drive with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the winning runs in scoring position, as the New York Yankees hold on to beat the San Francisco Giants in the seventh game of the World Series, 1-0. The Giants still haven’t won a World Series since they played in New York in 1954.

(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 1350 KTIK/The Ticket. He also handles color commentary on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football.)

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