With the 37-32 victory over
Oregon
at Autzen Stadium last year,
Boise
State
football finally got a persistent monkey off its back:
defeating an Automatic Qualifier conference team at its home stadium.
The win was significant, too, because it was against the then-#17 Ducks
at one of the most difficult venues in the West.
Bronco fans for years have dealt with opposing fans mocking
the Broncos for their paucity of road wins against top opponents, or the Broncos
for their “easy” wins on the Blue, mostly because of the “unfair”
blending of blue uniforms on blue turf. But
that perception is not at all supported by the facts of the Broncos having
success at unfriendly stadiums. Just
as Boise State gets it done at home, they have an impressive recording doing it
on the road.
The Road Record
Boise State’s All-Time Road Record (since 1968):
122-93-2 for a .567 winning percentage
Boise State’s Division II/I-AA Road Record:
74-67-2 for a .524 winning percentage
Boise State’s Division I-A Road Record:
48-26 for a .649 winning percentage
Boise
State
’s Western Athletic Conference Road Record:
28-4 for a .875 winning percentage
What these overall records indicate is that Boise State’s
best record of achievement as a road team has been its greatest as a Division
I-A team, and more specifically, has been its best since joining the WAC (an
overall 37-10 road record, for a sterling .787 winning percentage).
Under Coach Chris Petersen,
Boise
State
has gone 15-2 at opponents’ stadiums for a .882 winning percentage.
Other Bronco Road
Facts
Boise State Record for Most Consecutive Road Wins:
10 games (a record they would tie with four consecutive road wins this
season)
1968-70 under Coach Tony Knap
Boise
State
Record for Most Consecutive Seasons without a
Losing Road
Record:
9 Seasons, 2000-present, under Coaches Dirk Koetter, Dan
Hawkins, and Chris Petersen
Boise State Seasons with an Undefeated Road Record:
1969 under Coach Tony Knap
1975 under Coach Tony Knap
1979 under Coach Jim Criner
2004 under Coach Dan Hawkins
2006 under Coach Chris Petersen
2008 under Coach Chris Petersen
First Road Game:
44-3 loss to Weber State College,
October 5, 19
68
First Road Game Win:
49-0 over Whitworth College,
October 19, 19
68
Five Greatest Road
Losses in Bronco History
Not measured by margin of loss, but by a combination of the
importance of the game in Boise State football history and by the quality of the
game itself, these are Jojobro’s top five Bronco road losses.
#1) Georgia
48-13,
September 3, 2005
Probably no road game in Bronco history had been so hyped
or widely anticipated as this date at Sanford Stadium, the largest crowd ever to
witness a Boise State football team play. Boise
State was in the preseason top 20 polls for I-A football for the first time in
its history, against a Georgia football team also in the top 20.
On national television, the Broncos were royally spanked, with six
turnovers in the first half and the phrase “full body cramps” etched in the
history of Bronco lore. That game
was the deep wound that would not heal until the Fiesta Bowl victory.
#2) Wisconsin, 28-24,
September 6, 1997
Just a season after the Bronco’s worst ever year (and
first season at I-A level), a lowly Boise State squad faced an emerging Big 10
power at Camp Randall Stadium.
Boise
State
led the Badgers through most of the entire game, but finally fell behind 21-17
mid-way through the final quarter. The
Broncos, thanks to a great fake punt/pass from Jeff Davis to Tony Mamaril to
sustain a drive, regained the lead, 24-21. However,
the defense finally succumbed to a punishing offensive line, as Wisconsin scored
the winning touchdown on a last minute drive.
This never-say-die defeat, under Coach Houston Nutt, marked the turning
point in Bronco football history.
#3) Nevada, 59-52, 3 OT, National I-AA Semi-final Game,
December 8, 1990
Likely the greatest I-AA football playoff game in history
took place in
Reno
. With Coach Skip Hall at the helm,
Boise State had easily defeated the WolfPack earlier in the season in Boise, but
this game, at a sold-out Mackay Stadium (not an oxymoron in those days), saw the
Broncos go toe-to-toe with Nevada, almost an Ali vs. Frasier titanic battle.
Nevada
took the final lead on Ray Whalen’s third touchdown of the game and 44th
carry of the game, which overshadowed Winky White’s heroic performance for
Boise
State
. The Wolf Pack left the Big Sky for
I-A football after the next season, evidently leaving the Broncos behind.
#4) Arkansas, 38-31,
September 16, 2000
After spotting the Razorbacks a 24-point lead,
Boise
State
came back to tie the game in the fourth quarter at Razorback Stadium, sparked
by an electrifying kickoff return by David Mikell and topped off by a great
42-yard pass from Bart Hendricks to Brock Forsey.
Arkansas went ahead by a touchdown in the final minutes of the game, only
to see Boise State come back with a valiant drive that stalled at the Razorback
nine-yard line. The game represented
to the Broncos that they could compete against a storied SouthEastern Conference
team, but they couldn’t yet clear that hurdle of attaining a victory.
#5) UNLV 37-35,
October 19, 1974
At Sam Boyd Stadium, Coach Tony Knap’s Broncos faced a
UNLV team led by the great running back Mike Thomas and legendary Head Coach Ron
Meyers that would soon leap into Division I football.
The Rebels dominated the first half, eventually going up by 28 points.
In one of the most impressive performances by a Bronco ever on the road,
Quarterback Jim McMillan rallied the Broncos by passing for over 300 yards in
the second half. Yet, the Rebels ran
out the clock before Jimmy Mac could lead the Broncos to one final score.
Five Greatest Road
Victories in Bronco History
Measured by importance of the game in the development of
Bronco football and hostility of the venue.
#1)
Fresno
State
, 35-30,
October 19, 2001
Boise
State
had just arrived to the WAC, and was expected to be a mediocre team after
leaving the weak Big West Conference. At
Bulldog Stadium,
Boise
State
was facing #8 ranked
Fresno
State
, led by eventual #1 draft pick David Carr, which had just vanquished the
eventual Big 12 Champions Colorado. In
an epic, hard-hitting battle, Boise State took the lead in the fourth quarter on
Jay Swillie’s unbelievable ricochet run after hauling in a Ryan Dinwiddie
pass. The Broncos held off a
desperate
Fresno
State
drive with a great goal-line stance, capped by Greg Sasser’s sack of Carr on
fourth down with 57 seconds left in the game.
The game marked the Broncos’ arrival as a legitimate WAC power, a team
destined to become a top 25 performer under Coach Dan Hawkins.
#2) Oregon, 37-32,
September 20, 2008
At Autzen Stadium, the Broncos with a young, inexperienced
team, upset the #17 Oregon Ducks, on the arm of Kellen Moore, the receiving
skills of Jeremy Childs, the versatility of Vinny Perretta and a tenacious,
unforgiving defensive performance. This
game established that the Broncos were not the one-year wonder of 2006, but a
true contender for a Bowl Championship Series Bowl berth.
#3) TCU, 34-31,
Fort Worth Bowl,
December 23, 2003
In TCU’s home bowl at Amon G. Carter Stadium, the Broncos
were facing the top 20 Cinderella Horned Frogs of Conference
USA
, a team that had just missed qualifying for a
BCS
Bowl themselves. The Broncos came
from behind, under the general-like leadership of Ryan Dinwiddie, taking the
lead early in fourth quarter with a touchdown pass to Derek Schouman, and held
off TCU on great defensive plays by Chris Carr and Gabe Franklin to win the game
and finish in the top 15.
#4) Utah, 36-3,
September 30, 2006
The Utes, needing a victory over the Broncos to assert
Mountain West Conference superiority, were all set to humiliate
Boise
State
on the national stage at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
What the Utes did not expect was the Bronco hard-hitting defense, led by
Korey Hall and Gerald Alexander, which simply silenced the Utes.
The victory established the Broncos as the
BCS
Bowl Buster of 2006.
#5) BYU, 50-12,
October 30, 2003
On a snowy Cougar Stadium field before an ESPN audience,
Boise State finally had its long-awaited match against Brigham Young University,
the King of Intermountain Football. Uncorking
Pete’s Poison, the Bronco offense had its way against the vaunted MWC program.
What set off the onslaught was Wes Nurse’s pick-six, giving the Broncos a 21-2
lead, demoralizing the Cougars before their faithful fans.
This season, the Broncos have a legitimate shot of besting
its school record for consecutive road wins, although it will be enduring its
most rigorous traveling schedule ever: to
Honolulu, Bowling Green, Tulsa, Ruston, and Fresno within a seven-game span, a
schedule rivaled only by the 1984 Broncos which had five consecutive road games,
going 4-1 in that stretch under Coach Lyle Setencich.
An undefeated season on the road will prove to be another brick laid for
the foundation of a great Bronco football tradition.
*My definition of a “road” game is a game at the
opposing team’s designated home stadium. Thus,
the calculations do not include playoff or bowl games at neutral sites, and so,
for example, the Fort Worth Bowl counts and the Fiesta Bowl does not count in
the calculations. The games against
Idaho at Washington State’s Martin Stadium are included in the calculations.