Know Your Competition-USA Today on Boise State

[Water Pony]

Small-fry Boise State 'can compete with anyone'

By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY

BOISE — When it comes to stereotypes about Idaho, this one seems too good to be true: The quarterback for Boise State, Jared Zabransky, is the son of a potato farmer.

'We feel we're a major team,' Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky says.
By Douglas C. Pizac, AP

But dig deeper, till the soil more, and discover that 21st-ranked Boise State, a Division I-A program only as of 1996, a veritable tater tot compared to the rest of the Top 25, is anything but expected.

If the Broncos (4-0) keep winning — their 15-game streak is the longest in Division I-A — this small-fry team just might become the first non-Bowl Championship Series team to play in one of the four big-money bowls.

"All the stereotypes we live with are hard," says left tackle Daryn Colledge. "We hear that Idaho is small football and Boise State is just a little mid-major team. We think if you put us in a big conference, we can compete with anyone out there."

Other Top 25 schools play at places with menacing names such as Death Valley or The Swamp. Boise State plays on a cuddly blue field dubbed Smurf Turf.

Still, no Division I school can match Boise State's 21-game home winning streak, the longest in the country. Southern Methodist, which just ended a 15-game losing streak with a win against San Jose State, comes to Bronco Stadium on Saturday.

Football is a violent sport full of coaches who scream and demean, but Boise State coach Dan Hawkins, 43, is a scruffy-haired, boyish-looking philosopher who quotes Gandhi and Chogyam Trungpa, a Buddhist author.

"The Zen master," jokes Colledge, who is from North Pole, Alaska.

"There's a different vibe here than at a lot of programs," says Hawkins, who played at Division II California-Davis and coached at his alma mater, then a junior college and an NAIA school before coming to Boise State as an assistant in 1998.

"A lot of kids call me Hawk. I always tell them I'm not your buddy, but I'm also not some deity that hangs out here in my office and you're my minion. It's a family situation. We work on mutual respect. I discipline guys and have had to cut some of them loose, but we're sensitive to them as people and students."

Little-known tradition of winning

In a state of 1.3 million people, Boise is one of the most remote cities in the lower 48 states — Salt Lake City, 340 miles away, is the closest metropolis.

Winning traditions

1958: Boise won a junior college national title under Lyle Smith.
1970s: In Division II, Boise State won four Big Sky Conference titles.
1980: The Broncos won the Division I-AA national title by beating Eastern Kentucky to cap a 10-3 year.
1994: Boise State goes 13-2 after falling to Youngstown State 28-14 in the Division I-AA national title game.
1999, 2000: The Broncos are Big West champs and beat Louisville and Texas-El Paso in successive Humanitarian Bowls at Bronco Stadium.
2002, 2003: Boise State repeats as WAC champ, wins the Humanitarian and Fort Worth bowls and is nationally ranked.


But Boise, the state capital, isn't some snow-covered outpost. With sunny weather just about year-round, a trendy downtown and a stadium near the Boise River, with the Rocky Mountain foothills as a backdrop, the campus rivals college football's most picturesque spots.

Still, stereotypes persist. According to a recent poll commissioned by the Idaho Economic Development Council, the top three things that come to the minds of out-of-staters when they hear the name "Idaho" are potatoes, white supremacy and "I don't know."

Increased national exposure, however, and the Broncos' success is helping to eliminate some of the confusion. The win against Brigham Young on Friday was Boise State's 11th game on ESPN or ESPN2, and the network's popular College GameDay show might travel to Boise on Oct. 23 for the game against fellow BCS buster, No. 17 Fresno State.

So how did this unlikely story happen? How did a school that was a junior college until 1965 become one of the most successful programs in Division I-A? Boise State's record the past six seasons (59-16) trails only that of Miami (Fla.) and Oklahoma in Division I-A.

How did a program with a football budget ranked 93rd out of 117 schools finish ranked in the top 15 of the USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches' Poll the past two seasons?

It starts with a tradition of success at every level.

In 1958, Boise went undefeated with a junior college national championship under a blue fedora-wearing coach named Lyle Smith. During his 20-year tenure, the school won 82% of its games, including a 37-game winning streak. The official name of the blue turf at the 30,000-seat Bronco Stadium is Lyle Smith Field, and the legend, now 88, is a regular at home games and at booster luncheons on Mondays.

As a member of Division II in the 1970s, Boise State won four Big Sky Conference championships.

In 1980, the Broncos won a Division I-AA national championship by beating Eastern Kentucky and reached the title game again in 1994.

Two days after losing the '94 Division I-AA national championship game to Youngstown State, led by current Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, Boise State coach Pokey Allen was diagnosed with cancer. In the program's first season in Division I-A in 1996, Allen missed the first 10 games while getting treatment; he coached the final two games of the 2-10 season, then died the next month. He was 53.

Boise State athletics director Gene Bleymaier hired a little known I-AA coach from Murray State, Houston Nutt. Not much was expected —Sports Illustrated rated Boise State 112th out of 112 teams in Division I-A football. But Nutt went 5-6, a huge success given the turmoil of the previous year.

Arkansas hired the Little Rock native following the season. Bleymaier then turned to Oregon offensive coordinator and Idaho native Dirk Koetter, who brought his high-scoring offense to Boise. In three seasons, Koetter won two Big West championships and two Humanitarian Bowls at Bronco Stadium. He left for Arizona State in 2001.

Hawkins, Boise State's assistant head coach since 1998, took over in what was the program's first year in the Western Athletic Conference, and consistency replaced turnover. Hawkins previously had been the head coach at NAIA Willamette. With Boise State, he has won the WAC the past two years and the Humanitarian and Fort Worth bowls.

With a roster full of western players who were too short or too slow or simply overlooked by Pacific-10 teams, Hawkins has found plenty of success.

"Our coaches have done a phenomenal job of teaching," says Bleymaier, a tight end at UCLA in the 1970s. "They bring in the type of kids who fit in the program, who don't need to go to a school with a bigger stadium, a bigger locker room, some place with all the bells and whistles. We don't pass the 'getting off the bus' test. We don't scare anyone when we get off the bus. But you put us all together on the field and the results are out there."

Unlikely tale of the quarterback

The Broncos went 25-2 the past two seasons but had just one player drafted by the NFL, in the fifth round — running back Brock Forsey by the Chicago Bears.

The Broncos had to replace eight starters on offense, including quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie, who ended his career last season as the most efficient passer in Division I-A history.

Yet the offense averages 48.3 points, third in the country. Zabransky, a 6-2, 197-pound sophomore, had thrown just 23 passes before earning the starting job this fall.

In Boise State's alternate universe — the grass is blue, the program is green — the tattooed, goateed Zabransky is the unlikeliest potato farmer around. Plus, he isn't even from Idaho, where the license plates read "Famous Potatoes." He's from Oregon.

Because he came from a rural town in northeast Oregon and a high school that ran the Wing T, the mobile and athletic Zabransky was barely recruited. Oregon State — whom the Broncos defeated two weeks ago, the program's first win against a Pacific-10 opponent — said he could walk on. The Broncos might have overlooked Zabransky, as well, if he hadn't attended a BSU football camp before his senior year.

On the 1,500-acre family farm, Zabransky ran the piler that loaded the potato trucks and drove the truck at times. As a high school junior, he lived alone for several months while his father was in a coma and in intensive care recovering from the West Nile virus in a Spokane hospital, an experience Zabransky says "makes you grow up real quick."

"He was basically on his deathbed," Zabransky said. "They couldn't figure out his illness for about five months."

But the story has a happy ending. His father, Steve, has recovered and is in the stands with his mother, Tana, at every home game. The Zabranskys watched their son pull out a 28-27 win against BYU on Friday night. With Boise State trailing 27-22 in the fourth quarter, Zabransky threw a 44-yard pass to T.J. Acree with 3:42 remaining for the winning touchdown.

"The only way we can keep going is north," Zabransky says about the future of the program. "Everyone is picturing us as a little school that could, but when you're going out each week thumping people, it's hard to still qualify as a little school. We feel we're a major team right now."


Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... tate_x.htm

[Water Pony]

So how did this unlikely story happen? How did a school that was a junior college until 1965 become one of the most successful programs in Division I-A? Boise State's record the past six seasons (59-16) trails only that of Miami (Fla.) and Oklahoma in Division I-A.

How did a program with a football budget ranked 93rd out of 117 schools finish ranked in the top 15 of the USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches' Poll the past two seasons?

It starts with a tradition of success at every level.

In 1958, Boise went undefeated with a junior college national championship under a blue fedora-wearing coach named Lyle Smith. During his 20-year tenure, the school won 82% of its games, including a 37-game winning streak. The official name of the blue turf at the 30,000-seat Bronco Stadium is Lyle Smith Field, and the legend, now 88, is a regular at home games and at booster luncheons on Mondays.

As a member of Division II in the 1970s, Boise State won four Big Sky Conference championships.

In 1980, the Broncos won a Division I-AA national championship by beating Eastern Kentucky and reached the title game again in 1994.

Two days after losing the '94 Division I-AA national championship game to Youngstown State, led by current Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, Boise State coach Pokey Allen was diagnosed with cancer. In the program's first season in Division I-A in 1996, Allen missed the first 10 games while getting treatment; he coached the final two games of the 2-10 season, then died the next month. He was 53.

Boise State athletics director Gene Bleymaier hired a little known I-AA coach from Murray State, Houston Nutt. Not much was expected —Sports Illustrated rated Boise State 112th out of 112 teams in Division I-A football. But Nutt went 5-6, a huge success given the turmoil of the previous year.

Arkansas hired the Little Rock native following the season. Bleymaier then turned to Oregon offensive coordinator and Idaho native Dirk Koetter, who brought his high-scoring offense to Boise. In three seasons, Koetter won two Big West championships and two Humanitarian Bowls at Bronco Stadium. He left for Arizona State in 2001.

Hawkins, Boise State's assistant head coach since 1998, took over in what was the program's first year in the Western Athletic Conference, and consistency replaced turnover. Hawkins previously had been the head coach at NAIA Willamette. With Boise State, he has won the WAC the past two years and the Humanitarian and Fort Worth bowls.

With a roster full of western players who were too short or too slow or simply overlooked by Pacific-10 teams, Hawkins has found plenty of success.

"Our coaches have done a phenomenal job of teaching," says Bleymaier, a tight end at UCLA in the 1970s. "They bring in the type of kids who fit in the program, who don't need to go to a school with a bigger stadium, a bigger locker room, some place with all the bells and whistles. We don't pass the 'getting off the bus' test. We don't scare anyone when we get off the bus. But you put us all together on the field and the results are out there."

Unlikely tale of the quarterback

The Broncos went 25-2 the past two seasons but had just one player drafted by the NFL, in the fifth round — running back Brock Forsey by the Chicago Bears.

The Broncos had to replace eight starters on offense, including quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie, who ended his career last season as the most efficient passer in Division I-A history.

Yet the offense averages 48.3 points, third in the country. Zabransky, a 6-2, 197-pound sophomore, had thrown just 23 passes before earning the starting job this fall.

In Boise State's alternate universe — the grass is blue, the program is green — the tattooed, goateed Zabransky is the unlikeliest potato farmer around. Plus, he isn't even from Idaho, where the license plates read "Famous Potatoes." He's from Oregon.

Because he came from a rural town in northeast Oregon and a high school that ran the Wing T, the mobile and athletic Zabransky was barely recruited. Oregon State — whom the Broncos defeated two weeks ago, the program's first win against a Pacific-10 opponent — said he could walk on. The Broncos might have overlooked Zabransky, as well, if he hadn't attended a BSU football camp before his senior year.

On the 1,500-acre family farm, Zabransky ran the piler that loaded the potato trucks and drove the truck at times. As a high school junior, he lived alone for several months while his father was in a coma and in intensive care recovering from the West Nile virus in a Spokane hospital, an experience Zabransky says "makes you grow up real quick."

"He was basically on his deathbed," Zabransky said. "They couldn't figure out his illness for about five months."

But the story has a happy ending. His father, Steve, has recovered and is in the stands with his mother, Tana, at every home game. The Zabranskys watched their son pull out a 28-27 win against BYU on Friday night. With Boise State trailing 27-22 in the fourth quarter, Zabransky threw a 44-yard pass to T.J. Acree with 3:42 remaining for the winning touchdown.

"The only way we can keep going is north," Zabransky says about the future of the program. "Everyone is picturing us as a little school that could, but when you're going out each week thumping people, it's hard to still qualify as a little school. We feel we're a major team right now."









Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... tate_x.htm

[Water Pony]

Because he came from a rural town in northeast Oregon and a high school that ran the Wing T, the mobile and athletic Zabransky was barely recruited. Oregon State — whom the Broncos defeated two weeks ago, the program's first win against a Pacific-10 opponent — said he could walk on. The Broncos might have overlooked Zabransky, as well, if he hadn't attended a BSU football camp before his senior year.

On the 1,500-acre family farm, Zabransky ran the piler that loaded the potato trucks and drove the truck at times. As a high school junior, he lived alone for several months while his father was in a coma and in intensive care recovering from the West Nile virus in a Spokane hospital, an experience Zabransky says "makes you grow up real quick."

"He was basically on his deathbed," Zabransky said. "They couldn't figure out his illness for about five months."

But the story has a happy ending. His father, Steve, has recovered and is in the stands with his mother, Tana, at every home game. The Zabranskys watched their son pull out a 28-27 win against BYU on Friday night. With Boise State trailing 27-22 in the fourth quarter, Zabransky threw a 44-yard pass to T.J. Acree with 3:42 remaining for the winning touchdown.

"The only way we can keep going is north," Zabransky says about the future of the program. "Everyone is picturing us as a little school that could, but when you're going out each week thumping people, it's hard to still qualify as a little school. We feel we're a major team right now."

Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... tate_x.htm

[ALEX LIFESON]

Great story, thanks!

[Sasser Rules]

The previous BSU coach (now at Arizona State) is a hell of a coach, but Hawkins is as good as any coach in America. Expect some big-money ACC/SEC/Big 12 (Texas?) to fly up there with a big bag of cash after the season to lure him away. He's quietly a very hot commodity in the coaching community.

[Cheesesteak]

Water Pony - thanks for the article.

I was surprised that Nebraska did not consider Hawkins last year after their initial head coach preferences turned down the huskers.

[smrfturf]

There have been a few schools that have backed up a truckload of money to Dan Hawkins' doorstep, but he is still committed to Boise State because of the community and for family reasons (kids in high school here). Also, he has stated he wants to build a program, not just win games. That includes increases in salaries for his assistants, updated facilities, more and more community support. The majority of Boise State fans know he is the exception and not the rule when it comes to college coaches, and feel lucky to have him here. We also know there have to be some changes in the athletic budget, 93rd out of 117 isn't going to cut it too much longer.

Looking forward to the game, hope some of you can make the trip!

[Water Pony]

Thx smrfturf"

Hawkins would be smart to stay in Boise. A great town. Two, moving on for more money can be fools gold, e.g. great expectations. The fans and alumni should reward his assistants and support the balance of the athletic department and teams. To be Division 1A requires lots of scholarships with strong coaching and facilities throughout the varsity sports programs.

Not just BSU would lose if he took off; Hawkins would ultimately regret leaving such a great situation and have to face the annual "demands of BCS 'fans' at State School USA.

[smrfturf]

I think Hawkins saw what happened to Koetter at ASU and may view it as a bit of a cautionary tale. Koetter's having a good year now, but there were rumblings after just his first season about not having the program turned around quickly enough. Coaching in the "big leagues" is a tough business.