Gifts kept on coming
Idaho football coach Nick Holt made the call and then kept his promise.
The end result was Idaho winning a bizarre football game, 38-37, over New Mexico State in improbable fashion – on a two-point conversion, punctuated by the 43-year-old coach with the shaved head belly-flopping onto a dog pile of celebrating players in the end zone Saturday night at Aggie Memorial Stadium.
It was a made-for-TV moment, an indelible image that saw airtime on ESPN.
“I thought about going for (a two-point conversion) at the end of regulation, but we decided to get the game in overtime on the road,” said Holt, whose team has a bye this week. “But I knew when we got another (touchdown) in the (second) overtime we were going to go for two. I had pre-determined that.
“I said, ‘Meet me in the end zone, we’ll have a big dog pile.’ “
It almost didn’t happen. Consider:
“Quarterback Steve Wichman was nearly intercepted late in regulation in Idaho territory, but the defender dropped the ball.
“In the first overtime, Wichman was intercepted by Alex Bernard, who appeared to return the ball for a game-ending touchdown. Instead, Bernard stepped out of bounds, by mere inches, right around Idaho’s 30-yard line.
“NMSU, needing only a field goal to win in the first overtime, converted on fourth-and-19 when Derek Dubois caught a pass over the middle. He was within a yard or two of the end zone, but lost control of the ball while being tackled. It rolled out the side of the end zone for a touchback.
Those blunders, or gifts, set the stage for a Wichman-to-Daniel Smith TD connection in the second overtime. It was the 11th time those two connected in the game, resulting in a school-record 269-yard night for Smith.
Holt shunned the extra point for a two-point conversion. Wichman threw an incomplete pass, but NMSU was flagged for offsides. Holt weighed his options on the ensuing play – run from the 1½-yard line or a pass play. He went with the two players who were having career nights, and Wichman threaded the pass to Smith, who made the catch in traffic.
“There were a lot of weird things going on,” Holt said. “We wanted to win the game and get on the buses and go because there were a bunch of plays where you go, ‘Oh my golly.’ “
Emptying the trash
Boise State players and coaches say they found motivation from some pre-game trash talking by Nevada. A Wolf Pack receiver said BSU’s secondary was “sketchy,” and apparently a BSU player recruited by both schools said Nevada players told him they were going to “dance on the Bronco.”
Instead, BSU tap-danced on the Wolf Pack, 49-14.
“You call out the (WAC) champions and you come into their house, that’s a classless statement,” BSU offensive lineman Daryn Colledge told the Idaho Statesman. “We’re not going to let a team like Nevada come in here and talk trash. We’re going to punish them like a dad should and send them back home.”
More build-up
The BSU-Fresno State showdown is still 10 days away, but the hype is building. Last week, Utah State coach Brent Guy was asked his thoughts on the two WAC powers and said the biggest difference is Fresno State has more team speed.
San Jose State’s Dick Tomey chimed in Monday.
“Just looking at the first seven games, it looks like Fresno State has more bullets in the gun than anybody else,” he said.
Fresno State cleared one hurdle Saturday, defeating Hawaii in Honolulu for the first time in coach Pat Hill’s nine-year tenure. Hill got the obligatory post-game dousing of water.
Hawaii drew only 28,196 for the nationally ranked Bulldogs, its smallest crowd since 1998.
Notes
UI kicker Mike Barrow was named the WAC special teams player of the week. He was 3 of 3 on field goals and 4 of 4 on PATs. He also averaged 43.3 yards per punt. … Idaho’s Smith leads the WAC and is seventh nationally at 106.9 receiving yards per game. … Nevada did one thing right Saturday – Bronco quarterback Jared Zabransky was sacked for the first time in four games. … La Tech, which visits Idaho on Nov. 12, is 4-0 at home and has held each opponent to 14 points.