WACky nostalgia: A look back at the best of WAC football

The legions of fans who compose the fabric that is “Bronco Nation” are a passionate and opinionated set of individuals who are never shy about expressing viewpoints on the football program they hold so dear.

From the most popular sports pubs on Broadway Avenue, to the most obscure bars in the outskirts of Nampa, the most frequent topic of conversation revolves around one question: When is Boise State going to leave the Western Athletic Conference (WAC)? These words have echoed across the Treasure Valley ever since Boise State defeated Oklahoma in the famous Fiesta Bowl of 2007.

It is a question born from BSU fans’ unwavering belief that the Broncos can compete at the nation’s highest level. The achievements that the Broncos have enjoyed over the decade are so monumental that it is only natural for Bronco fans to want their team to take a place as the “real deal” in one of the major BCS conferences.

BSU fans are eager to see their team remove the mask of the perpetual underdog and take its place as crowned royalty in college football. However, what they sometimes forget is that the WAC has been the central basis of BSU’s athletic operation — the main source of all the Bronco’s glory and achievement.

BSU’s place in the WAC is something we ought to embrace, not turn away from. WAC commissioner Karl Benson stated that while he feels it is true that “Boise State is the most dominate team in WAC history,” he was very quick to point out that long before BSU was a D1 team, “the WAC was making greatness a part its tradition.”

Although it is true the WAC is a so-called “mid-major” conference, we must not forget that it has a grand history of its own. For more than 30 years, the teams the WAC has fielded have been a jagged thorn in the side of the giants of college football.

The WAC has been home to numerous top-15 teams, a national championship, a Heisman trophy winner and is a conference where more than one NFL legend got his start. Steve Young and LaDainian Tomlinson are just a couple of the many professionals who once called the WAC home.

“The WAC is a maverick league,” said Benson, referring to the unorthodox but effective style that has come to epitomize WAC football.

Deception, trickeration and innovation have always been key components of the WAC. In the 1970s and 1980s, the majority of the big name teams utilized what is now an obsolete offensive formation known as the “Wishbone.” The basics of the wishbone formation entailed running the ball on nearly every play, utilizing running backs as bulldozers, smashing their way through the middle or breaking hard to the outside, forcing defenses into one-on-one match ups.

In the late 1970s BYU coach, LaVell Edwards, defied convention with the implementation of the “Drop-back” offense. Rather than attempting to force his spry team into becoming bruisers, the Cougars took to the air, throwing larger opponents into confusion with a dazzling aerial attack. The development emphasized speed over power, precision over brute strength and innovation over convention. The Cougars used their opponent’s size against them, out thinking them at every turn and forcing them to adjust to a style of play they were unprepared for.

This approach worked wonders for the Cougars. They ended up establishing their own decade of dominance in the late 1970s and 1980s. The Cougar’s unorthodox style of play reached its zenith in 1984. The Cougars kicked off their 1984 season by defeating the No. 3 Pitt, and finished it with an upset victory over Michigan in the Holiday Bowl. This led to a national championship and a Heisman trophy award for quarterback Ty Detmer.

The Cougars were not as prone to “gadget” plays as the Broncos, but they had to endure assertions that it was their tricky form of play (as opposed to raw talent) that led to the Cougar’s success. This is similar to the accusations that Boise State would not have beaten Oklahoma without “trick” plays.

Benson put it best when he said, “I always tell people that those trick plays worked against one of the best defenses in the country. Deception is a part of football.”

Under the WAC banner, the Utah Utes had their own moments of excellence. While in the WAC, the Utes defeated Arizona in the 1994 Freedom Bowl and climbed as high as No. 8 in the college football rankings. Other WAC teams, including the TCU Horned Frogs, Hawai’i Warriors and Fresno State Bulldogs, have all recorded highly publicized victories against big-time opponents.

In the 1990s, the WAC endured a tremendous amount of upheaval and Commissioner Benson deserves a lot of credit for holding the conference together. Previously the WAC had a 16-team membership, but the conference began to splinter when top notch programs such as BYU, Utah and TCU left for the Mountain West Conference.

“It looked like the rug had been pulled out from under the WAC,” Benson said.

It was at this crucial juncture the Fresno State Bulldogs stepped up with a couple big years, nearly making a run at a BCS bowl berth with a string of big wins. Benson has not forgotten those years.

“I give Fresno State and head coach Pat Hill a lot of credit for carrying the water for the WAC,” Benson said.

It was this success BSU built on, allowing them to begin its decade of dominance.

The term “mid-major” is a vulgar expression. It implies the mid-majors are minor league teams in a sport where the BCS conference teams are in the major leagues. Division I football is a league unto itself. The Broncos may have to live with the term “mid-major,” but it is obvious that there is a wide gap between the WAC and other smaller mid-major conferences.

According to Benson, “what clearly separates the WAC from the Sun Belt or MAC conferences is that in a two year period, starting in 2006, we had back-to-back BCS berths with Boise State and Hawaii, and in 2008 Boise State deserved a BCS berth but did not get it.  We very easily could of and should have had four straight BCS years.”

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Posted by Arbiter Staff on Mar 11 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.