However, there was no celebration or trophy presentation that late Saturday afternoon in Reno, NV. The Broncos will hold off the party till Friday night after there game against Fresno State. A game that is very much important to BSU and their goal of going undefeated.

“Big game, no question,” head coach Chris Petersen said. “Fresno State is always a tremendous challenge for us. I think it would be a tough situation to accept the trophy if we don’t win. But its very important for us to go out and play our best against a Fresno State that will fight like we fight.”

Going into Friday’s game, Fresno hold a 7-4 overall record and is currently sitting in fourth place in the WAC. Though many thought at the beginning of the season that this game would be the one to decide the conference champion.

However, throw out all the records, Petersen and the Broncos know that the Bulldogs will be ready.

“They know how to play in big games,” Petersen said. “f you look at their scores, most those scores are very, very close. They’re in every game, they’re a second half team, they’ll fight hard.” In three of the Bulldogs four losses this season, they were decided by three points.

One dimension of the Bulldog attack that the Broncos will be keying in on, is their running game.

“It’s going to be a different style of run that we have to stop, its kind of going back to basics, it’s not spread football its not option football, its downhill hard noise Pat Hill football,” Petersen said.

Leading the Bulldogs on the ground this season has been junior Anthony Harding, who has 691 yards and four touchdowns. Right behind him is teammate and fellow junior, Lonyae Miller who has accumulated 676 yards and five touchdowns.

Another dimension of the Bulldogs game that the Broncos will be wary of is tight end Bear Pascoe. The six-foot five tight end is a force to reckon with.

“I’m not looking forward to wrestling with Bear Pascoe, but I’ve got to do it,” senior Ellis Powers said. This season Pascoe has 315 yards and four TD’s for Fresno.

This Friday is also senior day for the Broncos. A game which for many, will be their last time playing football.

“That’s another thing that is extremely important about this game,” Petersen said. “Is just playing the last game for about 20 of these guys on the blue turf and that’s important. To this team and the seniors."

Mary Albl

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Sports Editor

Last Saturday the Boise State Broncos pulled out a thrilling seven point victory against the Nevada Wolf Pack. With the win they clinched the Western Athletic Conference title, a goal that they have had since they lost it to Hawaii last season.

However, there was no celebration or trophy presentation that late Saturday afternoon in Reno, NV. The Broncos will hold off the party till Friday night after there game against Fresno State. A game that is very much important to BSU and their goal of going undefeated.

“Big game, no question,” head coach Chris Petersen said. “Fresno State is always a tremendous challenge for us. I think it would be a tough situation to accept the trophy if we don’t win. But its very important for us to go out and play our best against a Fresno State that will fight like we fight.”

Going into Friday’s game, Fresno hold a 7-4 overall record and is currently sitting in fourth place in the WAC. Though many thought at the beginning of the season that this game would be the one to decide the conference champion. However, throw out all the records, Petersen and the Broncos know that the Bulldogs will be ready.

“They know how to play in big games,” Petersen said. “f you look at their scores, most those scores are very, very close. They’re in every game, they’re a second half team, they’ll fight hard.” In three of the Bulldogs four losses this season, they were decided by three points.

One dimension of the Bulldog attack that the Broncos will be keying in on, is their running game.

“It’s going to be a different style of run that we have to stop, its kind of going back to basics, it’s not spread football its not option football, its downhill hard noise Pat Hill football,” Petersen said.

Leading the Bulldogs on the ground this season has been junior Anthony Harding, who has 691 yards and four touchdowns. Right behind him is teammate and fellow junior, Lonyae Miller who has accumulated 676 yards and five touchdowns.

Another dimension of the Bulldogs game that the Broncos will be wary of is tight end Bear Pascoe. The six-foot five tight end is a force to reckon with.

“I’m not looking forward to wrestling with Bear Pascoe, but I’ve got to do it,” senior Ellis Powers said. This season Pascoe has 315 yards and four TD’s for Fresno.

This Friday is also senior day for the Broncos. A game which for many, will be their last time playing football.

“That’s another thing that is extremely important about this game,” Petersen said. “Is just playing the last game for about 20 of these guys on the blue turf and that’s important. To this team and the seniors."

Mary Albl

Related posts:

1. Broncos not overlooking Fresno
2. Broncos face No. 8 Fresno State on ESPN
3. Fresno State earns respect for WAC

The No. 40 Broncos earned their second consecutive bid to the NCAA post-season tournament, despite losing to Fresno State in the Western Athletic Conference Championship match last weekend.

The Broncos will be traveling to Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tenn., May 9-10, where they are the No.3 team in a field of four.

Their first round match will be against No. 2 University of Kentucky, a team that BSU senior Polina Kokoulina knows all too well.

“Well I feel really well actually, because as I said when I played for Mississippi State, we played Kentucky all the time,” Kokoulina said. “As well as Vanderbilt and I’ve been to Vanderbilt, I know what to expect. I know what the weather is like . I’m really looking forward to it and I’m going to get the girls ready for that because, as a leader, I really have to because I think we have a really good chance.”

BSU will not be overlooking the Wildcats, however, as they know UK comes from a tough Southeastern Conference and have a lot of experience.

“It’s going to be a great challenge, I mean obviously. I think they’re making their like 17th straight appearance or something like that … they’re a great team,” Head Coach Mark Tichenor said.

Going into the NCAA tourney for the second consecutive year, BSU is hoping that experience and familiarity will serve them well.

“Last year we were so excited just jumping around and now I think we have more experience and some expectations from us and we really want to go to the first round and try and get some good results,” Jana Mackova said.

Last year at the tournament, Boise State was ousted by Indiana, a team that they could potentially face if they win their first match-up with Kentucky.

Whatever team BSU faces in the tournament, though, they will be ready and well prepared.

“There two things we always know: One, we’re going to go there and play as hard as we can and then when we leave nationals everyone is going to know that Boise State Women’s tennis was there,” Tichenor said. “We’re going to play with that fire and that passion that we’ve played with all year."

MARY ALBL
Assistant Sports Editor

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“I really feel like we know – our team knows – what we’re gonna get from those guys,” BSU Head Coach Chris Petersen said. “With our history, we know they will bring their ‘A”game to Boise. It will be a good game, there’s no doubt about it.”

As the game currently sets up, Boise State has solidified the No. 15 Bowl Championship Series spot and continues to move up every other national poll. In 2001 Fresno State was the team that had gained all the national recognition and was cruising to a major postseason bowl game.

The up-and-coming Broncos played spoiler that year, knocking off first-round NFL draft pick David Carr and the Bulldogs. It took Fresno four years to recover from the loss finally beating BSU again in 2005. Between the thought of redemption for last season’s loss and the fear of a 2001 repeat, Boise State isn’t failing to prepare for all Fresno will bring Wednesday night.

“It’s one of those things where, no matter what situation we were coming into this, we approach this the same exact way,” Bronco running back Ian Johnson said. “Being another one of our big-time rival games, those guys are gonna come here hungry. Who cares what that record is, they’re gonna try and get some of the blue. We’re gonna have to defend it.”

Over the years Fresno Coach Pat Hill has earned a reputation for focusing most of his team’s attention on big-time national games. Members of the national media have accused the Bulldogs of overlooking WAC competition, which is why coach Hill is yet to win a conference championship.

Whether or not this is true, only coach Hill knows for sure. Regardless, there is no doubt the Bulldogs would love nothing more than to spoil a BCS chance for Boise State.

“We recognize it as a national game,” BSU safety Marty Tadman said. “We recognize it as for the WAC championship, so they pose a big threat to us. We’re glad we get them at home. We really don’t care how they’ve done in the past. We know they’re gonna bring it. This is their entire season. If they win this they could go 2-10 or 2-9 and they’ll still be happy they beat us.”

Wednesday’s game is set to air on ESPN 2, which will give the Broncos another chance to show their legitimacy as a BCS contender. Despite facing a team that is currently No. 7 in the WAC, BCS voters should realize the history between these two teams. Throw the records out the window because Wednesday will be another epic battle between conference rivals.

“One of the goals we set in the preseason is, we’ve got to beat Fresno,” BSU fullback Brad Lau said. “It’s always a big game for us. We’ll get motivated and we’ll be ready for them.”

Jake Garcin

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“You look at who we lost to, and they are two legit teams,” freshman running back Ian Johnson said. “Now we are starting to put together games that are respectable. Now we are starting to get the loving.”

Boise State (6-2 overall, 4-0 Western Athletic Conference) hosts New Mexico State (0-8, 0-4 WAC) Saturday at 1:05 p.m. at Bronco Stadium.

The Broncos fell completely off the national radar following back-to-back losses to begin the season, but have resurged with a sense of that old swagger that Boise State had in years past.

“I think that we felt like its been back for a couple games now. We are really starting to roll on both sides of the ball and our execution has been really high,” BSU quarterback Jared Zabransky said.

At home Zabransky’s completion percentage is 73 percent and along with his 887 yards passing and four passing touchdowns in four games at Bronco Stadium, he has also rushed for seven scores, including at least one in every home game.But, much like the Portland State game this season, it would be easy for the Broncos to overlook a winless Aggies team. Instead Zabransky says the team knows the Aggies are an opponent that will be gunning for the Broncos. So, instead of overlooking New Mexico State and concentrating on a huge road game next weekend in Fresno, he says the Broncos are concentrating on keeping the tempo up and continuing to improve.

“We look it at like we have a lot of room to improve and we can make a lot of improvements. We look at it kind of like the Portland State game,” Zabransky said. “If we treat it like the Portland State game, those guys had a good football team, and we kind of looked past them and we don’t want to do that this game. We want to focus on what we need to do to get better and to get better in a lot of areas.”

And the winner is-

For the fourth time this season, and the fourth time in October, a Boise State Bronco received a weekly award from the WAC. Sophomore safety Marty Tadman was named the Western Athletic Conference defensive player of the week for his stellar play against Nevada last weekend. Tadman recorded 11 tackles, and intercepted twopasses, while helping the defense hold Nevada to the lowest point total this season.

Young and productive

Coming into the season, it was clear that there was an abundance of underclassmen that could see playing time in significant roles this season. Well, how about not just underclassmen, but freshman and sophomores in general. Eight starters against Nevada for Boise State are freshmen or sophomores, and a total of 23 are on the two-deep depth chart.

The biggest statement for the future of Boise State football is in the secondary and the offensive line. Two starters on the offensive line are sophomores (Tad Miller and Jeff Cavendar) and two are freshman (Andrew Woodruff and Ryan Clady).

In the secondary, there is not a single senior starting, and Orlando Scandrick is a true freshman playing cornerback-maybe the toughest single position to play other than quarterback because of the amount of one-on-one pressure put on the players. Plus, both safeties are sophomores, (Austin Smith and Marty Tadman).

Who’s it gonna be?

Boise State is first in the conference and 24th in the nation with 208.5 rushing yards per game, but is still without a player with 100 yards rushing in a game through eight games.

The main reason behind this mind-boggling stat is the fact that there are four running backs in the rotation and Zabransky is a pretty good runner himself. Freshman Ian Johnson leads the team with 490 yards, and Lee Marks isn’t far off with 421 this season. Jeff Carpenter plays mostly in pass situations, but does have 144 rushing yards, and Antwaun Carter and Zabransky both have seven rushing touchdowns.

“It’s a little weird, but when you think about it we’ve got four backs,” Johnson said. “Technically it’s four guys splitting 200 whatever yards, so that does average out to be 60-65 yards per person.”

Yet, not one of them has cracked the century mark.

“We’ve had a couple guys who’ve had some big runs. And I think anyone that has a big run has the chance to get that mark,” Zabransky said.

But Johnson has a little more concrete idea of who will do it, “I’d say its Lee this week. Lee Marks gets it this week.”

Trevor Horn / Sports Editor

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