Boise State of Mind by Joel Gunderson

Boise State of Mind by Joel Gunderson

Author:Joel Gunderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sports Publishing
Published: 2018-03-18T16:00:00+00:00


With a weight room on the way, and the new, softer surface of the playing field, the familiarity of the program was drifting … but the majority of players who had propelled the Broncos to their eight wins the season prior remained. In addition to Dinwiddie, all-everything running back Brock Forsey and five other offensive starters were back. The defense returned the same amount, giving the staff an experienced group to unleash.

Dinwiddie, who had finished fourth nationally in pass efficiency in his debut season, was expected to take an even bigger leap, assuming he could stay off the police blotter. Forsey was teaming with David Lamont Mikell to ease his burden in the backfield. After putting up 34 points per game in 2001, much was expected of the Broncos’ offense. Now in his fifth overall season with the school, the players knew Hawkins’s system; Chris Petersen had also slid in perfectly as offensive coordinator.

* * *

On August 31, 2002, in front of 30,870 fans in Bronco Stadium, Boise State kicked off their bid for the WAC championship against Idaho. It wasn’t an onslaught as many predicted, but Boise State did what it set out to do: take care of their rivals. Entering the contest, the toughest opponent appeared to be apathy, and looking ahead to the following week when they would face former coach Houston Nutt’s Arkansas Razorbacks.

Boise State’s 38–21 win over Idaho marked just their third opening-game victory since 1995, and their third in a row over Idaho.

Although four full seasons had removed Nutt from his Boise State tenure, watering down the bitter feelings, the Razorbacks still represented a chance to do something the Broncos had yet to do: defeat a Power 5 school on the road.

“We’ve yet to beat a Pac-10 team since I’ve been here, and we’re yet to beat a formidable opponent in an upper-tier conference,” Hawkins said during the week leading up to the Razorbacks. “That’s a big step to take.”17

In Fayetteville, Nutt was facing his own problems: the lack of discipline involving his team was turning into a black eye on the program. Two of his best players, Ken Hamlin and Cedric Cobbs, were seemingly gifted autonomy leading up to the game against the Broncos, skirting disciplinary action for their off-field behavior (Hamlin would be suspended indefintely the following season for a separate incident). Those two were just the latest examples of the blind eyes being turned by the football program; by the end of the 2003 season, twenty-six players would be arrested under the coach’s watch.

Never one to miss an opportunity, as the game approached and the subject of Nutt’s non-discipline came up, Hawkins said, “I’ll just say this: I’ve got three guys missing a month of camp and one game, and what they did wasn’t as serious.”18

Four years into his tenure, Nutt’s return to Arkansas had been a mixed bag. His record—30–18—was respectable, especially for a fanbase that was not accustomed to winning big. He had saved himself by performing well in



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