Boise State Needs to Make Its Shot Count As the Underdog

The Broncos, given a No. 3 playoff seed that came with a first-round bye, are playing a credibility game on behalf of the entire Group of 5.

Broncos head coach Spencer Danielson (right) and Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty are looking to make some real noise in the CFP quarterfinals. / Marco Garcia-Imagn Images

Nobody could believe it, really. Not the millions watching on TV. Not the 73,719 in what was then called the University of Phoenix Stadium. Certainly not those in the press box who were trying to chronicle a game that grew more incredible with every play.

I was one of those in the press box. And when the unbelievable transpired, I violated all professional protocol and decorum by leaping to my feet and yelling, to no one in particular, “Statue of Liberty! They ran the Statue of Liberty!” It was the most stunningly brazen way to win a game I’d ever seen.

That was 18 years ago, when the Boise State Broncos performed the Holy Trinity of Trickeration to upset the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Facing do-or-die circumstances, Boise ran, in order: a hook-and-lateral that went for a touchdown in the final seconds to force overtime; a fourth-down touchdown pass by a running back in OT; and the immortal Statue of Liberty—a behind-the-back handoff from quarterback Jared Zabransky to running back Ian Johnson for a walk-off, 43–42 victory that still ranks as the greatest moment in program history.

(Johnson dropping to a knee and proposing to his cheerleader girlfriend on the field, shortly after winning the game, only added to the phantasmagoria of the moment.)

Now here we are, at a full-circle Fiesta Bowl. The Broncos are back, trying to top that 2007 game with something even bigger—a College Football Playoff quarterfinal victory over the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Penn State had arguably its finest-ever moment in the Fiesta Bowl as well, 20 years earlier than Boise. The Nittany Lions’ 14–10 upset of what was considered an invincible Miami Hurricanes team marks the most recent Penn State national title.

But the Boise upset of Oklahoma is about as close as college football has ever come to a Cinderella moment. (An argument could be made for Appalachian State’s shocking of Michigan a few months later.) The sport is engineered against the Little Guy, no matter how popular they are in college basketball come March Madness. As glorious as that Fiesta Bowl was, it ultimately didn’t impact the outcome of the season nationally.

Those Broncos, who finished the season 13–0, never got a chance to even compete for a national championship. That was the BCS era, when two teams played for a title and everyone else was excluded—even undefeated teams. But the four-team playoff would have excluded that Boise State team as well, which was ranked No. 9 heading into the bowl game.

The 12-team playoff, with its automatic bid for the top-ranked Group of 5 conference champion, gives Boise State an opportunity. It gives all comers an opportunity. That’s profound progress.

“When the College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams, it gives everybody a shot,” said Boise coach Spencer Danielson. “It gives all FBS teams a shot, that you go win your games, you give yourself a shot to go play in these playoffs.

“So, this game, there’s a lot riding on it. … But I do believe in this setup. I do believe in the College Football Playoff, because, once again, it gives everybody a shot.”

Boise needs to make its shot count. With the deck increasingly stacked in favor of the biggest programs, some so-called leaders in college athletics would prefer future playoff formats to be even more of the rich, for the rich and by the rich. The Broncos, carrying the G5 banner and given a No. 3 playoff seed that came with a first-round bye, are playing a credibility game on behalf of roughly 60 FBS programs.

The Broncos arrived in Arizona wearing “Please Count Us Out” T-shirts, embracing their role as the CFP’s underdog. / Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It’s unfair to put too much weight on the outcome of a single game as a referendum for the future of the playoff—but how about two games? In addition to Boise, the Arizona State Sun Devils carry some performance pressure into their Peach Bowl quarterfinal against the Texas Longhorns on Wednesday.

Even conferences like the ACC and Big 12—no paupers themselves—have been marginalized and criticized in comparison to the SEC and Big Ten. When the ACC’s two playoff entrants, the SMU Mustangs and Clemson Tigers, both were dispatched by double digits in the first round, there was criticism of the league getting multiple bids. Arizona State, repping the Big 12, now has to step up and validate its No. 4 playoff seed.

There will be discussion about a format change that eliminates automatic byes for conference champions, which is fair. But let’s at least see these games play out before deciding that the Broncos and Sun Devils got something they cannot justify.

Toward that end, Boise State is in familiar territory as the slighted underdog. That’s been the case ever since the Broncos began their improbable climb from obscurity to national relevance. There have been many milestones along the way—installing the blue turf in 1986, moving to FBS a decade later, winning their first bowl in 1999, promoting Chris Petersen to head coach in 2006—but none were more important than winning the ’07 Fiesta Bowl.

Now 36, Danielson was a high school kid in California watching that game at home on TV with his dad. It was his first exposure to Boise State football. He eventually got a job there as a graduate assistant and worked his way up to defensive coordinator. When Andy Avalos was fired during the season last year, Danielson got the interim job and performed so well that he was promoted to full-time head coach. Year 1 has been a 12–1 joyride.

But in the hierarchy of the sport, Boise remains Boise until proven otherwise. Respect must be taken, because it will not be given.

The Broncos got off the airplane here in Arizona on Saturday wearing T-shirts that read, “Please Count Us Out.” That’s been a recurring message from Danielson, who has never spent a day as a player or coach at a power conference school, to his team.

“That’s what I believe in, and that’s what Boise State has been built on,” Danielson said. “I talked to our staff and our players. I said, ‘Everybody in this room, me included, has been counted out at some point in their life.’ At some point in football, someone said: ‘You can’t do this.’ And then you say, ‘You know what? I am going to prove you wrong right now.’ And you work your tail off to earn the right to do it.

“That’s what our team is. That doesn’t mean it directly correlates to always winning the football games you want to win. But I promise you, when you put the ball down on Tuesday night, our boys will be ready.”