A Shattered Dream

I'm gonna start out this blog by saying it's taking me a lot of guts to write this blog. If anyone knows how much I care about college football and my Boise State Broncos, they would know how devestated I was this weekend. The school that captured the hearts of America when they slew Goliath Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. After that, people expected Boise State to ride off into the sunset as one of the best underdog stories of college football. Instead Boise State went 46-4 since that last win; Boise State was not finished. Instead, this program became a national powerhouse. A team that everyone feared to play, but always hesitant to give them credit for what they have done. This year they earned the respect of the nation and was voted as the #3 team in the country to start the season. In front of Florida, Texas, and USC. There were rumors that Boise State, if everything fell correctly, could play for a national championship.

Their first test came on Labor Day, the first game of the season against #10 Virginia Tech. After a hard fought game, Boise pulled out the win and was now in prime position to sit back and watch the other undefeateds lose while Boise destroyed everyone on their schedule, and destroy they did. Boise was never threatened in a game, and was slowly impressing the voters. Every team except Oregon, Auburn, and TCU had lost. Boise was just where they wanted to be to make history.

Then came the day that will always be remembered in my heart as Black Friday: What could have been. The day was filled with the most anticipation for college football than any other week this year. First #2 Auburn had to travel to ranked Alabama to try to seal their undefeated regular season. Alabama jumped to a 24-0 start and it looked like our dream would come true. Auburn would fall and that would put Boise into the national championship. Someone forgot to tell Alabama that they had a second half to play. In what I still believe is a BCS conspiracy, Alabama completely laid down in the second half while Alabama scored 21 unanswered points and eventually won the game 28-27.... Disappointment #1

The next game was also a big let down. #1 Oregon was hosting ranked Arizona in Eugene. It was a hard fought first half, but at the end of the half, Arizona was winning 19-13, but Oregon did what it always does to its opponents in the second half. The flood gates opened, and Oregon scored 36 points in the second half and won the game convincingly by 19 points... Disappointment #2

Then came the biggest disappointment I have ever had as a Boise State fan. I thought to myself, "It's ok, those teams still have another week to lose. We got this game, and we'll worry about next week." I was right for the first half. Boise State jumped on ranked Nevada early; going to the locker room ahead 24-7. Now we all know the story that Boise State lost, but here are my biggest plays that decided the momentum of the game, and changed the whole game.

#1. The Broncos received the ball at the beginning of the half, but were forced to punt. When they punted the kicker muffed the punt and it was recovered by the Broncos on the five yard line. However, a very very questionable call was made by the ref saying that Doug Martin did not give the receiver enough time to catch the ball. Instead of the Broncos getting the ball and punching it in for a dagger 31-7 lead, Nevada received the ball which lead to...

#2. On third and long for the Wolfpack Colin Kapernick dropped back to pass and was blitzed by the cornerback. Instead of what was supposed to be a sure sack, the cornerback overpursued and Colin evaded the tack and scrambled 18 yards for a touchdown. Now it was 24-14

#3. The next drive the Broncos were faced with a 3rd down. Kellen underthrew Titus Young, but as Titus Young was coming back for the pass, his face mask was grabbed by the Nevada defender, but there was no flag. The Broncos were forced to punt again.

#4. On Nevada's next drive they were faced with another third down. Nevada ran a Wide Receiver reverse that the Broncos caught on quickly. I thought they were going to tackle him for a loss, but instead the defense over committed again and the receiver scrambled 40+ yards for another touchdown. It was now 24-21

Those were the key plays that led up to the final letdown, and will forever haunt my mind as I was utterly stunned by what took place. Boise State had the ball with 12 seconds left. The game was tied 31-31 and likely headed for overtime. Kellen Moore delivered a beautiful ball, and Titus Young made a miraculous diving catch at the 9 yard line with 1 second left. I was screaming so loud with joy. All that was left was a 26 yard field goal by Kyle Brotzman and we would keep our dreams alive. Kyle Brotzman got set to kick and it was up and away. At first I thought it was in, and started giving my family congratulatory high fives only to hear the commentator say he missed it. I almost lost it. I had had enough. I could not bear to watch what was happening. After that kick I knew that the game was over, Boise was going to lose, and sure enough, another 29 yard field goal miss by Kyle Brotzman helped destroy Boise's hopes. Gone are the national title hopes, gone is a BCS bowl game, gone are the heisman votes for Kellen Moore, gone is an outright WAC title, gone is everything that this season was supposed to be. Chris Peterson said, "One play cannot lose a game." But two can. And that will haunt Kyle Brotzman the rest of his life.

Where do we go from here? Boise State plays one more game on Saturday against Utah State in which they will win. Who knows by how much though considering they may show up uninspired. They will probably go to the lowly Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl and slowly fade into the little guy again. Next year they will leave for the Mountain West in which it was a conference that we thought we would be sharing with BYU, Utah, and TCU, but instead we will still be a big fish in a small pond. Boise will not have the TV contract with ESPN anymore to help keep them on the map. This season meant so much to me and to have it disappear in such a disappointing fashion just made me sick. This is the reason why we need a playoff. One game should not determine a whole season until the playoffs. If my playoff plan would be implemented they would still have a shot to win it all, because I truly believe this team could still beat any other team in the nation. My prayers go out to the Broncos that they may learn from this and help them become stronger and finish the season strong. Go Broncos!