Column: Boise’s loss is a fitting end to WAC football predictability
I didn’t see Colin Kaepernick lead the Nevada Wolf Pack back from a 17-point halftime deficit against Boise State Friday night. I didn’t see the senior quarterback make an amazing play on a critical third-and-six in the third quarter when he spun away from defenders only to elegantly glide to the three-yard line, where he proceeded to dive into the endzone. And you can bet I also missed those two mind-blowing, chip-shot field goals Boise kicker Kyle Brotzman missed, effectively killing the Broncos’ dream season and ending the dreams of the “let chaos reign” crowd of college football fans everywhere.
I didn’t see it happen because I was asleep.
You might be right to question my devotion to the sport with such an admission, but before you convict me of not being a true fan of the game, hear my argument. Up late on the East coast after a busy day polishing off Thanksgiving leftovers and fighting Black Friday shopping crowds on Amazon.com, I was burned out by the time halftime rolled around about midnight. Nevada obviously was, too, having fallen behind then-No. 4 Boise State 24-7.
Granted, I might be a little bit of a pessimist, but I’d seen this shakedown before, and I wasn’t about to watch Boise State drill the living daylights out of another WAC opponent for what, the 25th-straight week? Oh wait, I forgot. This is Nevada we’re talking about, so I guess the formula has to undergo a bit of a tweak. Sure, Kaepernick and the boys may make an edge-of-your-seat comeback (just as they have the last three years), but in the end Boise will shut them down. It’s inevitable. It always happens. They own the WAC, after all, and they are the team of destiny in college football’s most predictable league. Might as well catch some Z’s and get ready for that flight back to Logan tomorrow.
Boy, was I in for a shock.
There was no way the Sportscenter highlights could do justice to that second half, as the back and forth struggle played out like an epic. Had the final score not spoiled the outcome for me, I would have thought that Nevada’s amazing touchdown with 13 seconds left would have won the game. That was, until a few second later, when my TV screen replayed Titus Young’s ridiculous 53-yard grab to set Boise up for a field goal to win the game.
Impossible. Mind-blowing. I’m talking total OMG here.
But not unexpected. This is Boise State, after all. The team of destiny in college football’s most predictable conference. The Broncos would win in their usual amazing fashion and Nevada would finish second or third in the conference. Hawaii and Fresno would fit into the top four, and Utah State, New Mexico State, and San Jose State would round out the usual bottom. Excuse me while I go yawn.
But wait a second. Did that highlight just show that Brotzman missed the field goal? Wide right, you say?
Flash forward to the next cut-scene. Brotzman’s up again, and misses what looks like the same exact chip-shot! No way that just happened!
It is at this stage that I assume I am still sleeping and in a dream, a premise that fails to hold true when the stream of bikini-clad girls bearing In-N-Out cheeseburgers fails to arrive in my living room.
With unrestrained anticipation I clung to my couch, waiting for the inevitable highlight, which Wolf Pack kicker Anthony Martinez delivered with his 34-yard, dream-slaying field goal. Except this wasn’t my dream getting killed, it was Boise’s. And in a way, it was the end to the predictable, take-it-to-the-bank nature of WAC play that’s made the conference such a bore over the past few years.
The odds-on favorite to win the WAC won’t be back next year, and in two years, Fresno State and Nevada will join the Broncos in the new Mountain West. Hawaii could go soon, too, while two new teams – Texas State and Texas San-Antonio – are set to begin WAC play for the 2012 season. There is talk of adding North Texas, and we have no idea how last year’s new coaching hires will mold teams like Louisiana Tech and San Jose State in the coming years. Long story short? The WAC will be anybody’s game in the coming years, and while it may not make headlines for hosting a “BCS-buster,” the new WAC sure as heck won’t be a downer to watch each week, and should provide plenty of excitement for years to come.
And to think that I missed the start of this coming madness. I guess it’s true what they say – you snooze, and you really do lose.
Adam Nettina is a senior majoring in history, and member of the Football Writers Association of America. While not watching college football, Adam can be found in the Statesman office making paninis.He can also be reached at adam.nettina@aggiemail.usu.edu.