Where I come from: My all-time favorite Boise State team

For picking last year’s team? I understand the stress you are talking about Kevan, but I love the cool efficiency of Kellen Moore, the raw power of Doug Martin, and the motor of Jeron Johnson. Austin Pettis is a less-plucky but more efficient Vinnie Peretta, and Titus Young, hang loose and all is just a joy to watch. My all time favorite Bronco will probably remain Korey Hall for a long time, but as far as a whole team, last year’s bunch just had so many interesting parts it’s hard to even break away to get another beer for fear you’ll miss something.

The season that started the run. Koetter’s second year.

Undefeated (8-0) at home, bowl winner (Louisville game), a K-Dome beatdown, several other wins by frightful scores. 10-3 season record after going 6-5 the prior year.

I watched the opening season loss at ranked UCLA in the Rose Bowl and became hooked as a fan. We hung with those guys despite the score and I wasn’t surprised at the remaining season’s success.

Without the success of this team, the chances of Fiesta 1 and 2 and the spoils of future seasons would have been more difficult to come by, IMO.

This was the season that got the D1 Broncos kicked off.

But I’m going with the 1994 13-2 National Champion Runner-Up team.

I had so much fun watching that team play. I loved Pokey Allen. Hilde to Ikebe. KC Adams with the one blue and one orange leggings.

Probably most importantly, that was the year we broke “The Streak” against Idaho. That 27-24 win was absolutely EPIC. Seeing OC Al Borges hanging from the goal posts is something I will never forget.

Not to mention, that with the playoff run, we ended up having 10 home games that year. How awesome is that?

Yeah, we ended up losing the National Championship, but you can’t win ’em all. I loved me some ’94 Broncos.

Note: this is not to thumb my nose at this whole decade of dominance… to the contrary, I think ’94 and Pokey set the stage for everything to come. I also have a hard time picking a team without Korey Hall on it.

May I not be the last.
I LOVE the ‘06 team — not in spite of Z . . . BECAUSE of Z.
You cannot get a better redemption story than this: his 2 previous bowl games ended on his interception, and he throws a pick-six with less than 1 minute to go. After that, he somehow found the courage and intestinal fortitude to deliver the perfect pass on the hook-and-lateral and lead his team to victory. If you put that game in the worst season in Bronco history, it would make that season an automatic top three for me. I’m not a huge Zabransky fan. I even yearned for Dinwiddie in the midst of the ’04 season. But I am in love with the story of that game. If you tried to write a movie script that had all the aspects of that game, people would roll their eyes at the “overboard-ness” of it all. You would have out-Bruckheimered Jerry Brukheimer.
That being said, I call second dibs on 2010.

Other 2001 notes:
Two thoughts about the Fresno clip above:
1 Did Fresno lose that game when they cheap-shotted Gilligan? Seems to me that was the turning point
2 What was with the colors on the final score? Boise State – red, Fresno State – blue

I was going ‘06 too. I love the fact that you point to the ’01 Fresno win-I’d argue it was the porgram chnger. FSU was the non-BCS uber-darling. That win started ESPN’s infatuation with us and I would argue ESPn has been integral to the program’s success. I too will remember the ‘06 team in part bc its success was unexpected. As you article suggests, There is more to fave than success. Mine would be the ’74 team, that played Central Michigan for the championship. That team is ref’d in an earlier blog as OBNUGer Jason was born during the ‘73 game (most of) this team played against Davis. ’74 showed we were on the rise albeit in Div II. Lots of fun players including the legendary Jimmy Mac. Kellen will surpass him, and he’s surpassing a great one.Fun games ot watch, all Bronoc elements in play.

I remember thinking Hawk looked scared before that game.

The 1980 team is one of my favorites. They were the 2006 team before the 2006 team existed. Just something about that team and the players I liked. There was some good NFL talent on that team.

My next favorite team would be the rest of them.

and I was only in diapers in the 1990’s, I will have to say I’m a golden child. My favorite team of all time would have to be this past years team. I have to pick this team bc of the players. I only started following in 2004 so I have a relatively small pool to pick from. Either way I’ve grown with the Kellen Moore era and thats when my obsession picked up steam. I love last years team for everything they were able to accomplish and because of a dude name Doug Martin!

That was the year I moved to Boise (the first time) and was able to follow Bronco Football religiously.

Watching Dinwiddie pick apart opposing defenses was a beautiful thing to watch. Then there were the smaller, slower, overachieving receivers named Tim Gilligan and TJ Acree. On the other side of the ball I loved watching Andy Avalos constantly swarm to the ball and watch an energetic freshman named Korey Hall.

That team could’ve/should have ran the table if they hadn’t been cornholed in the Oregon State game by the ref. Despite that, the team played outstanding all year long and went on to the Fort Worth Bowl to beat TCU 34-31. Great season.

Having said that, 2006, 2008, 2009, and probably 2010 are all very close.

..but for all the reasons Jason listed, 1994 probably tops the list. That was a fun season to be a part of as a fan.

2002 and 2008 rank right up there as well.

After being snubbed for a bowl in 2001, the “Leave No Doubt” 2002 team was the first time you could see how dominate BSU could be over the rest of the WAC. After returning early from a broken ankle so he could play against Fresno, Dinwiddie had about as good of 3 quarters as a QB will ever have.

Expectation were low for 2008. 2007 was lackluster by BSU standards and there was uncertainty in what to expect from a freshman starting at quarterback. In his first road game at the mighty Autzen, Moore showed the poise and precision that we now take for granted. This was also the first team during the “Golden Era” that the defense deserved as much hype as the offense.

it just keeps getting better. This team is an absolute blast on both sides of the ball. To pick an all time favorite Bronco would be some kind of torture. I think Doug Martin is going to be near the top of most people’s list before it’s all said and done. Hard to bet against Korey Hall, him being from our state.

Are all my all-time teams.

I loved the ‘03 and ’04 squads. Tim Gilligan went to Elko High and I knew of him though he was 3-4 years younger than I. I loved TJ Acree, Avalos, Dinwiddie, but most of all Korey Hall. I thought and still do believe he epitomized the blue collar Bronco mentality that we’ve all come to love about the program. Marty Tadman is also high on that list for me. 2004 was when the Broncos first really hit the national scene (outside of the Fresno State upset – good pick Kevan). which you will recall was the reason for all the hype going into 2005.

2006 was where it really all came together. aside from the 23-20 at San Jose that team ran through everybody, including Oklahoma, and had what it took to hang in there and come out with a win. Classic.

2008 saw a redshirt freshmen (and perhaps the Bronco’s best all-around leader to date) hit the field running. He showed no jitters, stage fright, confusion, you-name-it. They went undefeated in the regular season and lost by one in the Pointsettia Bowl.

2009 was the culmination of a decade long assault on DIA college football. One of only a handful of teams to post a 14-0 record. 2009’s Broncos will be one of the best squads ever to set foot on The Blue.

With all due repsect to all the great teams that came before these, these five teams have established a national prominence for Boise State football, the last two especially. Now they sit in prime contention for a National Title run and the entire college football world will be watching. Boise State has a long and proud winning tradition that started long before 1980,1994 or 2006. But the program of the last ten years has given the school a national spotlight.

was when I came to Boise as a grad student. I had no knowledge of the team or program before then. I remember reading the Arbiter’s preview of the team and thinking that with all the seniors, they had the potential of doing pretty well. That game against Oregon State was fun, and I caught a couple of other good games on the radio (I clearly remember listening to the Hawaii game in my car, coming back to Boise after spending the day in the mountains). I went back to NC for the holidays, and had an “orange and blue” party for the Fiesta Bowl with as many orange or blue colored foods as I could find (including blue corn Fiesta chips), and then there was the game itself…

It’s been a fun four years here, but that first year of discovery was a lot of fun.