You saw it last week on a 51-yard screen pass. Ian Johnson's trademark forward lean when he gets up a head of steam. He calls it "super speed"
mode, a term coined by BSU running backs coach Jeff Choate last year. Will he get to shift into "super speed"
at Southern Miss Saturday night? He'll be looking across the field at an inspired tailback named Damion Fletcher, the guy he bested in Bronco Stadium last year but who is now en fuego for the Golden Eagles. Maybe that inspires Johnson to greater heights after rushing for just 266 yards in the Broncos' first four games. But again, the aforementioned "super speed"
run was on a pass play, and even Ian has bought into the fact that this year BSU's offense mixes in the run to complement the pass.
The Boise State offensive line was in the middle of the media fray when the Broncos hosted Southern Miss a year ago. That's when Jeff Cavender guaranteed that Johnson would gain 150 yards and score three touchdowns against the Golden Eagles. Johnson then amassed 191 yards (rushing and receiving)--and three TDs. And Cavender and his trench-mates then refused to talk to the media the rest of the season. The O-line took care of that early this year, putting a moratorium on interviews before the season even started. This season, BSU will go to battle with five offensive linemen that didn't face Southern Miss in 2007. Guard Andrew Woodruff, the Broncos' lone returning starter, missed last year's game with the flu.
He began the season as a total unknown nationally, but he's starting to be a "known"
. Kellen Moore is No. 6 on Bruce Feldman's list of college football's "10 Biggest Newcomers"
at ESPN.com. Writes Feldman: "The slender redshirt freshman from Washington has been quite a find for the Broncos, who really only had to beat Eastern Washington to get Moore. The Broncos had Moore in their camp and BSU D-coordinator Justin Wilcox had been sold on Moore from his relationship with the QB's coach, who had raved about Moore's savvy and competitiveness. The Broncos have really been rewarded too. He's completing 72 percent of his passes and is on pace to throw for 3,500 yards. His showing at Autzen Stadium was very impressive, throwing for 386 yards and 3 TDs in a 37-32 upset win."
In conjunction with Moore's No. 6 national ranking in pass efficiency earlier this week, I mentioned the leader, Tulsa's David Johnson. He's kind of like Taylor Tharp, getting his first chance to start as a senior. But Johnson's numbers are off the charts, much like predecessor Paul Smith's were last year. Johnson has already thrown for 1,682 yards and a staggering 23 touchdowns after Smith led the nation in 2007 with 5,065 yards and 47 TDs. So where does that leave Johnson's backup, Jacob Bower? The Mountain View High grad has played in all five games, going 5-of-7 for 42 yards. But again, Johnson is a senior, and it could be Bower welcoming his old friends at Boise State to Tulsa as starting quarterback next season.
Brian Murphy's Statesman story this morning about the contract extension for Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier is interesting. The new five-year addition to go before the State Board of Education contains a clause that awards Bleymaier a $20,000 bonus each season he schedules two BCS opponents in football. Murphy points out that the Broncos don't have any BCS foes on the docket yet in 2011, 2013, 2014 or 2015, with openings still remaining on those schedules. I would just say that Bleymaier's not ducking attractive competition. In each of those seasons, BSU has BYU or Utah--or both.
We'll find out a lot Saturday about New Mexico State, which has been in its own little world down there in the American Southwest. The Aggies finally play their first WAC game when they go to Nevada, and they take their suspect rush defense with them. NMSU allows an average of 222 yards a game on the ground, which will have Colin Kaepernick licking his chops and looking for gaps. But New Mexico State hung with New Mexico in one of its rivalry games last month and picked up an emotional one-point road win over rival UTEP in the other. Quarterback Chase Holbrook is off to a great start in his senior year, already throwing for 10 touchdowns in four games. Can the Aggies make a game of it this week? Probably not in Reno.
As the Mariners interview for a new general manager following one of the worst seasons in franchise history, former Boise Hawk Jarrod Washburn casts a wary eye on plans for the 2009 club. Washburn told the Sporting News Daily: "I would prefer not to be part of (rebuilding). It's going to be an interesting winter."
It's probably not up to him. Washburn was just 5-14 this season for the M's--he has $10.35 million left on the four-year, $37.5 million contract he signed when he left the Angels three years ago. The 34-year-old lefthander was the subject of trade talks with Minnesota in August, and he was disappointed it didn't work out. Washburn would have jumped at the chance to join the Twins, who play 90 minutes from his hometown of Webster, WI.
The guy who's penciled in as the Idaho Steelheads' starting goalie has arrived at training camp in McCall. Matt Climie, a rookie out of Bemidji State, was assigned to the Steelheads by the Dallas Stars last Friday, so he flew to Minnesota, gathered his stuff, and drove out West. Climie got into six games with the Iowa Stars at the end of last season. But, more importantly, he played a full exhibition game between the pipes for Dallas at Colorado last week, stopping 25 of 28 shots in a 3-1 loss. Climie held the Avalanche scoreless in the first period. With Iowa now defunct, Dallas doesn't have an AHL affiliate this season, so the Stars will have a keener eye on Idaho. As a consequence, Dallas is expecting the Steelheads to play Climie a lot. He is, in effect, the Stars' No. 3 goaltender.
Could forward Lance Allred return to the Idaho Stampede this season? Allred was released yesterday by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was at the core of a Stampede squad that won the NBA D-League championship last spring, although he wasn't around to see it. Allred was called up by the Cavs a week into March and later signed by them for the rest of the season. The former Weber State star appeared in only three games for Cleveland, though, scoring three points and grabbing one rebound. For the Stampede, he averaged 16.2 points and 10 rebounds last season, improving exponentially since joining the team as a backup in 2006-07.
This Day In Sports...October 9, 1989:
The San Francisco Giants win their first pennant in 27 years, ending Chicago's latest World Series dream by beating the Cubs in the National League Championship Series. Will Clark hit .650 in the NLCS to win MVP honors, leading the Giants into the earthquake-interrupted Bay Bridge Series against the Oakland A's.
