Hawaii Football Throwbacks: Boise State

The Hawaii football team has taken on Boise State on “The Blue” six times entering today’s ESPN2-televised matchup at Albertsons Stadium.

Of those, the Rainbow Warriors have played the Broncos within a touchdown only once — the Sept. 23, 2006 meeting between Colt Brennan’s ‘Bows and and the storied Broncos of Jared Zabransky and Ian Johnson.

It’s no secret that the all-time series between UH and BSU has been heavily skewed to the Broncos — 12-3 overall. And there have been some truly black (blue?) eyes for UH on the smurf turf over the years. The 69-3 debacle of 2004. A 55-0 embarrassment the last time the Warriors flew up there in 2015.

But this was not one of those. UH played well offensively to give itself a chance. Some miscues, particularly on special teams, caused the comeback bid to come up short in a 41-34 loss to No. 25 BSU in front of a sellout crowd of 30,642.

The Brennan-led run-and-shoot picked up 476 yards, but Boise, led by the QB Zabransky and the running back Johnson, rolled up over 500. Brennan passed for 388 yards and five touchdowns (three to Jason Rivers), while Zabransky (273) slung three. Johnson picked up 178 yards on 29 carries.

UH played catch-up the whole way (it was down 24-6 early on) but twice got within a touchdown in the fourth quarter — 34-27 and the final margin of 41-34. After the last one, an 8-yard hookup between Brennan and Rivers.

“They have an offense that can score from anywhere, so we knew we had to keep the pressure on,” said Brennan, a junior.

An on-side kick attempt with three minutes left was recovered by the Broncos and they managed to run out the clock.

The Warriors could only point back to turnovers (three) and miscues in the kicking game. A field goal and two point-after-touchdown attempts went awry. One was collected by BSU’s Orlando Scandrick for a run-back 2-point conversion. That was, incredibly, the second time Scandrick did that to UH, just about 11 months removed from the first. Those added up to a seven-point swing, the margin of the game.

Wrote Honolulu Advertiser columnist Ferd Lewis, “This was one the Warriors could have, should have, and probably would have won if not for the telltale breakdowns.”

“Every year (against Boise) it’s been special teams,” punter Kurt Milne said. “Returns, field position, blocked kicks. I really honestly don’t think it’s what they do. We do it to ourselves.”

It wasn’t all UH. Johnson proved himself a workhorse back with toughness in his 6-foot frame.

“He’s the real deal. He’s better than what I thought he was. I thought he was just a fast guy,” UH coach June Jones said.

The Warriors were also victimized by a couple of close calls that went the Broncos way, even after replay reviews.

“You never leave it up to the referees. You got to win it on your own,” said senior safety Leonard Peters, who led UH defensively with 13 tackles.

UH went on to do plenty of that. Some say Hawaii’s 2006 team (11-3, 7-1 WAC) was the best in program history. The Warriors opened up the season by hanging right with Alabama in Tuscaloosa in a 25-17 loss. After the Boise defeat, they rattled off nine wins in a row before falling to Oregon State in the regular-season finale at Aloha Stadium, 35-32. They finished by beating Arizona State in the Hawaii Bowl, 41-24.

First-year coach Chris Petersen’s Boise State Broncos, of course, went on to play in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma, one of the best-known games in college football history. The upstart Broncos pulled out the trick book — hook and ladder, statue of liberty, etc. — to shock the Sooners 43-42 in overtime, capping a perfect 13-0 season.

The following year, UH would beat Johnson and BSU 37-29 at Aloha Stadium for the outright WAC championship to keep its own perfect regular season alive.

Here’s PDFs of the next-day reports from Boise from the two Honolulu newspapers:
Honolulu Advertiser
The_Honolulu_Advertiser_Sun__Sep_24__2006_
The_Honolulu_Advertiser_Sun__Sep_24__2006_ (1)
The_Honolulu_Advertiser_Sun__Sep_24__2006_ (2)
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Honolulu_Star_Bulletin_Sun__Sep_24__2006_
Honolulu_Star_Bulletin_Sun__Sep_24__2006_ (1)
Honolulu_Star_Bulletin_Sun__Sep_24__2006_ (2)