Boise State and Oregon was a knockout…of sorts
It’s that time of year again. The grass is green (or blue), the birds are chirping, the trucks are lined up by the hundreds with grills and coolers and kegs, people are mingling on fields of pavement, and 22 people collide repeatedly in a giant rectangle drawn in white paint.
Yes, it’s football season again, and the teams came out swinging the opening day of action, literally.
Boise State, ranked No. 14 in the preseason poll, hosted the Pac-10’s No. 16 ranked, Oregon, in what was supposed to be a shootout to determine what team is going to be in the BCS talks for the remainder of the season.
Boise State vs. Oregon was billed as one of the big battles of the early season, and was supposed to have all sorts of bowl game implications, sending a message to those who doubted Boise State’s ability to compete.
So Boise State beats Oregon in the exact opposite way the game was thought to have gone; a terribly executed slop fest, with both teams making terrible errors on every drive and the high powered Oregon offense looking as delicious as a brick of old bread: stale.
Even with the game going to Boise State and the reason to celebrate seemingly present, the game itself was overshadowed by the drama of the night. LeGarrette Blount, Oregon’s best playmaker, was quoted before the game saying that Oregon “owed these guys an ass whooping.” Obviously the quote was nowhere near the outcome, but the true drama happened after the game, when a Boise State lineman walked up to Blount, tapped him on the shoulder, jawed at him, and was instead met by a closed fist right handed haymaker of a punch from the Oregon player, which dropped the 241-pound lineman on his back.
It took 60 plus minutes of ugly football to finally get some fireworks.
God, I love football season.
Rob @ September 4, 2009