Mountain West Battle in the Silicon Valley

DFT Boise Tailgate Crew

The question was not “do you know the way to San Jose?” but rather how the hell am I getting home after tailgating and watching the game until after 11 PM?  Thank goodness for designated drivers with more common sense than me. The local DFT crew, Boise State chapter, set up another epic tailgate in Spartan Village outside of CEFCU Stadium in San Jose for the Boise/San Jose State game on Saturday. Several newcomers had their initial DFT experience joining many veterans. Beautiful weather in the high 70’s on another postcard perfect day complimented an already awesome setting. As is the case when we host a tailgate, we had a surfeit spread consisting of chili, chicken teriyaki bowls, tamales, meatballs, sausages, Asian noodles, cheddar jalapeno muffins, a wide variety of chips and cookies, brownies and of course ample amounts of adult beverages. The jet pack was fueled with more Deep Eddy Vodka flavored products, the shot ski had many Fireball runs and tailgate games and football were played.  Tailgate TV theater worked perfectly as we were able to watch multiple games while communing and harassing one another. We even had an exchange student from Spain who was enjoying his first college football game at our tailgate. After a good four hours of tailgating, it was time to break down and haul the gear to our trucks about a ¼ mile away to get into the stadium in time for kickoff.

Fireball ski runs

A visit from Buster and the Boise Cheerleaders humoring the old guys

My favorite Bronco, daughter #1

Drubaca sighting, Big O, our Queen for the day, Greg Vella, Buster and Dan, the kids and those silly phones.

Ollie and the Deep Eddy Jet pack

Hot mommas, SJSU Band & Cheer squad, the happy couple, sizing up the competition

Boise was ranked #21 in the nation after experiencing their first loss of the season two weeks ago to BYU. San Jose State is in the midst of their best season since the days of Coach McIntyre. They had high hopes of shocking the world by beating Boise as they have wins against Arkansas and Army already this year. Boise’s sensational Freshman QB1 Hank Bachmeier would be back after missing the BYU game with an injury. Young Hank is the best QB Boise has had since Kellen Moore. CEFCU stadium has commenced with its four-year renovation plan leaving the entire east side of the stadium without seating. In fact, a grass hill now sits where bleachers once stood. The crowd was fired up with an estimated attendance of 19,000 which is well above average for SJSU. Kickoff was set for 7:30 PM with much of the nation already tucked in for the night.

The barren field, the men and their ladies, Boise players leaving the field victorious, Dan & Bybee

The Spartans jumped out early and often on the Broncos who looked asleep to start the game. San Jose State QB Josh Love was having no problem picking apart the Bronco secondary with precision pass after pass gaining huge chunks of yardage. After falling behind 14-0, the Broncos got on the board with a score of their own on a 66-yard punt return. The teams would trade blows until halftime with the Spartans of San Jose holding a 24-17 lead. The second half was a different story as Bronco running back George Holani would run freely over the Spartans scoring three second half touchdowns in addition to one in the first half while gaining 126 yards on the night. Despite San Jose State’s QB Josh Love having a career night with 438 yards in the air along with 2 TDs, Boise State proved to be too strong in the end. In an offensive showcase of over 900 combined yards, the Broncos prevailed 52-42. We stayed until the Boise players left the field after slapping hands with all the Boise fans. Bieber considerations for all in our crew who left early! Prior to departing for home, a subset of our group met back at my truck for what looked like a feeding frenzy from The Walking Dead and a few more beverages. 

Around the country – ESPN Gameday made it’s first appearance in Memphis, TN, and oh what a scene it was on the world-famous Beale Street. By my estimate, it was the largest Gameday crowd I have seen. The Memphis Tigers were hosting the SMU Mustangs, who were the last undefeated Group of Five team. The nation was rewarded with an excellent game and a Tiger win by a score of 54-48. Out in the PAC 12, Utah had an exciting come from behind win over the Huskies of Washington in Seattle. In Big 12 action, Baylor remains undefeated by scoring 3 more than West Virginia Thursday night in Waco. Don’t look now, but Indiana (the basketball school) is 7-2 after dominating Northwestern 34-3. In the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party in Jacksonville, FL, the UGA Bulldawgs bested their rivals from the University of Florida 24-17. In the ACC, in a game that used to matter, Miami beat Florida State 27-10. The following day, FSU head coach Willie Taggart was fired and was paid out an obscene amount of money for essentially sucking at his job for less than two seasons. Notre Dame bounced back to edge Virginia Tech by one point on an Ian Book TD with less than 30 seconds left on the clock. In FCS action, Dartmouth scored on a last second “Hail Mary” bomb against Harvard, securing a win and a share of first place in the Ivy League. In local high school action, our Monte Vista Mustangs lost in double OT to cross town rivals San Ramon Valley. A few controversial calls are still being discussed, but credit goes to the victors for the win.

The battle of Danville

Bieber

 As happy as I was that ESPN Gameday went to South Dakota State and Memphis the past two weeks for something new, I am equally disappointed at their choice for next week. With the Minnesota Golden Gophers enjoying their best season since Bronko Nagurski graced the gridiron there, it was hoped that ESPN would choose Minneapolis for the first time ever. The gophers are 8-0 and ranked 13^th in the nation. They will be hosting Penn State who is also 8-0 and ranked #5 in a classic Big Ten battle. Coach PJ Fleck even threw out a suggestion to ESPN last week to come to the twin cities for this game. But as predictable as a Pavlovian dog, ESPN chose for the 1,000th time to return to Tuscaloosa for the Bama v LSU game. No disrespect to either program as they are both having excellent seasons, but the nation has Bama fatigue and the Bama fans probably don’t care much that Gameday will be there. Why not go someplace new that would be excited about it and bring out huge crowds? I will go out on a limb and predict that this will be one of ESECPN’s smallest crowds of the year. So, ESPN as a consolation for your poor choice you get some shiny new Bieber hardware to put with your Emmys. Minnesota, as your consolation, you get me and a few of my Frostburg State cronies. We will be at Bronkos Boathaus Tailgate at 8 AM Saturday morning in the 18-degree weather preparing for the 11 AM kickoff.

Ginger – This week’s Ginger goes to the funniest coach in college football history. If you have never heard of Bob Green, legendary former coach of the Montana Tech Ore Diggers you will now. His quotes are simply badass and deserve proper recognition. Montana Tech plays in the NAIA division of college football. Green was their coach for 24 years and led them to a 140 -116-1 record. He was even a far better interview than Mike Leach and Mike Gundy combined who are entertaining to say the least.  Here is a brief snippet of some of his best quotes: https://youtu.be/JOwGB6jwawM

Historical note –This Wednesday marks the 150^th anniversary of the first college football game ever played which pitted Rutgers against Princeton. The game was played in New Brunswick and the home team, Rutgers squad, won the match 6-4. It feels like to many Rutgers fans it has been 150 years since they had a relevant season! As such, I encourage you all on Wednesday between 5 PM and 8 PM Eastern to a hoist a beer in honor of the greatest game ever invented. The DFT crack research team is looking into the first documented tailgate ever. Stand by for results.

Next Week -  I will be freezing my gizzards off in Minnesota for the game with Penn State. When I thaw out, I will recap the weekend. As they say in Minnesota Ski U Mah!

Happy Tailgating!