Six degrees of Bronco football

Since Boise State is a hot button topic among sports fans across the nation today, and following the lead of my colleague Mark Nelke I thought I'd weigh in on the Broncos, albeit right from the heart of Vandal country.

When it comes to Boise State football, Kevin Bacon has nothing on me. The workhorse actor is forever linked to a game called "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," whereby it's assumed that every actor can eventually be linked back to Bacon through myriad connections in movies.

In that same vein, my ties with Boise State football also run deep, and for purposes of this column, I'll try and keep the history in chronological order. At the end of the column I'll even weigh in on why they don't deserve to be in a BCS bowl game this season.

n Hot prospect

My grandmother lived on the same Boise street as Dale Harsin, and I can remember playing in the street on a few occasions with his son Bryan as a young kid.

I would run into Bryan Harsin again years later when he was a sophomore quarterback at Capital High School in Boise, and had traveled north to a game at Washington State the same weekend fellow Capital quarterback Jake Plummer made his recruiting trip to Pullman. Little did I know then, but I was sitting next to a guy who would go on to become one of the hottest young coaching prospects in the country, as Boise State's current offensive coordinator. He was responsible for many of the unforgettable plays in the Broncos epic upset of Oklahoma.

n Old school Bronco

When I was 13, I remember seeing Cedric Minter skipping rope at the YMCA in Boise, wearing a soaked New York Jets shirt and stocking cap. The running back was easily the most famous Broncos player of his era (1977-80), and I remember him talking with my friends and I briefly, telling us he had just been signed by the New York Jets, where he would play two NFL seasons. Minter played on two of the same Broncos teams as Curt Hecker, who is the CEO of Intermountain Community Bankcorps in Sandpoint, and whose son Cody currently plays for the Bulldogs. SMS middle school athletic director and SHS track coach Dave DeMers also played football at Boise State.

n Jim Zorn on line one

As a senior in high school, I once got a call from none other than Jim Zorn, former Seahawks quarterback and current Washington Redskins coach, who was a Broncos assistant at the time. A family friend and graduate assistant coach on the Broncos at the time had been leaving my brother and I two tickets to home games at player will call, back when it wasn't the hot ticket it is today. Somehow, and I'm not sure to this day why, but Zorn managed to track us down and called to let us know there would no longer be free tickets for us.

n Astroturf blues

As a high school football player at Capital, I played more than 20 games on the fabled blue "Smurf Turf." Of course when I played in the late 80s (ouch, that hurt to type) is was a nasty, abrasive Astroturf, not the plush, grass-like field turf you see today. I can still remember the many rug burns and cuts sustained from diving on that arcane surface. The weight room at Capital was even covered with the green turf that had been ripped up to make way for the new blue stuff. Football fans nationwide have been adjusting their televisions ever since.

n Skip Hall era

The reason I remember the Skip Hall coaching era (1987-92) had nothing to do with any success on the field, rather, it was why he never bothered to recruit the state player of the year, who happened to be born and raised in Boise. Every school in the Pac 10 was recruiting Jake, yet his hometown college team never bothered to send him so much as a letter of interest. It worked out well though, as Jake ended up starting as a true freshman at Arizona State, having been recruited by quarterback coach Bobby Petrino, who is now the head coach at Arkansas (where former BSU coach Houston Nutt once coached).

n Setencich and Tillman

I got to meet former Boise State head coach Lyle Setencich (1983-86) once while he was the linebackers coach at Arizona State later in his career. It was there he coached the late Pat Tillman, who opted to join the Rangers and fight in Afghanistan instead of making millions as a safety for the Arizona Cardinals. I was lucky enough to get to hang out with Tillman on a couple occasions, and was saddened by his unfortunate death.

n A Bronco's Bronco

Former Boise State tight end Jeb Putzier (1998-2001) came to Coeur d'Alene several years ago as a member of the Denver Broncos to help coach in a football camp. I remember going out one night and having a great time with him and a host of other NFL players, ending the evening/morning with an impromptu street jam in downtown Coeur d'Alene. It began with two harmonicas and a few guys banging on a telephone pole, and ended 15 minutes later with more than 25 people managing to invent some kind of percussion on the street corner before Coeur d'Alene's finest finally drove up and put an end to things.

n Why oh why?

Which brings us to the million dollar question: Why isn't undefeated Boise State (12-0) in the BCS this year?

The Answer: The WAC champion's 2008 strength of schedule was ranked 111th out of 120 teams in Division 1 football - just slightly ahead of Joe's Barber College. Their only true "quality" win came on the road at Oregon, of the suddenly-average Pac 10 Conference. Compare that with teams in the Big 12 or SEC conferences, which end up earning between 6-8 brutally tough games each year, and the answer is clear.

Yes, the Broncos played in arguably the most exciting college football bowl game ever two years ago, but that doesn't mean they deserve a BCS berth this year and another chance to play David to a BCS Goliath. And for what it's worth, even if there were an eight-team playoff, the No. 9 BCS ranked Broncos would still be left out in the cold.

Eric Plummer is the sports editor of the Bonner County Daily Bee. For comments, ideas or story suggestions, he can be reached at (208) 263-9534, ext. 226, or via email at "eplummer@cdapress.com."