Bronco Championship Teams
Boise State had never experienced a season like the one in 2002. Minus one seven-turnover hiccup at Arkansas, it may have been a perfect season. The Broncos raced to a 12-1 record, finished the WAC season with a perfect 8-0 mark, cracked both the ESPN/ USA Today and Associated Press Top 25 polls for the first time in school history and won their third Crucial.com Humanitarian Bowl in four years. Along the way, Boise State put together the country’s top scoring offense, led the nation in total offensive yards and was the most efficient passing team in I-A football. The Broncos had the nation’s leading scorer, Brock Forsey, who tallied a school-record 32 touchdowns and swept the WAC’s postseason awards in the three major categories. Forsey was honored as the Offensive Player of the Year, while safety Quintin Mikell was named the Defensive Player of the Year and head coach Dan Hawkins earned Coach of the Year honors. The Bronco offense rolled over just about everybody. The 2002 WAC champs scored over 50 points in four straight games and in five of six at one point. Included in that run was a pair of 60-point games, 63-38 win over Utah State and an amazing 67-21 win over Fresno State. Throw in a 58-31 win over WAC runner-up Hawai’i in that stretch and you can see why Boise State placed four players – Forsey, quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie, center Scott Huff, and right guard Rob Vian – on the All-WAC first team, and one more (wide receiver Billy Wingfield) on the All-WAC second team. While the offense received the majority of the headlines, the Bronco defense proved to be the best in the WAC. The Bronco “D” held four opponents under 10 points, all of those efforts coming during the last five weeks of season. While Mikell was the only Bronco to earn first-team all-league honors, three others were on the second team – defensive end Ryan Nelson, linebacker Chauncey Ako and cornerback Gabe Franklin. The Bronco special teams were, well, special. Tim Gilligan and David Mikell were two of the top return men in college football, while a hard-hitting coverage team led by Kameron Merritt, Donny Heck, and Brad Allen provided big play after big play. Kickers Nick Calaycay and Tyler Jones both helped spark Boise State to wins. Calaycay finished the season sixth in the nation in scoring despite missing three games with an injury, while Jones was so adept at kicking off for touchbacks that he was named special teams player of the week following Boise State’s 58-3 win at UTEP. In the Crucial.com Humanitarian Bowl the Broncos capped the season with the one missing piece that has plagued the program since moving up to NCAA Division I-A – a win over a power conference team. The victim would be Iowa State of the Big 12 as the Broncos overcame a sluggish first half before posting a 34-16 victory. When the 2002 season began, the motto for the season was “Leave No Doubt.” Following a WAC championship, a 12-1 record, a top 25 ranking and a postseason bowl victory, the Broncos “Left No Doubt.”
2002 Broncos: 12-1 Overall; 8-0 WAC; WAC Champions; Crucial.com Humanitarian Bowl Champions Final National Rankings: No. 12 ESPN/USA Today; No. 15 Associated Press Head Coach: Dan Hawkins
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