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Boise State football: Favorite son on the ballot

There has never been anyone like him, and there may not be anyone like him again. Kellen Moore has been nominated for the College Football Hall of Fame.

BOISE, Idaho — Thursday, June 3, 2021.

There are 78 FBS players on the ballot, so anything can happen. But all is not right with the world if Kellen Moore is not elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. The National Football Foundation revealed him Wednesday as one of the 2022 candidates. Moore, the winningest quarterback in the history of the college game with a record of 50-3, set himself apart during his Boise State career from 2008-11. He took the mid-major Broncos to unprecedented heights while throwing for 142 touchdowns, second-most in FBS history, and 14,667 yards, currently the sixth-most ever, and was a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2010. The announcement of the 2022 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be made early next year, and the induction ceremony will be that December.

SOME OF THE BEST NUMBERS

Moore flat-out got the ball into the end zone. Take those TD passes, for example. Nos. 2 through 5 on Boise State’s career list are fairly bunched up—in reverse order: Tony Hilde 70, Bart Hendricks 78, Ryan Dinwiddie 82 and Brett Rypien 90. Moore has 52 more career touchdown passes than any other Bronco. He also finished his career as the NCAA record‐holder for lowest percentage of interceptions in a career, and he still holds the NCAA season record for lowest interception percentage. In 2009, he threw three picks in 431 attempts.

ONE OF THE BEST GAMES

My favorite Boise State game ever to see in person (non Fiesta Bowl category) doubles as my favorite telecast ever on KTVB: the 37-32 win at Oregon in 2008. Autzen Stadium was packed to the gills and loud—at least in the first quarter. Boise State had a redshirt freshman quarterback (you-know-who) and had never won a road game against a (then) Pac-10 team. It the first road game of Moore’s college career, and once he got it going, it was something to behold. Kellen toppled the Ducks with 386 yards passing. The crown jewel was his 73-yard touchdown pass to Vinny Perretta after the Broncos suckered Oregon linebacker Casey Matthews into covering him. Bronco Nation traveled well that day, and the ones who were there will never forget it.

THE EARLY BEGINNINGS

It’s been years since I dusted off this story, but it’s sure pertinent now. In December of 2006, there was an article in the Seattle Times about Kellen Moore, the newly-named Washington Player of the Year. It was prophetic for the guy who had committed to play at Boise State. "It's what he does every day when he comes home," said Prosser coach Tom Moore of his son. "On any given day, we have 30 or 40 college games TiVoed.” Said Craig Beverlin, Tom Moore's longtime friend and coaching colleague and Kellen's godfather, “For Christmas and birthdays, he'd ask for money so he could buy college and NFL game tapes. The kid just loves football. In terms of strategy and X's and O's, I would put him up against a lot of college coaches. He's as sharp as I've seen at that age." And Kellen’s age at that time was 17.

NOW, FOR MERRITT’S FOLLOWUP

Can June be like May for Troy Merritt? If it is, we could see the former Boise State star in the U.S. Open. After all, Merritt posted three top 10 PGA Tour finishes in May and collected over $718,000. But first things first. Merritt’s in the field today at The Memorial, the venerable tournament founded in 1976 by golf great Jack Nicklaus in Dublin, OH. Merritt will stick around the Columbus area Monday to play a U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier.

HAWKS GET PADDLED

The Missoula Paddleheads are in first place in the Pioneer League Northern Division, and the Boise Hawks are in last place in the Southern Division. It played out that way Wednesday night in the first of a three-game series at toasty Memorial Stadium. Shutouts are going to be rare in the Pioneer League, but the Hawks were on the wrong side of a 16-0 whitewashing. It wasn’t that bad until Missoula put up a 10-spot in the top of the ninth inning. Boise is now 3-7.

THIS DAY IN SPORTSJune 3, 1971, 50 years ago today:

Only 35 pitchers in major league history have thrown more than one no-hitter, and on this day the Cubs’ Ken Holtzman became one of them. Holtzman threw a second no-no in a 1-0 win in Cincinnati. His first had come two seasons earlier against Atlanta at Wrigley Field. By the way, another one of those elite 35 is former Idaho Vandal Bill Stoneman from the same era. Stoneman tossed no-hitters for the Montreal Expos in 1969 and 1972.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors five sports segments each weekday on 93.1 FM KTIK. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.) 

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