American college football season
The 1973 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State College during the 1973 NCAA Division II football season , the sixth season of Bronco football (at the four-year level) and the first in the newly reorganized Division II . The Broncos were in their fourth year as members of the Big Sky Conference (and NCAA ) and played their home games on campus at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho .
Led by sixth-year head coach Tony Knap , the Broncos were 9–2 in the regular season and undefeated in conference (6–0) to win their first Big Sky title . Invited to the inaugural eight-team Division II playoffs , BSC hosted a 53–10 quarterfinal win over South Dakota .[ 2] In the semifinals, the Broncos lost 38–34 to Louisiana Tech in the Pioneer Bowl in Texas ,[ 3] giving up a touchdown in the final seconds and finished at 10–3.[ 4] [ 5]
Date Time Opponent Rank Site Result Attendance Source September 15 2:30 pm at Idaho W 47–2417,104 [ 6] [ 7] September 22 7:30 pm Montana State No. 10 W 27–1714,521 [ 8] September 29 7:30 pm Portland State * No. 10 W 64–712,408 [ 9] October 6 7:30 pm at Weber State No. 8 W 34–711,586 [ 10] [ 11] [ 12] October 13 9:15 pm at UNLV * No. 5 L 19–2412,458 [ 13] [ 14] October 20 1:00 pm Northern Arizona No. 11 W 21–610,112 [ 15] October 27 7:30 pm Montana No. 11 W 55–712,852 [ 16] November 3 1:00 pm at Nevada * No. 9 L 21–23 3,111 [ 17] November 10 8:00 pm at Idaho State No. 11 W 21–1712,000 [ 18] November 17 1:30 pm No. 4 Cal Poly * No. 10 W 42–1013,885 [ 19] November 24 7:30 pm at UC Davis * No. 8 W 32–31 4,300 [ 20] [ 21] [ 22] December 1 12:30 pm No. 10 South Dakota * No. 7 W 53–1014,358 [ 2] December 8 11:30 am vs. No. 3 Louisiana Tech * No. 7 L 34–3813,000 [ 3] [ 4] *Non-conference game HomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time
[ 23]
1973 Boise State Broncos football team roster Players Coaches Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 12 Jim McMillan Jr QB 15 Ron Autele Sr RB 21 Harry Riener Sr RB 22 Chester Grey Jr RB 40 John Smith So RB 42 Ron Emry So C 54 John Klotz Sr RT 60 Charlie Russell Sr LG 61 Glenn Sparks So RG 63 Dan Dixon Sr LT 76 Al Davis Sr WR 81 Don Hutt (C) Jr WR 89 Dick Donohue Sr
Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 14 Greg Frederick (C) So FS 25 Pat King Sr CB 29 Rolly Woolsey Jr SS 43 Jim Meeks Jr RLB 45 Loren Schmidt Jr MLB 51 Ron Davis Jr LLB 82 Claude Tomasini Jr RDT 71 Vaa Afoa Jr LDT 73 Blessing Bird Sr DL 78 Ron Franklin Jr LDE 83 Mark Goodman Sr RDE 87 Ken Mills Jr
Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 29 Rolly Woolsey Jr P 39 Gary Gorrell So
Head coach Coordinators/assistant coaches Steve Buratto (DB, OLB) Charlie Dine (DL, MLB) Dave Nickel (OL) Adam Rita (WR) Doug Woolsey (OB) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt
Source: [ 6] [ 13] Three Broncos were selected in the 1974 NFL draft , which lasted seventeen rounds (442 selections).
Source: [ 24] [ 25] ^ a b "Boise St. smears South Dakota" . Lewiston Morning Tribune . Idaho. Associated Press. December 2, 1973. p. 19. ^ a b "Boise in semis" . Lewiston Morning Tribune . Idaho. Associated Press. December 8, 1973. p. 17. ^ a b "Late TD tops Boise" . Lewiston Morning Tribune . Idaho. Associated Press. December 9, 1973. p. 19. ^ DeLassus, David (2016). "Boise State Yearly Results" . College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on May 30, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2016 . ^ a b Payne, Bob (September 15, 1973). "Idaho, Boise resume war" . Spokesman-Review . Spokane, Washington. p. 14. ^ "Happiness is Boise State" . Spokesman-Review . Spokane, Washington. September 17, 1973. p. 15. ^ "Autele leads Boise victory" . Spokesman-Review . Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. September 23, 1973. p. 2, sports. ^ "Boise State, 64-7" . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon). Associated Press. September 30, 1973. p. 6C. ^ Blodgett, Gary R. (October 6, 1973). "WSC gridders set for tough Boise" . Deseret News . (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. D3. ^ "Boise State whips Weber" . Lewiston Morning Tribune . Idaho. Associated Press. October 7, 1973. p. 21. ^ Blodgett, Gary R. (October 8, 1973). "Awesome Broncos swamp Weber" . Deseret News . (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. D2. ^ a b "Game program: UNLV Rebels vs. Boise State Broncos" . University of Nevada, Las Vegas. University Libraries. October 13, 1973. Retrieved August 15, 2022 . ^ "Las Vegas upsets Boise 24-19" . Lewiston Morning Tribune . (Idaho). Associated Press. October 14, 1973. p. 16. ^ "Mustangs struggle" . Lewiston Morning Tribune . Idaho. Associated Press. October 21, 1973. p. 21. ^ Shelledy, Jay (October 28, 1973). "Boise St. runs over Grizzlies" . Lewiston Morning Tribune . Idaho. p. 20. ^ " 'Cats romp but UN nips Boise" . Lewiston Morning Tribune . Idaho. Associated Press. November 4, 1973. p. 13. ^ "Boise nabs title" . Lewiston Morning Tribune . Idaho. Associated Press. November 11, 1973. p. 14. ^ "Boise riddles Cal Poly, 42-10" . Lewiston Morning Tribune . Idaho. Associated Press. November 18, 1973. p. 20. ^ "Boise earns NCAA berth by edging Davis 32-31" . Lewiston Morning Tribune . Idaho. Associated Press. November 25, 1973. p. 19. ^ "Boise awaits bowl tilt" . Lewiston Morning Tribune . Idaho. Associated Press. November 26, 1973. p. 18. ^ "How they fared" . Lewiston Morning Tribune . Idaho. Associated Press. November 26, 1973. p. 18. ^ "Record book (football)" (PDF) . Boise State University Athletics. 2016. p. 70. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 15, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2016 . ^ "Odom goes in 5th round" . Deseret News . (Salt Lake City, Utah). UPI. January 30, 1974. p. D1. ^ "Several area stars taken in grid draft" . Deseret News . (Salt Lake City, Utah). Associated Press. January 31, 1974. p. 2D.
Venues Bowls & rivalries Culture & lore People Seasons National championship seasons in bold
College Division / Division II I-AA/FCS Northern Arizona (1978) Montana State (1979) Boise State (1980) Idaho State (1981) Montana , Idaho , & Montana State (1982) Nevada (1983) Montana State (1984) Idaho (1985) Nevada (1986) Idaho (1987) Idaho (1988) Idaho (1989) Nevada (1990) Nevada (1991) Idaho & Eastern Washington (1992) Montana (1993) Boise State (1994) Montana (1995) Montana (1996) Eastern Washington (1997) Montana (1998) Montana (1999) Montana (2000) Montana (2001) Montana , Montana State , & Idaho State (2002) Montana State , Montana , & Northern Arizona (2003) Montana & Eastern Washington (2004) Eastern Washington , Montana State , & Montana (2005) Montana (2006) Montana (2007) Weber State & Montana (2008) Montana (2009) Montana State & Eastern Washington (2010) Montana State & Montana (2011) Eastern Washington , Montana State , & Cal Poly (2012) Eastern Washington (2013) Eastern Washington (2014) Southern Utah (2015) Eastern Washington & North Dakota (2016) Southern Utah & Weber State (2017) Eastern Washington , UC Davis , & Weber State (2018) Sacramento State & Weber State (2019) Weber State (2020) Sacramento State (2021) Montana State & Sacramento State (2022) Montana (2023) National championships in bold