Former Boise State star running back Ian Johnson will be the guest picker on ESPN College GameDay this weekend, Pat McAfee announced Thursday on The Pat McAfee Show.
College GameDay is headed to Boise for Saturday’s Pac-12 matchup between No. 24 Boise State and Oregon State.
The Broncos enter at 8-1 overall and 5-0 in conference play, while Oregon State is 5-4 and 3-2. The show will air from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Mountain time on ESPN.
“Ladies and gentlemen, representing Boise State this weekend at College GameDay as we travel to the beautiful state of Idaho, a legend from Boise, a man that was potentially a part of putting the wonderful university onto the map,” McAfee said on his show. “I believe he’s still in love, I believe he is still married.
Ladies and gentlemen, Boise State legend who beat Oklahoma 43-42 in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, got engaged, became an All-American and an absolute icon. Ladies and gentlemen, Ian Johnson.”
Johnson’s place in Boise State lore was sealed in that 2007 Fiesta Bowl. He scored the winning two-point conversion on a Statue of Liberty play in overtime to lift the Broncos past Oklahoma, 43-42. After the game, he proposed to his girlfriend, and he later confirmed to McAfee that he is still married.
That night was also a huge statistical performance for Johnson. He carried 23 times for 101 yards and a touchdown in the Fiesta Bowl, and he finished his sophomore season with 277 carries for 1,713 yards and 25 touchdowns.
Johnson’s football background started long before Boise. At Southern California’s La Verne Damien High School, he was a standout on both the football field and the track, rushing for 2,009 yards in his final high school season.
After redshirting as a true freshman in 2004, Johnson became part of the Broncos’ rotation the next year, when he ran for 663 yards and four touchdowns. He then served as Boise State’s lead back over his final three seasons.
By the end of his college career, Johnson had piled up 753 carries for 4,183 yards and 58 touchdowns. That total broke Marshall Faulk’s WAC record for career rushing touchdowns, which had stood at 57.
Johnson went undrafted in the 2009 NFL Draft and later spent time on practice squads with the Minnesota Vikings, Arizona Cardinals, Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers and Miami Dolphins. He never appeared in a regular-season NFL game.
This is not Boise State’s first College GameDay spotlight. The show last visited Boise in 2010 for a non-conference game against Oregon State. The Broncos won that one 37-24 and finished the season 12-1 after beating Utah in the Maaco Bowl Las Vegas.
Picabo Street, the Olympic gold medalist skier and Idaho native, was the guest picker when GameDay came to Boise in 2010.
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Oregon State Faces A Wide Open Chance In Boise State Shootout
Boise States offense has been doing its part, but the bigger question heading into this matchup is whether its defense can hold up long enough to make the game manageable. Coach Spencer Danielson has already acknowledged the problems on that side of the ball, and Oregon State gets a chance to test them after back-to-back losses have left the Beavers looking for a reset. For Oregon State, this is the kind of game that can still be shaped by execution and tempo, with quarterback Braden Atkinson and receiver Jesse Legree expected to carry much of the load.
JaMarcus Shephards group also has its own work to do, especially after the defense has been asked to tighten up in recent weeks. Boise State has been living in shootout territory, which means Oregon State does not need perfection to stay in the fight, but it does need cleaner play than it has shown lately. If the Beavers can make the Broncos defend for four quarters and avoid giving away easy answers on the other side, they at least give themselves a real path into a game that looks wide open on paper. [Read more 🡒]
Boise State Faces One Huge Week 11 Question Under Center
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The injury report does not stop there, either. Running back Sire Gaines and safety Travis Anderson are also questionable, while left guard Carson Rasmussen has already been ruled out, adding another layer of concern for a Boise State team trying to sort through its lineup late in the week. If Madsen cannot go, the Broncos will have to adjust quickly under center, and the ripple effects could shape how they approach the matchup from the opening snap. [Read more 🡒]
Boise State Is About To Test An Oregon State Defense In Flux
After the loss to Texas State, Oregon State head coach Jamarcus Shephard spent part of the week trying to steady a defense that has some obvious issues to clean up before Boise State arrives. The Beavers have been working through adjustments after getting exposed against the run, and the task does not get any easier with a Broncos offense built around a productive ground game and a physical backfield.
The challenge is made tougher by the absence of safety Sai Vadrawale, who remains sidelined with an injury, leaving Oregon State to sort through its options in the secondary while the front seven tries to tighten up. Boise State brings a dangerous rushing attack into the matchup, and for a defense already in flux, Saturday is shaping up as another early test of how quickly those fixes can take hold. [Read more 🡒]