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Boise State of Mind: The Emergence of College Football's Grittiest Underdog
After decades of under-the-radar success,the Boise State Broncos became a household name during the 2006-07 NCAA football season. That was when the 12-0 Broncos were set to face the 11-2 Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl. In that David vs.Goliath event, everyone expected the Sooners,who played in the highly competitive Big12 conference and had dominated since coach Bob Stoops took over in 1999, to beat the no-names from the Western Athletic Conference.
The matchup would end up becoming one of the greatest college football games ever played,with Boise State beating Oklahoma, 43-42, on a trick-play two-point conversion to win in overtime. But how did Boise State morph into one of the most successful and polarizing programs in the country? In Boise State of Mind, writer Joel Gundersontells the story of how the school went from ajunior college to Division I, climbing the ranksand building a program that has since beatensuch college football powerhouses as Oregon,Georgia, Virginia Tech, and Oklahoma, and hasthe highest winning percentage in the countrysince 2000.
The matchup would end up becoming one of the greatest college football games ever played,with Boise State beating Oklahoma, 43-42, on a trick-play two-point conversion to win in overtime. But how did Boise State morph into one of the most successful and polarizing programs in the country? In Boise State of Mind, writer Joel Gundersontells the story of how the school went from ajunior college to Division I, climbing the ranksand building a program that has since beatensuch college football powerhouses as Oregon,Georgia, Virginia Tech, and Oklahoma, and hasthe highest winning percentage in the countrysince 2000.
- GenresFootball
416 pages, Hardcover
Published October 9, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 16, 2021
Great history and quotes to the underdog Boise State program. I never knew about Paul Reina and Pokey Allen for their names will always be in my heart as a true fan that bleeds blue.
December 27, 2023
If you don't know anything about Boise State football or you are a college football or Boise State football fan, then this is the book for you.
Author Joel Gunderson wrote this book with an objective and personal pen so to speak. He discussed the ups and downs of BSU football since the first time the school fielded a football team, and he injected some of his own thoughts (with some curse words I might add) into what the school's football program was and is.
Gunderson did a good job in letting you know the personal or human side of past and present BSU coaches, not just their X's and O's concepts.
Piggybacking my point in the previous paragraph, one of the best parts of this book was when Gunderson discussed the short career and life of former BSU head coach Pokey Allen. Allen was on his way to building the football program into a formidable outfit during the 1994 to 1996 seasons, but cancer made sure that Allen didn't get to finish what he started as that illness took his life near the end of the 1996 calendar year.
Gunderson was super passionate about the subject of this book and you can tell that by reading this book. And I don't even think Gunderson is even a BSU football fan. But that just tells you that Gunderson is a stone-cold sportswriter who will bury himself into whatever sports subject he decides to write about. Good for him.
Author Joel Gunderson wrote this book with an objective and personal pen so to speak. He discussed the ups and downs of BSU football since the first time the school fielded a football team, and he injected some of his own thoughts (with some curse words I might add) into what the school's football program was and is.
Gunderson did a good job in letting you know the personal or human side of past and present BSU coaches, not just their X's and O's concepts.
Piggybacking my point in the previous paragraph, one of the best parts of this book was when Gunderson discussed the short career and life of former BSU head coach Pokey Allen. Allen was on his way to building the football program into a formidable outfit during the 1994 to 1996 seasons, but cancer made sure that Allen didn't get to finish what he started as that illness took his life near the end of the 1996 calendar year.
Gunderson was super passionate about the subject of this book and you can tell that by reading this book. And I don't even think Gunderson is even a BSU football fan. But that just tells you that Gunderson is a stone-cold sportswriter who will bury himself into whatever sports subject he decides to write about. Good for him.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews