The Power of Victory
Chris Kutz
Boise State and App State will face each other on a football field for the first time in nearly 31 years this Saturday. But the trajectories of both programs were dramatically altered 18 years ago, in 2007.
No Boise State fan needs to be told what happened on Jan. 1, 2007.
The first day of the 2007 calendar year ended with what is still considered by many the best game in college football this century.
“It could be argued as the best game ever,'' Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky said moments after the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
Not even 23 hours into the new year, the Broncos walked off with a two-point conversion in overtime that sealed a 43-42 victory on a play cited to this day: the Statue of Liberty. The crowd in Glendale and all across the country - 13.7 million people watched on TV - could not believe what they watched.
“They should be up there playing for a national championship - 12-0, finish the season 13-0 - and hopefully they get some more looks in the future,'' Oklahoma linebacker Zach Latimer said to the Associated Press (AP) following the defeat. “At least a chance. That's all you ask for is a chance. You never know what can happen.''
The Broncos finished the 2006 season ranked No. 8 in the final BCS rankings.
The 2007 campaign, though, started with the No. 1 ranked team in the FCS rankings - App State - playing in the “Big House” in Ann Arbor against No. 5 Michigan on Sept. 1.
Thom Breneman called the 2007 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl for FOX. Charles Davis was the analyst.
“The people of Idaho, the school, the other mid-majors, the non-BCS conferences celebrate tonight,” Breneman emphatically signed off with at the end of the broadcast.
Nine months later, Breneman was back at the center of a historic moment in college football. He was the play-by-play broadcaster for the App State-Michigan matchup. Davis was once again by his side.
“The season opener,” said Breneman to start the Big Ten Network’s foray into live games. “The Appalachian State Mountaineers come to the Big House to take on the University of Michigan Wolverines.”
App State stunned the Wolverines, 34-32, in front of 109,218 people. The game was the first ever on the Big Ten Network. Because it was a fledgling channel, relatively few people actually watched it live.
Like Boise State against the Sooners, the Mountaineers took a double-digit lead over their opponent before they saw it dissipate. App State led Michigan 28-14 late in the second quarter, but the Wolverines took a 32-31 lead on a 54-yard touchdown run by Mike Hart with four-and-a-half minutes remaining in the game.
App State ended up taking the lead on a 24-yard field goal with 26 seconds left, and then used one of its two field goal blocks in the final two minutes of the game to clinch it. Corey Lynch came off the left side on Michigan’s game-winning attempt and sealed the incredible victory for the Mountaineers.
“Appalachian State has stunned the college football world with one of the greatest upsets in sports history,” said Brenneman as App State was run out of bounds after the game-sealing field goal block.
The win was App State’s 15th straight. It was the first win ever by an FCS team over a ranked FBS team. App State even made the cover of Sports Illustrated, a crowning achievement at the time. Dexter Jackson, who had two touchdowns in the win, was the player featured on the cover - and is entering the App State Hall of Fame this year.
"We're still sort of shocked," App State head coach Jerry Moore said after being carried off the field by his players.
App State went on to win the FCS national title that year. It was its third straight national championship.
The Mountaineers graduated to the FBS ranks in 2014. Boise State had been at that level since 1996. The two remain among the winningest teams at the highest level of Division I football. The Broncos are first with a .767 winning percentage while App State is 20th with .708 clip.
The paths of App State and Boise State enter this weekend riding a wave of momentum in fan support. The game will be Boise State’s 10th straight sellout, its longest such streak since selling out 19 games in a row from 2006 to 2009.
App State sold out its only home game so far this year, against Lindenwood from the FCS ranks, to mark its 12th straight sell out. It has sold out of season tickets for four years in a row. The stadium has expanded from 16,650 in 2007 to 30,000 today.
The Mountaineers have won four Sun Belt Conference titles, all of them in a row from 2016 to 2019. Since joining the FBS ranks, App State has 102 wins. Boise State has 109 victories. Both totals are among the top-11 in the nation.
The impact of both programs’ success on the field has had an impact on the campus community as well.
Boise State University’s enrollment was 19,540 in 2007. The Boise population stood at more than 566,000 people.
But since the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, enrollment has risen 43 percent (18,876 in fall 2006). It was at an all-time high in fall of 2024 with 27,250 students. The fall 2025 enrollment will officially be released in October.
Boise’s population now stands at more than 845,000.
App State’s enrollment has increased 37 percent since 2007, going from 15,871 to 21,789 today. It saw an 18 percent increase in applications from 2007 to 2008 - a bump that can be attributed to the “greatest upset in college football history.”
Of course, the last time – and only other time – App State and Boise State faced off was in 1994 in a Division I-AA (now FCS) playoff quarterfinal matchup. That season was another core memory for Boise State fans. The Broncos, coming off a disappointing 3-8 season in 1993, went on to win the 1994 Big Sky championship, compete for the national championship, break a 13-year losing streak to in-state rival Idaho, and pave the way to join the Big West in the FBS two years later.
The Broncos held off App State, 17-14, in front of 15,302 rain-soaked fans at then-named Bronco Stadium. Quarterback Tony Hilde hit wide receiver Ryan Ikebe with two touchdown passes and Boise State survived seven turnovers by holding App State to 226 yards of total offense. It continued The Magic Carpet Ride season for the Broncos, who went 10-0 on the blue AstroTurf in Boise.
A week later, Boise State head coach Pokey Allen pleaded to Bronco Nation to draw at least 20,000 people for the semifinal game against Marshall. And he made a deal: if students and fans sold out the game, then he would ride a horse down Broadway Avenue down from University Drive to the front of the Student Union Building.
As Saturday’s matchup grows closer - and as the Broncos wear custom helmets called the “Front Porch of Idaho” helmets - it will showcase the power of schools using transcendent moments to further momentum beyond the playing field.