Perhaps you’ve heard. Number 12 Boise State is coming to Laramie Saturday night.
On Tuesday evening, the playoff selection committee scooted Boise from the left hand column, where they have been living comfortably, to the top of the second column.
When the selecting for the 12-team playoff is all over, those in the left-hand column get to play a playoff game in a home stadium environment.
Those in the second column, where Boise currently is, get a first-round bye but do not get home games.
Then there is Ashton Jeanty. How many rushing yards will the Heisman front runner get against our Pokes defense?
It’s truth that should the unthinkable happen and Wyoming pull off the upset of all upsets, Boise will be done in the playoff talk and Jeanty’s Heisman hopes likely will be done as well. So all of this brings the question, does the football fan go to see the home team or the quality competition?
In 2009, Texas came to Laramie. Coach Mack Brown didn’t like the path into War Memorial Stadium for the visiting team, so west siders were blocked from going to our seats until pregame warmups were over.
Former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson was standing next to us and had some choice words for Brown’s moxie in rearranging the way things are done as the visiting team.
In 2011, Nebraska came to Laramie and brought half the Cornhusker state with them.
A young couple from Kimball, which as you know is way closer to Laramie than Lincoln, somehow got the seats right in front of us.
It’s the closest I have ever come to fists at a game.
They refused to sit — at all.
When asked repeatedly to sit down, he glared at me and said, “We stand until we score.”
With Owen the police officer dreading what was to come, I touched his shoulder ala Beth Dutton and said, “You’re not in Lincoln, pal. Sit your ass down.”
They left their seats then, never to return.
So it’s great having big hitters come to your town, I guess.
But it’s also kind of a pain.
Saturday is also Senior Night. Granted, none of the seniors have played up to expectation this year, but we owe them thanks for staying when it would have been easy to leave when Coach Bohl did.
In October 1963, famed Chicago Bear Gale Sayers played in Laramie with his Kansas Jayhawks.
In 1987, Thurman Thomas and Heisman winner Barry Sanders came to Laramie with Oklahoma State.
The next year, Sanders rushed for 222 yards and scored five touchdowns as Oklahoma State annihilated Wyoming in the Holiday Bowl, 62-14.
Never has the spoiler role been bigger than it will be on Saturday.
Maybe Kaden will find his receivers and have time to throw without getting his head ripped off.
Maybe Harrison Waylee, perhaps the season’s biggest mystery, will run more than a handful of times.
Maybe the defense will close the rush lanes and tackle Jeanty before he gets to the open field.
Maybe the punter will pin the Broncos deep a time or two.
It’s the last game at the War this season. Night games are fun and the weather will be good.
Will you be there to witness history, and if so, what kind of history will be made? Only time will tell.
