Pride meets promise in Fiesta Bowl

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, 6:45, TV-FOX

University of Phoenix Stadium

Idaho considers itself a blue-collar, meat-and-potatoes (obviously) kind of state. So when some Boise State players arrived in town last week, they were looking for a rinky-dink van or shuttle bus to take them to the team hotel in Scottsdale.

What they got, were escorts in limos, Lincolns and Cadillacs. Welcome to the big time.

“The word that comes to mind is, ‘Wow!’” Boise State coach Chris Petersen said. “We’ve been treated like royalty.”

Strange as it sounds, Boise State (.842) and Oklahom>a (.827) are the two winningest programs in Division I-A football since 1999.

But in some ways they enter tonight’s Fiesta Bowl half a world away from each other.

The Sooners have won seven national championships since 1950. A handful of Sooners players will have been a part of all four BCS bowls in their careers.

The Broncos have played in three Humanitarian Bowls, the Fort Worth Bowl, a Liberty Bowl and an MPC Computers Bowl in 10 years as a Division I-A program.

“We’ve been to great bowls before,” said Oklahoma offensive lineman Chris Messner. “This is a great place, but we’ve also told ourselves not to get caught up in the hoopla. Maybe initially (I was fazed), but it wore off pretty quick. We’ve been to great places before, Miami, L.A., and this is definitely a great place. It sounds cocky, but we’re just kind of used to it.”

For most of the past week, both sides have said all the right things about one another. The Broncos harkened over how much respect they have for Oklahoma’s tradition and how they feel like underdogs compared to the Big 12 power school from Norman.

The Sooners kept acknowledging Boise State’s undefeated season legitimately earned them a BCS appearance from a non-BCS conference for the second time (Utah in 2004), and offered all the promises of not taking a non-BCS school lightly.

Whether a botched replay against Oregon kept the Sooners outside the BCS championship contenders is debatable, but while some Sooners offered no wiggle room over where Boise State fits in this year’s football pecking order, it wasn’t enough to sway a few Broncos from playing the “lack of respect” card.

“You can just kind of feel like we get a little bit of a little brother vibe from them,” Broncos running back Ian Johnson. “We’re that mid-major team that probably doesn’t deserve to be here in their eyes.”

Not true, says some Sooners.

“There’s only two undefeated teams in the nation right now,” said Oklahoma linebacker Zach Latimer, referring to the Broncos and Ohio State. “If anything, I would think that they deserve to be in a better bowl game than them playing us right now. I’m just happy that we’re getting to play them. That’s all fine by me. They’re the ones that have more of a gripe than we do.”

None of that changes how tonight’s Fiesta Bowl is a primer, pitting one school with truckloads of tradition against an upstart bunch from Idaho trying to give the “little guys” a chance in today’s big-boys, big-money college football universe.

Oklahoma’s athletic budget is $64 million, with $14 million spent on football with more than $3 million spent on Sooners coach Bob Stoops’ salary.

Boise State spends roughly $17 million on athletics, with $3.5 million spent on football. Chris Petersen will earn nearly $650,000 in his first year as Broncos coach.

Early in the week, the Sooners conveyed a business-like approach to their preparation, while the Broncos talked with excitement over having unlimited Tostitos and getting to see a Suns game.

Even Stoops downplayed the “Wow” factor, noting his 2000 Sooners hadn’t been to a BCS game but won the national championship against Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

“If we take them lightly, we’ll get beat,” Sooners quarterback Paul Thompson said.

In tornado alley, the Sooners are expected to compete for national championships and BCS Bowls.

In contrast, the Broncos created a preseason pyramid outlining their goals. On the bottom were the basics (representing the program and school with class and respect, effort, caring for each other), followed by winning rival games, winning nonconference schedule, then winning the Western Athletic Conference, then getting to a BCS game.

“The one goal we didn’t put up was winning the BCS game, we’re just trying to get there first,” center Jadon Dailey said. “That’s our next step to win one and put Boise State on the map and leave no doubt in other people’s minds.”

For Oklahoma, there’s little doubt of its national prominence. Tonight is part of the expectations.

For Boise State, this is a new point they’ll need to draw in atop the pyramid.

“I’m so excited about it not just for the game,” Petersen said. “I want this momentum and fan support to continue to grow and change the program. That’s how things get changed. They’re getting it done in Oklahoma and Lincoln, Nebraska. Boise, Idaho is a pretty special town, too. The game is awesome, but it’s another step in the process of what we’re trying to get done.”