Boise State football notebook: BSU massage cut short by skirmish

LAS VEGAS — The minor skirmish that occurred between Utah and Boise State players at the welcome reception on Sunday did have at least one negative effect.

BSU linebacker J.C. Percy did get cheated out of part of a professional massage the players were provided by the bowl. The incident reportedly included some shouting and broken dishes near the line where players waited, but no player injuries were reported.

When a reporter who wasn't at the dinner asked Percy to describe what happened, he replied, "I wasn't there either. They had a back room and I was getting a massage that they gave to players, and I was back there and things started getting loud and somebody grabbed me and said, 'You gotta go!' and I'm like, 'OK,' but I got gypped out of half my massage. But I thought, 'OK, that's all right.' "

Added junior defensive tackle Billy Winn: "Oh, yeah, there's hype on both sides. Utah's hyped up, so are we, and we just all happened be in same room. Nothing serious happened, but come Wednesday, both teams will be out there fighting."

KEEPING IT CALM: Boise State coach Chris Petersen didn't get where he is by being dumb — dumb, as in disrespectful.

Asked about playing the Utes in Wednesday's Las Vegas Bowl, Petersen responded, "I have tremendous respect for Utah and all the things it has done. I just know it's a heck of a program. I know we've got our hands full for sure."

HIGH PROFILE: Boise State has been ranked in the top 10 the entire season, reaching as high as No. 2 in both the AP and Coaches' polls. The Broncos have been in the top 20 every week since Oct. 1, 2008 — a 36-game streak.

They have made the top 25 in nine consecutive seasons.

CONFERENCE DOMINATION: All one can say about BSU moving up to the Mountain West Conference is it's about time.

In 10 seasons in the WAC, BSU went 40-0 at home in conference games and, since 2000, it has won 79 of 84 league games. The Broncos have won or tied for the conference title in eight of the last nine years.

OWNING ITS HOME: BSU's 69-2 home record since 2000 is the best home winning percentage in the nation, just ahead of Oklahoma (66-2) and TCU (57-6). Utah is 15th (50-14). The Broncos have scored and averaged more points since 2000 than any team in the nation.

FULL SCHEDULE: In winning last year's Fiesta Bowl, the Broncos moved their record to 14-0. That is tied for the most wins in a season by any team in the modern era. Others that won 14 games are Ohio State, Alabama and BYU.

People say a national playoff would mean too many games, but Yale won 16 games in 1894 and Penn won 15 games in 1897 and 14 in 1895.

LOCAL APPEAL: If local players are any indication, the state of Utah has considerably more Division I (FBS) talent than the state of Idaho.

Boise State's roster has 23 players from Idaho, while Utah has 48 players from the Beehive State.

e-mail: rock@desnews.com