‘Insane’: A most improbable TD fulfilled childhood dream for Boise State player
The life of being a field goal blocker for Boise State is a tough one.
The crowd at Albertsons Stadium is often so loud that you can’t hear any sort of communication around you. You simply have to block as if your life depends on it and hope everyone does their job.
The one thing the guys on the line say they can usually hear is the loud thump of a cleat meeting the football, which you hopefully see sailing high and through the uprights.
So when Troy Grizzle didn’t hear that distinct thump last Saturday night in a game against New Mexico, he immediately thought, “Oh, I gotta do something.”
Abandoning his block, Grizzle beelined toward the front right corner of the end zone. Running behind a perfectly timed block from redshirt sophomore Carson Rasmussen, Grizzle now had a perfect view of the football, which somehow was spiraling slowly toward him.
In less than a second, the ball was clutched in Grizzle’s outstretched arms before he was brought down to the turf, part blue and part orange. Grizzle made enough of the orange end zone for not only the first touchdown of his college career, but on his first reception.
“I saw the orange paint when I fell, but I was more just excited to have the catch and then celebrate with my teammates, because it was unexpected,” Grizzle told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.
Grizzle’s touchdown came in the fourth quarter of Boise State’s 41-25 victory on Saturday, making the score 34-17. The Broncos (4,2, 2-0 Mountain West) had lined up for a chip-shot field goal, but a fumbled hold by Oscar Doyle and the presence of a New Mexico defender flying by meant Doyle had to try to make a play out of what now resembled a fire drill.
Doyle, who’s also the team’s punter, scrambled out to the right before lobbing a spiral over some New Mexico defenders, including two right in his face, to find Grizzle. Doyle apparently yelled “fire,” Grizzle said, to signal everyone to go when there’s a botched-snap play, but it was too loud to hear him as the remaining, rain-soaked fans inside Albertsons Stadium realized what was unraveling.
“I would love to sit here and tell you it was (a designed play),” Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson chuckled after the game. “Absolutely, it was not. We fumbled the snap.”
The Broncos practice a walk-through “fire” play every Thursday in preparation for the improbable. Still, the situation was so unexpected that Grizzle said he was in shock when Doyle, a native Australian, sent a perfect throw to him.
“Apparently, he doesn’t really throw the football very much in Australia; they’re used to kicking it,” Grizzle said. “And so when he threw it and put it on the money, it was kind of a shock, but I was very happy he could swing it like that.”
Grizzle’s teammates were jumping for joy and mobbing him for several minutes after he came off the field. And that touchdown wasn’t just an exciting moment for the team, or a big play to widen the gap against New Mexico, but also an unforgettable moment for a boyhood Boise State fan.
Grizzle, a redshirt freshman tight end, graduated from Mountain View High School in Meridian and has been a Boise State fan since he was first able to walk. He went to two or three games a year growing up, he said, and his parents were in the stands on Saturday night.
“That moment on the field was insane,” Grizzle said. “I have dreamed of that since I was a little kid, hoping to even play on The Blue, let alone score on The Blue.”
Boise State vs. UNLV
- When: 1:30 p.m. Saturday
- Where: Albertsons Stadium (33,000, turf)
- TV: FS1 (Dan Hellie, Petros Papadakis)
- Radio: KBOI 670 AM/KTIK 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
- Records: Boise State 4-2, 2-0 Mountain West; UNLV 6-0, 2-0
- Series: Boise State leads the series 11-3
- Vegas betting line: Boise State by 10.5
- Weather: 67 degrees, sunny, 3% chance of rain
