Conference Big Sky Conference 1995 record 7–4 (4–3 Big Sky) Defensive coordinator Tom Mason (3rd year) | Sports Network No. 21 Head coach Pokey Allen (3rd year) | |
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Home stadium Bronco Stadium
(capacity: 20,000) | ||
The 1995 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State University in the 1995 NCAA Division I-AA football season, their last season in Division I-AA. The Broncos competed in the Big Sky Conference and played their home games on campus at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho. Led by third-year head coach Pokey Allen, Boise State finished the season 7–4 overall and 4–3 in conference, ranked 21st in the final regular season poll.
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Season
Coming off a successful previous season of 13–2 and the runner-up in the national championship, BSU was ranked eighth in the preseason I-AA poll, and climbed to third after an opening victory at Division I-A Utah State. A three-game losing streak dropped them out of the poll by mid-season, after wide-margin losses to Montana and Northern Arizona.
After five consecutive wins, the Broncos climbed back to #16 prior to the regular season finale at rival Idaho, whom they defeated the previous year in Boise to break a twelve-game losing streak in the series. With a likely playoff berth on the line; BSU lost by twenty in the Kibbie Dome to end their season in a four-way tied for second place. Surging Idaho (6–4) was selected for the final at-large berth for the postseason, but was matched against top-ranked McNeese State in southwest Louisiana and made a quick exit.
This was the final season for the Broncos in Division I-AA and the Big Sky Conference; they moved up to Division I-A in 1996 in the Big West Conference.
Allen's cancer
Allen had been diagnosed in December 1994 with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of muscle cancer. The tumor in his upper right arm was removed in March and he underwent extensive chemotherapy and a stem-cell transplant in July at the Fred Hutchinson Center in Seattle. He returned to coach the Broncos while going through treatment, and the cancer was declared in remission in December 1995, but the doctors warned of likely recurrence.
Schedule
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