1974 Boise State Broncos football team

1974 Boise State Broncos football
Big Sky champion
NCAA Division II Quarterfinal, L 6–20 at Central Michigan
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3 (small college)
AP	No. 5 (small college)
Record	10–2 (6–0 Big Sky)
Head coach	Tony Knap (7th season)
Home stadium	Bronco Stadium
Seasons ← 1973 1975 →

The 1974 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State University during the 1974 NCAA Division II football season, the seventh season of Bronco football (at the four-year level) and the second in the newly reorganized Division II. The Broncos were in their fifth year as members of the Big Sky Conference (and NCAA) and played their home games on campus at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho. This was the first season as "BSU" as the school had recently become a university.

Led by seventh-year head coach Tony Knap, the Broncos were 10–1 in the regular season and were again undefeated in conference (6–0), repeating as Big Sky champions.^[1] The only loss was by two points in-mid season at Las Vegas; the UNLV Rebels were led by running back Mike Thomas, a future NFL Rookie of the Year, and sophomore quarterback Glenn Carano. They built a 31-point lead, then hung on as Boise State answered with four straight touchdown passes from senior Jim McMillan.^[2] UNLV was undefeated until the Grantland Rice Bowl, the Division II semifinals.

Invited again to the eight-team Division II playoffs,^[3] BSU drew a road game in the quarterfinals at Central Michigan; the Chippewas won 20–6 and went on to win the national title. CMU moved up to Division I in 1975, joining the Mid-American Conference (MAC). In the regular season, the Broncos had scored at least 35 points in every game.

Following this season, Bronco Stadium was expanded with an upper deck added to the east grandstand, which increased the permanent seating capacity to 20,000. Part of the original design, it had been delayed for five years due to high costs.^[4]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 14		at Cal Poly*		Mustang Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	W 41–21	5,700	[5]
September 21	7:30 pm	Chico State*	No. 3	Bronco Stadium Boise, ID	W 41–7	14,686	[6]
September 28	1:30 pm	at Montana State	No. 3	Reno H. Sales Stadium Bozeman, MT	W 40–37	9,100	[7]
October 5	7:30 pm	Nevada*	No. 4	Bronco Stadium Boise, ID (rivalry)	W 36–16	14,258	[8][9]
October 12	7:30 pm	Idaho State	No. 4	Bronco Stadium Boise, ID	W 61–3	14,310	[10]
October 19	8:15 pm	at No. 5 UNLV*	No. 4	Las Vegas Stadium Whitney, NV	L 35–37	18,631	[2]
October 26		at Northern Arizona	No. 4	Lumberjack Stadium Flagstaff, AZ	W 45–13	8,000	[11]
November 2	1:30 pm	Weber State	No. 4	Bronco Stadium Boise, ID	W 42–14	13,252	[12]
November 9	1:30 pm	No. 13 UC Davis*	No. 4	Bronco Stadium Boise, ID	W 41–20	14,608	[13]
November 16	1:30 pm	at Montana	No. 4	Dornblaser Field Missoula, MT	W 56–42	6,000	[14][15][16]
November 23	1:30 pm	Idaho	No. 4	Bronco Stadium Boise, ID (rivalry)	W 53–29	14,486	[17][18][19][20]
November 30	11:00 am	at No. 6 Central Michigan*	No. 4	Perry Shorts Stadium Mt. Pleasant, MI (D-II Quarterfinal)	L 6–20	9,913	[21][22]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

^[23]

Source:^[14][17]

Six Broncos were named to the Big Sky all-conference team:

• Jim McMillan, QB, (unanimous); conference MVP (offense)
• Mike Holton, WR, (unanimous)
• Rolly Woolsey, S, (unanimous)
• Loren Schmidt, LB
• Ron Davis, LB
• Saia Misa, DT

Boise State also placed six players on the second team.^[24]

Quarterback McMillan was a first-team Little All-American; Holton, Woolsey, and Schmidt were honorable mention.^[25]

Three Broncos were selected in the 1975 NFL draft, which lasted 17 rounds (442 selections).

• BSU Arbiter – student newspaper – 1974 editions