The 40-year rivalry between Boise State will likely be a thing of the past after their showdown this year due to Boise State bolting for the Mountain West, but it’s certainly not going to go out with a meager whimper.
Broncos head coach Chris Petersen launched the initial verbal volley against the Vandals Monday at the WAC preview, wondering aloud why his school would even want to travel to Moscow (Idaho, nyet Russia).
Perhaps buoyed by his football coach’s remarks, BSU President Bob Kustra launched his own verbal assault on his school’s in-state rivals Tuesday afternoon, and appears to have burned/torched/hydrogen-bombed any near-future bridge that would’ve kept the rivalry going beyond this year.
In a conversation with the Idaho Statesman, Kustra said he “frankly [doesn’t] care whether we ever play ‘em again.” Then the president really let it rip on the Vandals and their fans, who apparently denigrate the academic merits of his institution.
“This is a great example of why my wife and I no longer travel to Moscow games,’' Kustra said. “It’s a culture that is nasty, inebriated and civilly doesn’t give our fans the respect that any fan should expect when visiting an away team. ... I don’t think at Boise State you’re going to find that, so for me personally, when I read what Pete said I knew, I knew.
“For me, this is not about football. For me, this is a cultural issue. It’s about fans having to learn how to treat other fans and universities. What bothers me more than anything else, is that the fans are not about denigrating our athletic program. ... What bothers me personally is the denigration of our academic programming. That’s what I simply can’t tolerate.
“I’ve seen rivalries all over America, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State, Texas-Texas A&M, Kansas-Kansas State, but you can go inside those rivalries and you’ll find all kinds of slams and digs and whatever, but I’ve never seen the nastiness aimed at the quality of our academic program that I find here in Idaho from the University of Idaho Vandals and as long as that goes on, why would I want to encourage a game where people don’t know how to act like grownups?”
Boom goes the dynamite.
Oh, and that little Idaho-Boise State game that appears to be the final one in the series for the foreseeable future? It will be played Nov. 12... in nasty, inebriated Moscow.
Mark your calendars accordingly.
